Welcome to the new discussion group for the Austin chapter of the Native Plant
Society of Texas. This is a public group so messages you post will be visible
and searchable for non-members. Membership to this group is open to the general
public, not just official members of the NPSOT, and all members may post as long
as the postings are relevant to the interests of the group.
Yahoo will accept attachments to your postings, but it will not forward the
attachments to the people who receive copies of the postings by E-mail. This
Yahoo group does not allow members of the group to hide the E-mail addresses
they use for posting from other members of the group.
We may have to change these settings if spam becomes a problem.
Native American Seed has packets of seed for Prairie Verbena, Verbena
bipinnatifida var. bipinnatifida (or Glandularia bipinnatifida var.
bipinnatifida)
http://www.seedsource.com/catalog/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=3067
Lloyd
--- In NPSOTAustinTalk@yahoogroups.com, "Jerry" <oljer@...> wrote:
>
> I need native verbena. I've seen various mixes in the nurseries. Anybody
know where I can find the genuine article?
>
> Jerry
>
When you reply to a post on the Yahoo group, it is important to notice whether
the reply will be going to the whole group or just to the person who made the
post you are replying to. People who use Yahoo groups frequently send personal
messages to the whole group and vice vera. When you reply on Yahoo groups, be
sure to look at the "To:" line and click the down-arrow to see what your choices
are. Your message goes to the whole group if (and only if) you send it to:
NPSOTAustinTalk@yahoogroups.com
I sent an E-mail to Donna Howard at this page:
http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=48
It is not the best writing I have done but I guess it gets the point across. It
should be easy to convince her to do the right thing if she understands the
issues.
-----------------------------------------
Subject: Please Vote NO on HB 338
Dear Ms. Howard,
People who care about nature and the environment are in an uphill battle to
preserve our native species. HB 338 is being pushed by the big growers of
nursery plants to inhibit public organizations from exposing the invasive
characteristics of many of the plants that they sell. Plants like Ligustrum
(privet), Chinaberry, and Chinese Tallow are widely sold in big-box stores
because they propagate quickly and and make easy money for the growers and the
stores. They do not want their customers to know how damaging these plants are
to the natural areas in central Texas.
There are native species that are attractive and compatible with our local
environment that are excellent substitutes for every one of the invasive species
that are sold by the big growers. They are just too lazy to look for
alternatives.
HB 338 would interfere with communication about invasive plants by many of our
best organizations, like the LBJ Wildflower Center and the Native Plant Society
of Texas. The Texas Department of Agriculture has shown that is it is too slow
and encumbered by commercial interests to provide an effective list of invasive
species.
Thank you very much,
Lloyd Ewing
The small size of the screen for the projector at Wild Basin has always bothered
me. Am I the only one who thinks it needs to be larger?
Since we just finished another successful plant sale at the Wildflower Center, I
have a suggestion for a way that we could use some of that money. How about
saving money to buy a real projector that would be permanently mounted on the
joists across the ceiling at Wild Basin? I am talking about the kind of
projector like they use in big meeting rooms that would be powerful enough for a
screen that is twice as wide as the one we have (to cover the whole distance
between the two windows.) This would do more to improve our meetings than any
other single thing I can think of that we might be able to do. It could be
available for the benefit of all the groups that meet at Wild Basin, and it
would help to pay back Wild Basin for their hospitality over the years. (We
could arrange to give it to them as a "loan" so we could take it back in case
the political situation changes and we are not able to meet there anymore.)
I don't have any idea how much those large projectors and screens cost, but I
would guess that they might be many thousands of dollars. It might take a few
years to accumulate enough money for this project, but I think it is the best
way we could use the money we get for the chapter. My impression is that that
we don't really have any particular plan for the money we have in our chapter
treasury. It seems to sit there until someone comes and asks for a donation,
and we give it to them because we don't have anything better to do with it.
Maybe there are expenses that I don't know about. Do we pay to use Wild Basin
or have other reoccurring expenses (besides refreshments)? I have always
assumed that we have the sales at the Wildflower Center to promote native plants
and to support the Wildflower Center, and while the money we made from the sale
is important, it was a secondary benefit.
The photos on the screen are often the most important part of the presentations
at our meetings. The presentations we get from our speakers are usually
formatted for a much larger screen, and it is difficult to read the text, if it
is readable at all. I think visitors to our meetings would enjoy them much more
if they had a better view of th screen from where they sit.
That large platform in front of the screen forces the audience to sit so far
back that the screen we have seems very small to me, even when sitting in the
front row. With such a small screen it would be much better to have a portable
screen that could be set up on the front of the platform. (That platform is
large enough for a small orchestra. I wonder how often they use it. It wastes
a large area of the room because normally neither the platform nor the area on
the sides of it is used.)
While I am on the subject of projectors I have another question. Do we have
anyone besides Jason and Lisa who knows how to set up our existing projector?
Until they arrived at the last meeting it seemed like we might not be able to
use the projector. That would have been a huge hindrance to the talk that
Andrea had prepared. The error messages which that projector shows are almost
useless for diagnosing problems. Is there a manual for that projector I could
borrow so I can learn how to use it? Could we bring a manual to our meetings in
case no one there knows how to set up the machine?
