Native Plant Society of Texas
Boerne Chapter
The Home of
Operation NICE!™
Natives Instead of Common Exotics
Web site: http://npsot.org/Boerne
NEWSLETTER
January 2011
Volume 11 Number 1
Happy New Year!!!
Monthly Meeting Tuesday January 4, 2011
Cibolo Nature Center at 140 City Park Road, Boerne TX
Presentation: Dave Barrett, owner of Where Wild Things Grow in Leon Springs, will discuss tricks of successful gardening in the Hill Country he has learned from 9 years of planting natives. He will take your questions about gardening, covering pruning, watering and deer proofing Come to the meeting at 6:30 to socialize; program starts at 7 PM. Our meetings are open to the public
President’s Message
I thought that the BRIT (Botanical Research Institute of Texas) workshop held at the Cibolo Nature Center on December 11th was excellent. Tiana Franklin, the Collections Manager, and Amanda Neil, the Herbarium Director, did a superb job of taking an enthusiastic group through the process of photographing, collecting, documenting, pressing and submitting plants to the herbarium or preserving them for a private collection. The cookies were eaten swiftly and the afternoon whizzed by with questions and answers a plenty.
Along the way we learned that BRIT already has plants in its collection that were collected in the middle 18th century. That’s over 250 years old. Perhaps it could have had even older plants except that the preserving methods before that time were not very reliable. The methods now being used are estimated to be sufficient to keep the specimens for 500 years.
Amanda Neill told us about a grant that BRIT has applied for which, if approved, will help in linking the data from more and more herbariums across the country. Some of that information collected over time, concerning the existence or loss of plant species and the blooming dates, can be of important use as evidence of the extent or nature of the warming of the planet. This is another exciting way to be a part of citizen science.
Of course it may be more fun to collect the plants with someone. Is anyone up for a collecting field trip?
Thanks to the BRIT team and our own team of Donna Taylor for logistics and CNC liaison and Suzanne Young and Carolyn Estes for set up, food and drink support, the workshop was a stimulating success. Also thanks once again to Bill and Kathy Ward for providing lodging for our presenters.
At the Holiday Social, I mentioned the Yard Help (Yard Hens and Yard Dogs?) program. I am hopeful that we can get that program started early this year. If you would like to have a yard visit, call or send an email to either Chuck Janzow (for a weekday visit) or Marvin Hatter (for a weekend visit). Chuck or Marvin can follow up the contact and set up the appointment date. The contact information for Chuck or Marvin will be listed on our website. I believe that it can be a program that will benefit both the member and those making the visit.
Also at the Holiday Social I mentioned that Bill Ward has produced a CD of the Boerne Chapter history that he presented at our 10th Anniversary celebration. I am sure that you will want to put in your order for a CD at the low, low cost of only $5.00. Also we owe Bill another raise in pay for the presentation and for the CD.
And speaking of the Holiday Social, Tommie Ashburn helped us finish a celebratory year by coordinating holiday decorations with another wonderful meal. I am always amazed at how all the good food comes together and how much I eat, in spite of my best intentions. Thank goodness we have great volunteers for cleanup who never seem to eat as much as I do since they are still active. And of course, when Suzanne is absent, none of us know how to lock up the CNC, since she is always the last to leave. She does Bigtooth Maples, too.
I hope you had a safe and enjoyable holiday and I know we are all looking forward to a better new year.
See you at our monthly meeting on January 4th.
Delmar Cain
In Memory of Egon Wiedenfeld
One of our long-time members, Ego Wiedenfeld, passed away on December 8, 2010. Until the past several months, Egon and his wife Sue faithfully attended the Boerne Chapter meeting, driving in from their ranch south of Comfort.
Being a good steward of his land, Egon was highly aware of the importance of his native plants. More than once, he and Sue hosted Boerne Chapter field trips to their ranch on Big Joshua Creek. Like his wife, Egon was a master birder, and he traveled with her to all parts of the world to see new birds.
We will miss Egon’s friendly association at our meetings.
Submitted by Bill Ward
Chapter Doings
NICE! ™ Plant of the Month
January
Monterrey Oak
(Quercus polymorpha)
Monterrey oak is also known as Mexican white oak or netleaf white oak. It is a medium to large, semi-evergreen (like live oak) shade tree that is drought resistant, once established, and grows fairly rapidly. Monterrey oak grows best in full sun, tolerates partial shade, prefers slightly alkaline soils, but adapts to most well-drained clay or loamy soils. Some white oaks, including Monterey oak, are more resistant to oak wilt than live and red oaks and some rarely die from the fungus according to the National Conservation Resource Service of the USDA. However some oak wilt has been reported among white oaks according to Mark Duff of theTexas Forest Service.
The acorns are eaten by wildlife, especially small mammals and large birds. Like most things planted in the Hill Country, it needs to be protected from deer until the bark is well established and leaves are above the browse line.
Monterrey oak (Mexican white oak) is native to only Val Verde County in Texas and no where else in the U.S., but is widespread in Mexico, Central America and Guatemala.
NICE! Tip: This is an excellent landscape tree with a similar appearance to replace Escarpment Live Oak without the high susceptibility to Oak Wilt. Note: Many trees offered for sale may be hybrids with other oaks like Burr, Chinquapin or even Red Oak. Hybridization may lead to less resistance to insects, disease and drought than occurs in the pure strain. Investigate plant sources before purchase. Planting and care instructions are on the chapter’s website.
