In getting together to swap only TX natives in an attempt to increase our collections and be eligible for a Wildscape designation?
Cheryl
Any Interest?
I would love to.
Me too, it would great, but how can we go about it?
Find out how many people would want to participate (keeping in mind the idea of certification).
Plan for a time.
Gather information about who is growing or wants to grow which species.
Some may want to start seeds this fall, like me or just plan on bringing starts of what they have. With this idea in mind I will view my yard clean up differently. I have some seedlings that I will either leave or pot up for trade in the spring. It would be cool to work collectively on growing some rarer species from seed this winter.
Cheryl
It really does not need to be a large group.
How about a list of good plants to start.
I will think about it and see what I can come up with.
Sounds good to me.
Any suggested "official" plant lists to determine Texas native vs. not?
Widflower.org has the list, click on the Texas region you want to view
http://wildflower.org/collections/
as well as npot.org, list has links to other sites as well
http://www.npot.org/
and usda.org
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=GAPU
This should help you.
Josephine.
The most complete is USDA http://plants.usda.gov/index.html
The easiest to use with the most info about each plant is Native plant data base at wildflowers.org, it's always the first place I go. http://www.wildflower.org/plants/
I think we might focus on a reasonable list of species, unless someone has some that they want to try and propagate.
i am interested
I'd be interested!
I will order some more seeds if anyone wants to try and start some. I figure if more than one of us is doing this it will improve our chances of having success. I admit to being ignorant about growing from seed but am learning and wanting to learn more.
Who has expertise on this subject that might give me useful pointers.
Also, why not have those interested send in suggestions for species and we can go from there. A good list will be useful to make sure they are native and to give us ideas.
C
I would love to participate and would host it if you think it would help...I know there are 4 people south of me that would want to participate...I am about as centrally located possible in Texas...
Looks like most of us are in the DFW area, what might be a good local for that?
Well it depends on how big the group gets, we could certainly do it at the spring RU and that could accomodate everyone, or we could do a trade thread to send seeds by mail ahead of time in the winter, then trade plants at the spring RU.
Would that be too complicated or easier? I think a small group might be easier in the begining. I really want people who are interested in learning about the certification and working towards that as well as propagating natives. The spring RU would probably work. I am ordering some seeds this weekend and would mail them to those interested. I still need expert advise on germinating seed. Do all seeds require a cover to maintain moisture?
C
I am interested in the certification, but I'm not sure about the requirement to have a water supply for wildlife. All I have is a bird bath. Is that good enough? I like ponds, but a neighbor warned me that someone else in area had installed a pond that attracted water moccasins from the creek in the greenbelt behind my yard. I'm not sure if that is the kind of wildlife I want to attract!
I agree Dennis, I suspect there are alternatives to a pond. Josephine would probably know.
C
I'm watching the thread and I live in Harlingen.
Yes, a birdbath would do just fine, I have one regular birdbath and two large flowerpot saucers on the ground in different places, those are the easiest to keep and clean. I fill them everyday.
I'd be interested. I've been planting pretty much nothing but native or naturalized species and mostly by seed, so I have some surplus that I can send in. Also, what about native grasses? I'd noticed that a lot of the public spaces here in Plano have native plants to cut down on maintenance costs, but they still have to constantly water their St. Augustine or Bermuda grass anyway. If we're gonna do native plants, we might as well go the whole shebang and include the grasses, too.
If you have them sure I don't and my husband loves his patch of St, Augustine, so that won't change. I am working on replacing the grass in the other part of my backyard with flower/veggies beds. My issue is that the front yard is almost all grass.
C
I have heard that Buffalo grass doesn't stand up to traffic well in public places because of the traffic. the wildflower center is trying to develop a native grass mix that mid o.k. but I don't know much about it.
Their current rec for turf is a mix of buffalo grass and blue grama. Some folks add a touch of curly mesquite. It's a finer textured lawn than St Augustine.
(The "traffic in public places" thing you need to evaluate comparing apples to oranges. If you constantly fertilize and water the native turf grasses, sure, they are more vigorous, just like the non-natives under similar care. If you don't do all that, the natives look a little worn or go dormant, whereas the non-natives die.)