What do you think? Am I the only one who has been concerned about the problems
with the projector? I know I need to find out more about the Austin chapter
budget before insisting that we should make a major purchase like this. I don't
think I have ever seen an annual budget for spending money in the treasury. Do
we have one? Would it be appropriate to post it this forum?
Thanks!
Lloyd
836-7893
In response to Lloyd's detailed posting about projectors, here are
some thoughts.
A projector that casts a larger image does allow people sitting
farther away to see better. When I was teaching, there were times
when I wouldn't let students sit in the back rows: perhaps we can
strongly encourage people in the back of the room to come closer to
the front. Or maybe we shouldn't set up any chairs farther back than
X rows (with the value of X to be determined). That's a cost-free way
of reducing the average distance between eyes and screen.
If we were to get a portable screen, we could put it anywhere we
want, and we could arrange the seats accordingly. For example, we
could turn the current arrangement 90 degrees and have the portable
screen against one of the long walls. Or we could put the projector
on a stand on the platform and project the image toward the entrance,
the opposite of how we do things now. By experimenting with different
arrangements, we might find one that works better than the current
orthodox one.
My main complaint about digital projectors is that they're designed
primarily for reports and for graphics with a limited range of
colors. Anyone who has looked at a good photograph on a good monitor
and then seen it projected on a screen is bound to be disappointed,
as I always am when I see my photographs projected: a lot of subtlety
and detail never make it out of the projector and onto the screen.
Perhaps a larger and more expensive projector can deliver a greater
tonal range than the "standard" one we have now, but we should see
the effectiveness of any more-expensive projector before buying it
and a larger screen to go with it.
One thing that kills a projected picture is ambient light. During the
winter that's not much of a problem at Wild Basin, but during the
months when the sun sets late (something made even worse by Daylight
Saving Time) there's currently no way to darken the room
sufficiently. How much would we have to spend for opaque drapes or
other material with which to darken the room?
Installing a projector at Wild Basin means that the projector
wouldn't be available for use elsewhere, should the need arise.
Projector bulbs have a limited life and are expensive to replace
(sometimes hundreds of dollars). If the folks at Wild Basin use our
projector, the bulb will need to be replaced sooner than if only we
use the projector.
Thanks to Lloyd for volunteering to learn how to use the current
projector. Modern manuals are often opaque (good luck with the one
for our projector!), but Jason and Lisa could teach other people how
the projector works and what the most common solutions to problems
are. Maybe we should set up a mini-class so that all the officers and
other interested people could learn. The more people who know how the
projector works, the more likely that at least one of them will be
present at each meeting.
Steve Schwartzman
There's been talk for quite a while of renovating the hall at Wild Basin, including adding sound-dampening materials, black-out shades ,etc. And I'm sure a projector and new screen could be added to the list. It's in St. Edward's interest to do so since that room will also be used as a natural sciences lecture hall at times. At any rate, I will talk to Monica about it.
I'm afraid the problem is getting St. E's to move on things. Talk about slow! Even getting minor repair work done takes a lot of old-fashioned nagging.
So in the meantime I think NPSOT should hang on to its money/spend it on other educational endeavors and be patient until we find out what's in the works at Wild Basin.
Yates
On May 26, 2011, at 9:44 PM, steve_and_eve wrote:
In response to Lloyd's detailed posting about projectors, here are some thoughts.
A projector that casts a larger image does allow people sitting farther away to see better. When I was teaching, there were times when I wouldn't let students sit in the back rows: perhaps we can strongly encourage people in the back of the room to come closer to the front. Or maybe we shouldn't set up any chairs farther back than X rows (with the value of X to be determined). That's a cost-free way of reducing the average distance between eyes and screen.
If we were to get a portable screen, we could put it anywhere we want, and we could arrange the seats accordingly. For example, we could turn the current arrangement 90 degrees and have the portable screen against one of the long walls. Or we could put the projector on a stand on the platform and project the image toward the entrance, the opposite of how we do things now. By experimenting with different arrangements, we might find one that works better than the current orthodox one.
My main complaint about digital projectors is that they're designed primarily for reports and for graphics with a limited range of colors. Anyone who has looked at a good photograph on a good monitor and then seen it projected on a screen is bound to be disappointed, as I always am when I see my photographs projected: a lot of subtlety and detail never make it out of the projector and onto the screen. Perhaps a larger and more expensive projector can deliver a greater tonal range than the "standard" one we have now, but we should see the effectiveness of any more-expensive projector before buying it and a larger screen to go with it.
One thing that kills a projected picture is ambient light. During the winter that's not much of a problem at Wild Basin, but during the months when the sun sets late (something made even worse by Daylight Saving Time) there's currently no way to darken the room sufficiently. How much would we have to spend for opaque drapes or other material with which to darken the room?
Installing a projector at Wild Basin means that the projector wouldn't be available for use elsewhere, should the need arise. Projector bulbs have a limited life and are expensive to replace (sometimes hundreds of dollars). If the folks at Wild Basin use our projector, the bulb will need to be replaced sooner than if only we use the projector.
Thanks to Lloyd for volunteering to learn how to use the current projector. Modern manuals are often opaque (good luck with the one for our projector!), but Jason and Lisa could teach other people how the projector works and what the most common solutions to problems are. Maybe we should set up a mini-class so that all the officers and other interested people could learn. The more people who know how the projector works, the more likely that at least one of them will be present at each meeting.