About Town with Bigtooth Maples for Boerne
Maple Watch
In this the 5th year of the program, our chapter has given away an additional 142 bigtooth maples to local businesses, organizations and residents. This brings the total number of native maples awarded since 2006 to...... (drum roll) 562.
We purchase our trees from Love Creek Orchards in Medina. The owner, Baxter Adams, tells me that he has sold about that many additional maples to individuals in the Boerne area who heard about the project and wanted a tree but did not qualify or wanted more maples.
The City of Boerne hopes to qualify as a Tree City USA community. The Tree City USA program is a community improvement initiative of the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters and the USDA Forest Service. The Bigtooth Maples for Boerne project has been included in the city’s application.
According to Bill Ward, "it is the long-term commitment of both the Lende Foundation and Baxter Adams to Bigtooth Maples for Boerne that ensures this program is one of the most-effective community tree-planting programs in Texas or anywhere else."
We have 5 more years of funding from the Lende Foundation for this project. Baxter Adams assures me that he has plenty of bigtooth maples thanks to the seedlings provided to him by one of our own chapter members - Chuck Janzow. We will need the continued support of our volunteers, mentors and caregivers to keep this project going.
In 2006, we trained 23 volunteers to be mentors and monitors (M&Ms) and the number has grown to 30 volunteers. These M&Ms also recruit applicants, cut cages, unload mulch and unload trees. This does not include the 100s of individuals or families that adopted a maple tree. Their willingness to plant a maple in their front or side yard so that they can be included on our map and in our future fall maple tours makes them a volunteer and participant in our Bigtooth Maples for Boerne project. I estimate that it requires about 20 hours to plant, care and water each tree over a period of 2 or 3 years or until the tree can establish a deep root system and survive on its own.
Ye Kendall Inn adopted 8 bigtooth maples and is the trail head for the new Heart of Boerne Pedestrian Trail. The next 5 years should bring many opportunities to plant native maples along the trail if we can find applicants willing to care for them.
Jack Morgan has adopted an additional 7 bigtooth maples along the No. 9 Hike and Bike Trail at the Garden Street entrance. He waters and monitors the many maples along the No. 9 Greenway and the 11 newly planted maples at the entrances to the new Patrick Heath Public Library. He also will be monitoring the 11 maples planted at the new City of Boerne Police Station.
Wilt Shaw adopted 4 maples for the St. Joseph's Catholic Church which will be very visible on Main Street. Broadway Bank agreed to adopt 3 maples after a bit of recruiting by one of our members and with Betty Dunn's suggestion of a good planting location. I think all the banks on Main Street now have maples with the exception of Jefferson Bank.
At a neighborhood meeting, Rufus Stephens, Texas Parks and Wildlife Biologist, recommended bigtooth maples to HEB for their landscape design after the new HEB store is completed. This could make going shopping a pleasure.
Check out our Maples for Boerne Map which clearly shows how we are starting to see a clustering of maples around town. Donna Taylor and her mapping team have put in 142 volunteer hours so far to create a map showing the locations of the maple trees. Bob Rogers has a link to the map on the homepage of our web site http://www.npsot.org/Boerne/default.htm. Donna plans to monitor the trees' growth over time. If you would like to help Donna with her study, please contact her at .
We will soon need a Maplefest committee to promote our fall foliage tours. If you would be interested in serving on this committee please contact me.
Happy New Year!
Suzanne Young
Maples for Boerne
Happenings – the Calendar
January
NPSOT Events
January 4 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM – Chapter meeting. Come at 6:30 to socialize; program starts at 7 PM.
February
NPSOT Events
February 1 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM
To find out about activities and workshops with other organizations call or visit their websites:
Cibolo Nature Center (830.249.4616) http://www.cibolo.org/calendar
Master Naturalist:
San Antonio, Alamo Chapter www.alamomasternaturalist.org
Kerrville, Hill Country Chapter www.hillcountrymasternaturalist.org
Friends of Friedrich Wilderness Park (210.372.9124)
Medina River Natural Area Second Saturday Programs (210.624.2575)
For more information or to RSVP for any event please contact by telephone. Website: www.sanaturalareas.org
· Our meetings are free and open to the public. Join us the first Tuesday of the month, January-June and September-December, at 6:30 p.m. at the Cibolo Nature Center, Boerne, Texas.
Our Sponsors
Please support the following businesses that sponsor our newsletter
A LITTLE
NATURE STORE
106 E. Theissen St.Boerne
830-249-2281 / BERGMANN LUMBER CO.
236 S. Main
Boerne
830-249-2712
830-816-2193 / FANICK’S GARDEN CENTER
1025 Holmgreen
San Antonio
210-648-1303 / GARDEN GATE COTTAGE ON EVERGREEN COURT
Boerne, Texas
www.gardengateguesthouse.com
Rebecca Rogers. Proprietor
830 249 1808
HILL COUNTRY AFRICAN VIOLETS & NURSERY
32005 IH 10W
Boerne
830-249-2614 / RAINBOW GARDENS
2585 Thousand Oaks
San Antonio
Ronnie Grell, President
210.494.6131 / REMAX
ASSOCIATES-BOERNE
Bob Bockholt, GRI
309 Water Street, Boerne
830-816-2660,
Free 800-455-1551
/ TURF MASTERSLAWN AND LANDSCAPE
Mark Rohde
830.249.5514
Boerne, TX 78006
www.turfmasterstx.com
STONE & SOIL DEPOT INC.
26923 IH 10 West
Boerne, TX
210.687.1005 / Become a Sponsor! / Become a Sponsor! / Become a Sponsor!