big blue stem and indian grass

I live in the Blackland Prairie - I already have Little Blue Stem here in good numbers and several sedges but I have none Big Blue Stem or Indian Grass, I would love to find someone with these I could work a trade with or postage or knows a great place to get these and other seeds native to the Blackland Prairie.

Any help is great! Mitch

Mitch, try High Country Gardens: http://www.highcountrygardens.com/

They have a lot of native grasses and mixes.

Thanks - more to go look at!

Mitch:

Native American Seeds, www/seedsource.com, has both types of grasses, in seeds, and also roots that you can buy. They are located in Junction, TX. Sweet Briar Nursery in Belton, TX also has seeds for these, I think. There is a website, but I can't find it right now.

Big bluestem showed up at the back of my place a couple of years ago, and is still there, despite the drought. It did not get so big or set so many seeds last year as it did the prior two years. If you'll remind me, I'll go out and harvest some seed in the fall, if it sets seed.

bullnettle that would be wonderful!

Where are you at in Texas? I am just South of Dallas and I just am starting to work on a few plants here that are native - real native noi just to Texas but to the area here too.

You've probably already found this nursery but just in case you haven't-
http://home.earthlink.net/~madronenursery/grasses.html

You may or may not be interested in setting up a "free" site evaluation with one of the Staff Biologists from this site-
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/land/habitats/post_oak/upland_game/pub/

Often times, State Biologists are capable of providing you with local resources that you might otherwise have difficulty tapping into and the prices are quite competitive. Texas is more progressive than Illinois and you might find that there are some State owned and operated nurseries that have native plant material for homeowners interested in creating habitat. I picked up 50 assorted saplings from out State Nursery for free last year and I shared them with neighbors and my site biologist also told me about an order from another contract nursery that hadn't been picked up that he said I could go and have for free. I picked up 25 Quercus bicolor (which I also shared with neighbors) as well as 20 plugs of Elymus hystrix var. hystrix (which I kept all for myself). There might be some plants out there for you if you are in a position to make a few phone calls. Most of the orders being taken right now are for delivery for spring of '07 but who knows... you might stumble upon a freebie or two as I did just by calling at the right time.

Thank you sooo much - I am going to get out there and see what I can get - I ahve to say I love your posts in here and I ahve used a lot of them for knowing waht to do back in my own yard...

Funny how many of the concepts are the same even though we are separated by many miles.

Have you checked into any native plant societies in your immediate area? Believe it or not there are members who love to share plants... at least around here they do and I can't imagine Texans being any less generous than the gardeners around here. Seed swaps generally occur in fall so if a native plant society is of interest to you, you might want to find one that does a seed swap and get registered before they hold that autumnal seed swap meeting. Ours is a free for all. It's quite funny to watch everyone eyeing up the goodies with that final dash to the tables to snatch. We're all adults but we are silly and we really get into our seed swaps to put it mildly. Hint, newbies get preferential treatment. They get to go up to the tables first.

There is another thought, plant rescues. There are organizations in my area that seek written approval from developers to go on property slated for development for the sole purpose of gathering native plant material that is dug up by volunteers and either donated to organizations that will use it to repopulate areas that are being restored or the members take it home and plant it on their properties. I will warn you though, I've participated in plant rescues before. When you are done, you will be unrecognizable and you will most certainly look like something the cat dragged in and chances are pretty good you won't want to see one reminder on your property of your day in the field. You'll learn a lot about identifying species indigenous to your area but you will be so tired you won't want to transplant anything and you will be all but blowing kisses and waving ba bye to the plants as others haul them off with glee because you will be too darn tired to care who gets what. I've got maybe a sum total of 15 plants here from plant rescues and probably half of them came from members who did the rescue and brought them over to me. I've dug up thousands and all I have to show for my effort is literally 15 plants. Go figure. But, I learned a lot and you will too.

Some great ideas - I had not thought of them yet...

I am working on a mostly native yard here with shh Iris and Daylilies... but almost everything else here native. I have been shocked at the numbers of birds that have come here to feed and drink in our two pond areas. We have seen hawks in the trees, vultures, crows, mourning doves, and millions of little birds...

So far other then the few Texas gardeners here I gave justbeen working on my own and boy is that long and hard.

I loved that "yet" you added. I know how it goes. You will literally start stumbling upon opportunities, it's only a matter of time.