One of my neighbors tells me that several people in the area want to "xeriscape"
their yards. She asked me for a service company I could recommend. I know some
of our NPSOT members install native landscapes, but I don't have much
information on them.
The NPSOT Austin web site lists two "Landscape Designers", but I don't know if
they just draw plans or if they actually install the plants.
http://npsot.org/wp/austin/native-plant-nurseries-and-landscape-designers/
This neighborhood is middle class and does not have big yards, so I don't know
if an actual "Landscape Designer" would be interested in this kind of work.
I think it is important for our web site to provide clear information and a good
selection of service providers for people who want to hire someone to work on
their landscapes. There are so many uneducated and incompetent people doing
this kind of work. I especially think we should have it include our more active
members, like David Heberling and John Ogden.
What would have to happen to get this page updated? Is there someone who
maintains that web page, and if so who is it? Is this a question that would
have to be taken before the chapter officers?
Of course I gave this neighbor my best arguments for NATIVE plants over adapted
plants. I give her links to information about native plants, but it sounds like
she really wants to hire someone else to do the work.
Lloyd
836-7893
An article in the American-Statesman by Jane Tillman mentions the NPSOT and our
own Sally Scott. I had met Jane at our meetings but I didn't know anything
about her.
Below is an E-mail I got from the Capital Area Master Naturalist Yahoo group.
Follow the link at the end to read the rest of the story.
Lloyd
836-7893
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Statesman editorial by one of Austin's most ardent naturalists
Posted by: "Mike Quinn" entomike@... mqnature
Date: Mon Nov 28, 2011 11:59 am ((PST))
To me, Austin is all about the birds
By Jane Tillman
Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011
The Austin music scene for me begins before first light, when the resident
mockingbird tunes up while I get the newspaper. He is followed by the male
Carolina wren, who after sleeping under the eaves of our front porch, sings
"teakettle, teakettle, teakettle, tea" in the courtyard to let me know that he
has survived to greet another day. His mate answers with a buzzy fuss, so all is
well there, too.
Then I start listening for other birds — if the jays are making a ruckus,
that could mean the neighbor cat is on the prowl. Or maybe they have found the
roosting great-horned owl, which hooted all last night, and are broadcasting its
presence to the avian populace.
Austin to me is not about the latest places to shop or eat. It is not about
Sixth Street, Austin City Limits or University of Texas football. The allure of
Austin is the beauty of the grounds at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center,
the golden-cheeked warblers of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve, the liquid
notes of the canyon wren at my local haunt, Stillhouse Hollow Nature Preserve,
and yes, the birds of the solid waste treatment plant at Hornsby Bend.
When my husband and I moved from Houston to Austin, I never expected that my
life would become so attuned to the natural world. How did I get on the slippery
slope to 4 a.m. wake-ups for birding field trips to points in and around Travis
County, the Hill Country and beyond?
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/insight/to-me-austin-is-all-about-the-birds-199\
6221.html
or: http://bit.ly/sCKKnF
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: seeds for schools
Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:44:53 -0600
From: Lloyd Ewing <LloydEwing@...>
Hello everybody,
This discussion has fragmented somewhat as the list of recipients for
these E-mails has grown. I am going to take the liberty of forwarding
the discussion to the [NPSOTAustinTalk] Yahoo group. It is perfect for
a discussion like this and it reduces the clutter of E-mail for the
people who are not so interested in the topic.
I hope we can continue this discussion at [NPSOTAustinTalk]. I think
all of you have been invited to join that group. If any of you want to
be added please let me know.
I would love to have a seed cleaning party! We just need a time and
place. Any suggestions? One of us can pick up the seeds if the party
is not at Wild Basin. I have a collection of kitchen strainers etc.
that I can bring. (I don't use them for food so toxic plants are not a
problem.)
Lloyd
836-7893
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: seeds for schools
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2011 16:05:12 -0800 (PST)
From: Jan Hanz <jan_hanz@...>
Reply-To: Jan Hanz <jan_hanz@...>
To: Celeste Brancel <brancel@...>, Meredith O'Reilly
<meredith@...>, Lloyd Ewing <LloydEwing@...>
CC: Jackie OKeefe <SurferGirl@...>, Jan Roset
<JanetMRoset@...>, Jackie Davis <JackieTexNat@...>, Mike
Powers <j_michaelpowers@...>
A seed cleaning get together sounds like fun. Count me in.
Jan
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* Celeste Brancel <brancel@...>
*To:* Meredith O'Reilly <meredith@...>; Lloyd Ewing
<LloydEwing@...>
*Cc:* Jackie OKeefe <SurferGirl@...>; Jan Hanz <jan_hanz@...>;
Jan Roset <JanetMRoset@...>; Jackie Davis
<JackieTexNat@...>; Mike Powers <j_michaelpowers@...>
*Sent:* Wednesday, December 7, 2011 5:19 PM
*Subject:* Re: seeds for schools
Meredith , Lloyd, and y'all,
I think it is a good idea for further discussion too. Maybe we can
share more
thoughts by e-mail, during the Xmas social (for those who will be
attending),
and then also meet as a group before the January meeting. As the seed
exchange
committee, we could then express a unified
decision/policy/guidance/cautions to
the rest of the membership, given that they will probably want to hear it.