There are also a variety of native bunch grasses which can be used in the landscape as you might use shrubs. They are particularly good for wildlife because they provide shelter.
Oh yes, the native bunch grasses are very pretty in the landscape, they are not my favorite but I like them.
I surely hope that the new mix of native grasses for lawns works out well, we need something that will take the place of the usual ones.
Unfortunately, I can't switch over to native lawn grass. My front yard is sunny enough for buffalo grass but my yard butts directly up to my neighbor's yard, who will continue to have St. Augustine. My back yard is more standalone, so I could change it out, but is quite shady and it seems like St. Augustine is my only choice. I have been slowly making the beds bigger and the lawn smaller, which seems to be my only option...
That's my situation also Dennis. I think you can have a lawn and still have the requirements. Even though my front yard is not beautiful I do not have the time or resources to convert it over to anything really. The back is slowly being changed over, using both native and well adapted plants.
Cheryl
I am planning (without my husbands knowledge) to make a nice sized cactus bed in the front and have ordered TX native species to put there.
I made a new thread and would like to have imput about possible target plants.
Can I make a suggestion?
Start a DFW social group. You can add interested members and it would be easier to keep track of interested members, plant exchange dates, topics of interest, etc.
I am not sure how the "social group" works in Dave's Garden but in my other message board, the group has a list of members and you can post topics of interest for the group to reply to.
"DFW Native Plant Group" or some other more interesting name would be good.
This can be accomplished in the "my info" tab under "manage groups" It looks like there is enough activity with the local members for this to work for you.
People of interest who don't live in the area can participate via mail for the exchange or if enough people accumulate for different geographical areas then they can start another group or have their own local exchange.
BTW, I have been lurking around for a really long time. I started a trial membership to see if I'd like it. I have learned a lot in the last couple of weeks. Good luck with your exchange.
We had great luck with our exchange and we accomplished it by starting new threads.
This is the last one;
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1144543/
the second
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1142995/
the first
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1141855/
This way everyone can see what is going on and join in.
I hope you will join us next time.
Josephine.
Looks like you had a very successful exchange. Doesn't is seem odd that Texas native plants are difficult to locate and kind of expensive at the nurseries? Shouldn't they be easily obtained and cheap since they are...well...native?
This has always baffled me.
I hope you have many successful exchanges and more people become interested in native Texas gardening. I am strictly in the learning stage and trying to figure out how to get rid of turf grass. (love your slope BTW)
Yes it does seem odd that native plants are more expensive. One reason is that they usually are difficult to propagate, some are very slow growers and also because they are not available in large quantities.
Once the public starts requesting them we hope the nurseries will start growing them in greater numbers.
Thank you for mentioning the Slope, it is one of my most rewarding projects, you will have to come by in the spring and take a look around.
Also come and join us at the spring Swap held at Randoll Mill Park, it is a lot of fun and a good way to meet your fellow Dave's members.
Josephine.
I think part of the reason is some have tap roots and are hard to grow a transplantable plant in a pot. In some plants, if the main root gets wrapped around itself when young it can cause problems when it gets bigger.
Thank you, Josephine. I'll keep an eye out for the swap.
I see..didn't think about the difficulty of propagation or a tap root problem but then again, I am very new to all of this.
Welcome Texasg....hope to meet you at our swap in the spring.
I have another theory on the reason nurseries don't carry natives as much. They are too darn reliable and do so well. They want you to fail and come back and buy more plants year after year. LOL!
That is a good one Sheila.
At least around here, some of the challenge is that they are _too_ native. Some of the ones endemic to the Edwards plateau just really don't have a very big potential market.
I am only interested in plants that really are ornamental or have value to butterflies or hummers. I see some native plants and don't find them very pretty.
C
Well, some native plants are not ornamental but all plants have a special function and they all have value, they just need to be in the right place.
Still there are many natives and endemics that are totally beautiful. It is up to us to choose the ones we like and work best for our purpose.
Josephine.