Shhhhhh...
I've got daylilies and hostas too. Actually, I've got quite a few introduced species but I keep them in up tight around the house. Mostly plants that my MIL buys for me but some I bought for myself such as clematis. I am slowly but surely eliminating most of them but the daylilies and the hostas will stay as will the clematis and about 15 other species to include tulips and Hollyhocks that are well behaved. I've got 5 acres so when all is said and done, I should have less than 1% introduced species here even with intentionally leaving the above mentioned plants.

I'm working on eliminating the lawn here. I get rid of a little bit more each year. I'm going to go for about an acre of prairie too. The rest will be a no-mow lawn sooner or later. Just haven't gotten that far.

My husband is the birder in this house. I garden for all the critters but his focus is on the birds. I don't know if you would be ok with this but if a tree ever dies on your property, consider not removing it and leaving it be. You wouldn't be able to do that if it was close to your home or to a neighbor's house. Dead trees (snags), like our ponds, are bird magnets. When their root systems finally fail in the years to come, the tree falls to the ground to become biomass for the soil. We have left several very tall very dead trees standing here and during the day you can see hawks in them and at dusk you can see owls in them. Nothing like a big old dead tree to provide look out for raptors. Other birds use the dead trees too. We used to have Turkey Vultures here but this is now the second season that they haven't been hanging around. They never used the dead trees in favor of hanging out on stumps closer to the ground where they would fan out their wings to bleach the bacteria.

5 acres? I wish... I do have four acres in OK that we have from the family with - unless there are any new grasses is all native but that is 4 hours away. Here I have 1/4 of an acre but I am still trying to make some thing here. I live in Dallas County - so you know there is next to nothing by way of help thus far but I am going to get working on them now I have some ideas where to look!

Mitch:

I live in Bastrop, so I'm a ways from you. I have a little over 6 acres, most in bermuda and weeds (I call them wildflowers, my DH calls them weeds), but a creek runs along two sides, so I do get some interesting plants occasionally. I don't mind sharing seeds or cuttings, when I make them. Remind me in the fall to check the big bluestem for seeds. I tend to forget things like that.

There are people who successfully garden with native plants from 5th story balconies in apartment complexes. !/4 acre is wonderful. I'm sure you'll create a great resting spot and sanctuary. My property is mostly wetlands and woodlands so that acre I am turning into prairie is about all the open space I've got so please don't get overly impressed. Now toss in a burn pit, sandboxes, a Little Tykes playhouse, and an assortment of toys scattered everywhere and that really narrows things down. I've noticed some of the best gardens are on postage size lots.

Still sounds like heaven - would love some land like that here where I could play. But I really am trying - really hard right now that I have seen just the birds and snakes all over the yard.. how can I say anything but more natives!!

I would love seeds or cuttings - everything I have here is so young but I can more then share what I can here too!

It's not heaven, it's loaded with ickies. I took out about 1000 Bucktorn and Siberian Dogwood seedlings today with my fingers. There are thousands more waiting to be plucked. It'll be heaven some day. I'm trying too, I really am.

You know, I took a good look at Kathleen's site and I plugged seeds into their search engine and this is what I found-
http://www.highcountrygardens.com/results.html?result=quicksearch&searchterm=seeds&searchtype=p&s=1&term=1&x=22&y=9
Take a close look at the seeds included in their mixes. There isn't one noxious weed in those mixes. Lots of companies use fillers of junk plants like Forget Me Nots, Dame's Rocket, Shasta and Oxe-Eye Daisies, Chicory, Baby's Breath, Queen Anne's Lace, Bachelor's Buttons, and Wallflowers. I looked at all the seeds in their native mixes and they really were native. How cool is that!

I go for the natives because they are a natural for critters. They're like a balanced diet that is nutritionally complete with the added bonus of a multiple vitamin.

OK fill me in on Queen Annes and Oxe Eye Daisy? I have gotten both plants from a Native gardener friend here who had told me that they are native...

They're both introduced species that frequently show up in Wildflower mixes that you can pick up just about anywhere. People often confuse naturalized with native. Naturalized is a term almost exclusively reserved for exotic species that have gotten a foothold in the environment to the detriment of indigenous species. So many people, like your friend, assume they are native plants because they "naturalize" well and show up in Wildflower mixes on shelves across the US.

Please start two new threads over in the Invasive Plants Forum and I suspect you will get more information than you wanted or needed from other members. I may not be able to respond for a bit because of a tight schedule this week but I'll get over there.

Will do - I will get over there I really had no idea about them need top know there is just so much out there that you can find something that will tell you anything is native more or less... I have been very disapointed in the lady Bird center for talking to folks about nonnatives - they are in to wildflowers not natives but people go there for answers.

Heading their now...