It would be helpful to know if members are planning on putting off
taking seed
until the spring. It would be helpful to hear from others if their
experiences
with seed exchanges can inform us along these lines.
Separating the chaff from the seed would be super helpful to determine
what we
really have. Is anybody up for a seed cleaning get together?
Celeste
----- Original Message ----
From: Meredith O'Reilly <meredith@...
<mailto:meredith@...>>
To: Lloyd Ewing <LloydEwing@... <mailto:LloydEwing@...>>
Cc: Jackie OKeefe <SurferGirl@... <mailto:SurferGirl@...>>; Jan
Hanz <jan_hanz@... <mailto:jan_hanz@...>>; Celeste
Brancel <brancel@... <mailto:brancel@...>>; Jan Roset
<JanetMRoset@... <mailto:JanetMRoset@...>>; Jackie Davis
<JackieTexNat@... <mailto:JackieTexNat@...>>; Mike Powers
<j_michaelpowers@... <mailto:j_michaelpowers@...>>
Sent: Wed, December 7, 2011 3:25:37 PM
Subject: RE: seeds for schools
This really doesn't need to be anything complicated. Just know that if we
ever find ourselves with too many seeds for any particular species, I can
serve as an outlet to try to get them to schools that would be interested.
Nice and simple! And thanks, Lloyd!
Meredith
-----Original Message-----
From: Lloyd Ewing [mailto:LloydEwing@... <mailto:LloydEwing@...>]
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 2:27 PM
To: Meredith O'Reilly
Cc: 'Jackie OKeefe'; 'Jan Hanz'; 'Celeste Brancel'; 'Jan Roset'; 'Jackie
Davis'; Mike Powers
Subject: Re: seeds for schools
Meredith,
That is a good idea, but I don't think we have so many extra seeds of any
particular species right now so that we would want to give away large
amounts to outside groups. What we have is a surplus of seed pods and other
material that was collected with the seeds. If we could clean all of them
our collection would look small. Maybe I am being stingy so let me know if
you disagree.
If someone offers to donate a large number of seeds I would love to share
them with schools. Mike Powers brought a large bag of seeds a month or two
before we started the seed exchange, and I have been intending to ask him if
he still has them. I think he had red bud seeds, and the bag he had them in
definitely looked big enough to share.
Providing seeds to outside groups could turn into such a large effort that
it would be bigger than our seed exchange. It seems like a worthy project
but it is not something I would want to take on. I think it would be
fantastic if Meredith wanted to organize it as a separate project. It would
need to start by putting out a request for large quantities of seeds,
because people who donate to our seed exchange know that we are operating on
a small scale.
If you want to provide seeds for children to work with, it is important that
the seeds by easy to handle and germinate. It is also probably important
that the children would be able to see significant results for their efforts
within months. Mountain laurel is a good example of a seed that produces a
substantial-looking plant quickly. Other easy plants are also readily
available like bluebonnet, retama, oaks, etc.
Lloyd
836-7893
on 12/7/11 9:12 AM Meredith O'Reilly said the following:
> If we find ourselves in excess of seeds, there are several schools
> that would be interested in growing some with their students for their
> schoolyard habitats. Do we have a plan for what to do with excess
> seeds or if a school is interested in some? Definitely something we
> should talk about. Dale Bulla mentioned something about seeds to the
> AISD Environmental Stewardship Committee, so there might be an
> occasional request and we should know what our policies are
> (alternatively, when we have extra seeds, we could simply offer them
> to the AISD Outdoor Learning Specialist, who could distribute them to
> interested schools). But it does seem like a good idea, particularly
> for those prolific seed producers, like Gregg's Mistflower and
Lindheimer's Senna, etc -- ones that are easy to grow and not rare or
hard-to-find.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Meredith O'Reilly
>
>
>
--
Lloyd Ewing
(512)836-7893
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: seeds for schools
Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:32:15 -0600
From: Meg Inglis <plantnative07@...>
To: Meredith O'Reilly <meredith@...>, 'Lloyd Ewing'
<LloydEwing@...>, Jackie Okeefe <SurferGirl@...>, Jan Hanz
<jan_hanz@...>, Celeste Brancel <brancel@...>, 'Jan Roset'
<JanetMRoset@...>, Jacqueline Davis <JackieTexNat@...>
CC: Leslie Bush <leslie.bush@...>, Kathy Trizna
<kbtrizna@...>, Bill-Yates Barreda <webarreda@...>,
Matt Turner <drmwturner@...>, Jerry Mayfield
<oljer@...>, Monica Swartz <monicasw@...>
Hi all -
Good thinking, Meredith! I do think we should be giving excess seeds to a
worthy cause. In addition, I think a policy is a really good idea. I'm sure
we will have requests for seeds for various projects from time to time
(probably already have) and a decision should be made by us now as to how to
prioritize the requests.
Lloyd, could you set up a meeting to discuss this? Maybe before or after the
January meeting? I would like to at least attend part of the meeting...and I
bet the other board members might want to come as well.
In the meantime, if you could all think of who has requested seeds and your
thoughts on who should get them and why - to prepare for the meeting - that
would be great. (individuals, schools, public/private parks, like minded
organizations such as Wild Basin, Master Naturalists, TPWD, other)
Thanks! And see you Tuesday!
Meg
On 12/7/11 9:12 AM, "Meredith O'Reilly" <meredith@...> wrote:
> If we find ourselves in excess of seeds, there are several schools that
> would be interested in growing some with their students for their schoolyard
> habitats. Do we have a plan for what to do with excess seeds or if a school
> is interested in some? Definitely something we should talk about. Dale Bulla
> mentioned something about seeds to the AISD Environmental Stewardship
> Committee, so there might be an occasional request and we should know what
> our policies are (alternatively, when we have extra seeds, we could simply
> offer them to the AISD Outdoor Learning Specialist, who could distribute
> them to interested schools). But it does seem like a good idea, particularly
> for those prolific seed producers, like Gregg's Mistflower and Lindheimer's
> Senna, etc -- ones that are easy to grow and not rare or hard-to-find.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Meredith O'Reilly
>
>
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: seeds for schools
Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2011 08:51:47 -0800 (PST)
From: Jan Hanz <jan_hanz@...>
Good thoughts all...FYI there are others doing the same thing. See
attached from CAMN asking for volunteers for the KAB project.
Jan
*Seed Savers Sorting *(North)
*Flexible Date & Time: Monday – Friday between 8 am - 4 pm*
*KAB’s Office,* 55 North IH-35, Suite 215 - 78702
Keep Austin Beautiful has a free native seed program, Seed Savers
–www.keepaustinbeautiful.org/seedsavers
<http://keepaustinbeautiful.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=531cecfe57b440f3b2\
4498f1e&id=a9851669a5&e=2cd4084f58>
, where citizens send in native seeds from their garden and we send the
seeds to school and riparian restoration projects to promote native plants.
We need a few good volunteers who are willing to collect seeds and bring
them to our office. Volunteers may harvest the seeds from the seedpods,
or deliver them intact and we will have another volunteer help with the
harvesting and packaging. We will count all time spent collecting and
harvesting as volunteer hours.
RSVP: Contact Ladye Anne Ladye.Anne@...
<compose?to=Ladye.Anne@...> to setup a time to
volunteer
--- On *Thu, 12/8/11, Meg Inglis /<plantnative07@...>/* wrote:
From: Meg Inglis <plantnative07@...>
...
There will be a series of panel discussions on plants and water conservation
beginning Tuesday January 24. The first one looks like it could be very
interesting. Details are below.
It would be interesting to hear Bill Nieman. I wonder what brings him to Austin
and if we might be able to get him to speak at one of our chapter meetings.
Following the links for Dr. Mark Simmons, I can't tell if Habitturf is really an
improvement over buffalo grass or if it is just a marketing program. (I will
leave it to someone else to dig through his scholarly paper.) This could be an
important development.
Lloyd
836-7893
==================================================================
The following is the first in a series of panels focused on the theme "Oh, but
for a drop of water!" The 4th Tuesday of every month in the spring will offer
different perspectives about dealing with a long term drought and decisions that
homeowners must make. The first panel is focusing on lawns. Free and open to
the public.
Date: 6:30 PM, Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Location: Laura Bush Library, 9411 Bee Cave Rd. Austin, TX 78733
About 4 miles west of Loop 360 at the intersection of Bee Caves and Cuernavaca
Dr.
Speakers:
Bill Neiman, Co-Founder of the Native American Seed Co.
http://www.seedsource.com/
Dr. Mark Simmons, Wildflower Center, Habitturf
http://www.wildflower.org/feature/?id=78
Justin Kasulka, Big Red Sun
http://bigredsunaustin.com/archive/portfolio/westlake/
More information is available here:
http://www.westbank.lib.tx.us/browse/programs_adults/
These future talks in the series are listed on that web site:
* February 28 - Discover the most appropriate trees and plants for our area.The
panelist will be Colleen Dieter from Red WheelBarrow Landscaping. Colleen will
discuss which plants will be happiest in our new climate and how to care for
them. April Rose from Tree Folks will discuss choosing and caring for
drought-hardy trees.
* March 27 - Hear from a panel including a representative from the LCRA and the
local water district as well as a community member with rain water reclamation
experience.
* April 24 - To Attract ... Or Not - Learn how to attract (or not) wildlife to
your garden.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [camn] Digest Number 1554
Date: 21 Jan 2012 13:42:34 -0000
From: camn@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Speaker for non-native plants
Posted by: "Patricia McGee" drpmcgee@... drpamcgee
Date: Fri Jan 20, 2012 10:06 am ((PST))
The Oh but for a Drop of Water panel series at the Laura Bush Library needs a
speaker to address non-native invasive species to avoid in backyard landscaping.
Anyone have any recommendations or willing to volunteer?
Thanks!
--
Patricia McGee
*Live as if you would die tomorrow, learn as if you would live forever. (*
Ghandi)
drpmcgee@...
512.289.4464
Hey fellow seed exchange committee & other interested parties,
If Wildbasin is available this Saturday, Feb 18th, afternoon, 1-3:30 p.m. or so,
could you make it to a seed cleaning/seed exchange committee meeting? If not
this Saturday afternoon, how about next Saturday morning 9:30 to noon? Please
respond ASAP, so I can check availability with Kim.
Given Jan's e-mail, the thought occurred to me that we could consider doing a
donation to KAB, once we have figured out what we have, what we need, etc. and
let them be the go to place for schools and projects looking for seed.
Wishing this is the last of this year's winter cold days,
Celeste
P.S.
The meeting 'agenda' or respondents to this discussion could address some of the
following (or not):
What do you want out of the committee/exchange?
What do you envision your role to be, at least, at most?
Can any members committ to signing up for rotational set-up, take down, and
staffing?
What do we like about how things are going to-date? Survey membership?
Is there anything we want to change? If so, what?
We seem to receive a lot of questions about what the seeds need in terms of
growing requirements that the contributor's do not necessarily include or know
about. Can we have a subcommittee that can take turns, researching the various
needs. We could also ask members that take the seeds to grow, to send us a
summary of whatever (if anything), they find out about the growing
requirements/preferences. This could just be printing ou the Wildflower
Center's page on the species, for people to reference.
--- In NPSOTAustinTalk@yahoogroups.com, Lloyd Ewing <lloyd.ewing@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: seeds for schools
> Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2011 08:51:47 -0800 (PST)
> From: Jan Hanz <jan_hanz@...>
>
>
> Good thoughts all...FYI there are others doing the same thing. See
> attached from CAMN asking for volunteers for the KAB project.
>
> Jan
>
>
>
> *Seed Savers Sorting *(North)
>
> *Flexible Date & Time: Monday â€" Friday between 8 am - 4 pm*
>
> *KAB’s Office,* 55 North IH-35, Suite 215 - 78702
>
> Keep Austin Beautiful has a free native seed program, Seed Savers
> â€"www.keepaustinbeautiful.org/seedsavers
>
<http://keepaustinbeautiful.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=531cecfe57b440f3b2\
4498f1e&id=a9851669a5&e=2cd4084f58>
>
> , where citizens send in native seeds from their garden and we send the
> seeds to school and riparian restoration projects to promote native plants.
>
> We need a few good volunteers who are willing to collect seeds and bring
> them to our office. Volunteers may harvest the seeds from the seedpods,
> or deliver them intact and we will have another volunteer help with the
> harvesting and packaging. We will count all time spent collecting and
> harvesting as volunteer hours.
>
> RSVP: Contact Ladye Anne Ladye.Anne@...
> <compose?to=Ladye.Anne@...> to setup a time to
> volunteer
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- On *Thu, 12/8/11, Meg Inglis /<plantnative07@...>/* wrote:
>
>
> From: Meg Inglis <plantnative07@...>
> ...
>
This morning I received a message that had been posted to the
[NPOST-WilliamsonCounty-announce] Yahoo group. This sounds like it could be
important to people who are interested in plat rescues. I am overwhelmed right
now and I don't have time to check into it.
The plant rescue descrbed in the forwarded E-mail was last weekend. I am
assuming that plants are still available to be rescued, since the message I
received was posted on Tuesday. The original posting to
[NPSOT-WilliamsonCounty-announce] is here:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/NPSOT-WilliamsonCounty-announce/message/885
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [NPSOT-WilliamsonCounty-announce] Fwd: Plant Salvage On I-35
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:50:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: Billye Adams <billye_adams@...>
To: Williams Co NPSOT <npsot-williamsoncounty-announce@yahoogroups.com>
[Attachment(s) from Billye Adams included below]
I received this email from our member Ilse Meier yesterday. She was encouraged
by Mickey Burleson (of the famous Burleson Prairie & NPAT) to pass it along to
our members. A bit to read, but a great opportunity to rescue plants, if you can
figure out the area.
Ilse was there yesterday and says, "It was beautiful with hyacinths and
celestials blooming. There are hundreds and when the trucks are coming through
there will not be many survivors. We can dig and rescue any time the trucks are
not bulldozing next to the access road. Please share this with the other
Williamson County members. This is rescue at its finest. I got prairie parsley,
purple winecups, celestials, hyacinths, yuccas and some others. "
========================================================
Feel free to share with like minds.
Notice to Native Plant and Prairie Enthusiasts
We have a rare opportunity to harvest native prairie plants threatened with
approaching destruction by the expansion of I-35 through Bell County. In fact,
if it hadn’t been for recent rains, they might already be gone. Many of them
will be destroyed by next week if not before. Work is progressing rapidly. Any
of you who are willing to get down and dirty digging plants for transplanting
will need to meet with us at the following locations and times. Please read all
the way through.
TIMES: Friday, 9 a.m. till we’re worn out, and Sunday, 1 p.m. till same.
(Note: This planed rescue was last weekend.)
LOCATIONS: There are two sites, each different from the other because of
soil differences. They are across the Interstate from each other just north of
Temple between the Temple Loop exit by the big Shell station and the Berger Road
exit farther north.
The east side site is past the Little Elm Creek crossing, coming from the
south, and before the truck repair business at the top of the hill where the
road levels off. A large billboard is in the middle of the site. There is a
dirt entry road just south of the billboard. Watch closely for it. It’s not
very long, and if it’s full, you may park on the access road right-of-way. It
would be advisable to reserve the entry road for pickups that can load up more
plants.
The west side site is between the RV camp to the north and the creek
crossing to the south. The middle of this site has previously been scraped down
to the caliche or chalk, but there are plenty of prairie plants to the north and
especially the south. There is good parking space in the cleared area.
These two sites are rich in large and diverse numbers of prairie forbs and
legumes, as well as prairie grasses. Bob and Mickey Burleson have collected
these sites for over 30 years for their prairie restorations and
reconstructions. Both sites are degraded because of lack of management. The
east side has the deeper soil but has been badly invaded by woody species and
now looks more like a woodland than a prairie, but the prairie species diversity
has remained as good as ever. The west side has thinner soils underlain by
caliche and the appropriate species are represented there. Many of the same
species may be found at both sites.
Among the plants of interest here are prairie hyacinth and prairie
celestial, both on the east side of the highway. There is the largest
collection of hyacinth Bob and Mickey ever ran across in their collecting in
Central Texas, and virtually all of it will be destroyed by the highway
expansion. Both it and the prairie celestial grow from bulbs. Mickey found
recently that it is easy to dig them with a spading fork to loosen the soil.
Several bulbs can be planted in one pot with the loosened soil, or held
temporarily with a trowel full of soil in a plastic bag. Both of these plants
are beautiful and rarely found in Central Texas. There will be people on site
to identify these and other plants.
Other prairie plants of note at these sites include the pink-flowered
prairie onion, cobaea penstemon, winecup, blue flax, Englemann or cutleaf daisy,
puccoon, Jerseytea, Brazosmint, rattany, prairie clovers, skullcap, etc.
WORDS OF WARNING: Representatives of the construction company have been
friendly to us. We want to keep their friendship because there will be other
sites between Temple and Waco where they will be working and where we may be
able to salvage more plants in the coming days so long as we don’t get in
their way. So…DO NOT TRY TO WORK IN AREAS WHERE CONSTRUCTION CREWS ARE
ACTIVE. We have promised them we will stay out of their way. As long as we do
this, they won’t prohibit our collecting. We have been told they do not work
on Sundays, but it is possible that this Sunday they will work to make up for
time lost because of recent rains. We doubt they will be working at either site
on Friday because of the wet ground, but if they are working then, they will
likely not be working on both sites. ALSO, part of each of these sites is still
in private ownership. The new right-of-way is marked by waste-high wooden
stakes, usually flagged. To keep us out of trouble, stay off the
privately-owned property.
A few suggestions: Bring with you a sharpshooter shovel, spading fork,
trowel, pots, plastic bags, gloves and insect repellent (there may be chiggers).
Wear long pants, boots or sturdy shoes, sun protection. And watch out for
poison ivy which has moved into many areas of the site, especially on the east
side under the trees. Most of the poison ivy had not leafed out yet last week
and may be hard to ID; so ask someone to help you. There are few seed left on
the plants from last year for collecting. About the only ones may be cobaea
penstemon which hang on a long time. Jerseytea should be blooming. It is a
shrubby plant with clusters of white blossoms.
Joanne Millican and Mickey Burleson plan to be on site both days to help
you ID plants although Mickey may be late arriving on Sunday . Hopefully, there
will be others to help with identification. You can call Mickey at 254 718
1537 or Joanne at 254 718 2197.PS -- If you want to dig plants but have no place
to put them, there will be plenty of folks on hand willing to take them for
their own restoration projects. Joanne Millican for one. Nanette Whitten for
another. And the people at Grassland Research Ctr who are doing a prairie
restoration on site. However, these people may need your help in planting. You
may also plant them in your own flowerbeds where you can keep them watered and
later collect seed for restoration areas.
Attachment(s) from Billye Adams
1 of 1 File(s)
PlantSalvageOn35.doc
<http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/9703431/887414141/name/PlantSalvageOn35%2Edoc>
Hey I was wondering if anyone knows much about the plantings at Upper Crust
Bakery (corner of 45th and Burnet).
They have a wonderful Eve's Necklace planted at the corner and two square
planters with what look to be Texas Madrones that are currently in bloom!
All plantings have been there for a number of years, but it suddenly dawned on
me that they are growing Madrones!
Who planted these, who is caring for them, and what is their secret!!!!!
John
I have been requested by Dr. Chip Taylor at Monarch Watch to try to gather seeds
of Asclepias viridis. Does anyone know of significant stands in the Austin area
and if pods are ready? I will make the trip to collect or we'd love to get help
collecting.
A. asperula seems to be played out now, but would love to get seeds of these as
well.
Seeds will be sent to a local grower for propagation and local distribution.
We need some more volunteers who can help with the seed exchange that we have at
our Austin NPSOT chapter meetings. http://npsot.org/wp/austin/seed-exchange/
None of these things we need help with are hard, and they are all indoor
activities. I have included a list of the things we need most below. Please
send me an E-mail or call if you are interested or want more information.
1) We need people who can help set-up/put-away the seed exchange and sit at the
table at the NPSOT meetings when I cannot be there. We don't have anyone for
the August chapter meeting yet.
2) We need people who want to come to a seed cleaning party. Since most of the
seed donations we get include a lot of other plant materials besides the seeds,
they can take a lot of storage apace. We have to clean those seeds or we run
out of space. The Wildflower Center has a wonderful seed lab with professional
seed cleaning equipment that they let us use, including a "blower" that uses
moving air to separate the seeds from everything else. There are things we
could do if we met elsewhere, too.
3) We need someone who can look up each species we have to find out whether the
seeds loose their viability when they are dried. This info should be easy to
find on the internet.
4) For the seeds that loose their viability when dried, we need someone to
investigate how to store them and the length of time those seeds can be stored
before they loose their viability. Some of this info should be in Jill Nokes
book.
5) We need people who can take some seeds home that need to be dried. We dry
them by putting them in a sealed jar in the refrigerator with some desiccant
(silica gel). The desiccant needs to be changed occasionally as it absorbs the
mositure from the seeds. (Some of our seeds may be poisonous, so the person who
does this should probably not have small children around the house.)
6) We need a few more containers that can be securely sealed for drying
seeds. I think screw tops are best, and it is nice if the containers are clear.
(I have lots of 16 oz. plastic jars we can use that contained dry roasted
peanuts, but they are tall and narrow so it is hard to reach in and pull out
bags of seeds.)
7) It would be nice to have some small cloth bags made of light-weight material.
We use these when we are drying seeds to keep the seeds separate from the
desiccant. They can be held closed with rubber bands. If we don't have bags we
can cut out squares of fabric and fold them closed.
Thanks very much for everyones help and participation! If there is something
else you want to do for the seed exchange that isn't on this list, please let me
know. I am looking forward to seeing everyone.
Lloyd
836-7893
Sign me up for a seed cleaning party! The last one was really fun, and I learned a lot.
Leslei
On Jul 12, 2012, at 6:00 AM, Lloyd Ewing wrote:
We need some more volunteers who can help with the seed exchange that we have at our Austin NPSOT chapter meetings. http://npsot.org/wp/austin/seed-exchange/
None of these things we need help with are hard, and they are all indoor activities. I have included a list of the things we need most below. Please send me an E-mail or call if you are interested or want more information.
1) We need people who can help set-up/put-away the seed exchange and sit at the table at the NPSOT meetings when I cannot be there. We don't have anyone for the August chapter meeting yet.
2) We need people who want to come to a seed cleaning party. Since most of the seed donations we get include a lot of other plant materials besides the seeds, they can take a lot of storage apace. We have to clean those seeds or we run out of space. The Wildflower Center has a wonderful seed lab with professional seed cleaning equipment that they let us use, including a "blower" that uses moving air to separate the seeds from everything else. There are things we could do if we met elsewhere, too.
3) We need someone who can look up each species we have to find out whether the seeds loose their viability when they are dried. This info should be easy to find on the internet.
4) For the seeds that loose their viability when dried, we need someone to investigate how to store them and the length of time those seeds can be stored before they loose their viability. Some of this info should be in Jill Nokes book.
5) We need people who can take some seeds home that need to be dried. We dry them by putting them in a sealed jar in the refrigerator with some desiccant (silica gel). The desiccant needs to be changed occasionally as it absorbs the mositure from the seeds. (Some of our seeds may be poisonous, so the person who does this should probably not have small children around the house.)
6) We need a few more containers that can be securely sealed for drying
seeds. I think screw tops are best, and it is nice if the containers are clear. (I have lots of 16 oz. plastic jars we can use that contained dry roasted peanuts, but they are tall and narrow so it is hard to reach in and pull out bags of seeds.)
7) It would be nice to have some small cloth bags made of light-weight material. We use these when we are drying seeds to keep the seeds separate from the desiccant. They can be held closed with rubber bands. If we don't have bags we can cut out squares of fabric and fold them closed.
Thanks very much for everyones help and participation! If there is something else you want to do for the seed exchange that isn't on this list, please let me know. I am looking forward to seeing everyone.
Are there any plans to have a seed and plant swap in the Austin area for native
plants? I have not come across anything like this yet there are so many
gardeners here.
I would be willing to help organize but don't have a place to hold a swap.
Any information on any seed or plant swap in this area would be really welcome.
I listed spring because so many plants need to be trimmed or divided in early
spring, it is an ideal time.
Sherry Murray
Sherry,
We usually swap plants and seeds at our NPSOT Austin chapter meetings.
The plants that people bring in vary a lot and you never know what plants we
will have. We have had some wonderful seed donations so we have a good variety
of seeds to share.
If you can please come to next meeting and see what we have in our seed
collection.
http://npsot.org/wp/austin/2012/12/27/chapter-meeting-january-15-2013-7-9-pm/
We usually have our seed exchange at every meeting, although I missed the
December meeting so I don't know if it was set up.
Thanks for offering to help organize a swap! We are always looking for people
who want to help, and there are many things we would like to do if we had more
help. The way our seed exchange currently works is describe on this web page:
http://npsot.org/wp/austin/seed-exchange/
Please call me or send an E-mail if you have comments or questions,
Lloyd
836-7893
--- In NPSOTAustinTalk@yahoogroups.com, "khandjo4" wrote:
>
> Are there any plans to have a seed and plant swap in the Austin area for
native plants? I have not come across anything like this yet there are so many
gardeners here.
>
Anything new in the works? I have only been living here a few months, but would
like to find some seed swaps going on, or something of the kind. Thanks
Laura,
Welcome to Austin! We usually have a seed swap at our monthly chapter meetings.
You can read all about them at the chapter web site, or contact me individually
if you want have questions or just want to talk.
http://NPSOT.org/Austin/
I will look forward to meeting you,
Lloyd
836-7893
--- In NPSOTAustinTalk@yahoogroups.com, "Laura" <analyzdconfusion@...> wrote:
>
> Anything new in the works? I have only been living here a few months, but
would like to find some seed swaps going on, or something of the kind. Thanks
>
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