Aquilegia, Vol. 12 No. 4, July-August 1988: Newsletter of the Colorado Native Plant Society (original) (raw)
6th Lone Star Regional Native Plant Conference
2012
Thank you for being part of the sixth Lone Star Regional Native Plant Conference and while you're here, please visit all of the wonderful gardens that are part of SFA Gardens. Since 1985 the Gardens have grown from a small 1/4 acre patch on the south side of the SFA Agriculture building to 128 acres of on-campus property. The gardens boast an amazing diversity of plant life that has been accumulated through a network of friends, plant enthusiasts, nurserymen, and horticulture and arboreta research colleagues in the USA. There are four main garden areas-the SFA Mast Arboretum, the Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden, the Pineywoods Native Plant Center and the Gayla Mize Garden. What makes SFA Gardens special is plants, people and plans! The Mast Arboretum is a 10-acre garden along LaNana Creek at Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas. The Arboretum began in 1985 as a project of the first Landscape Plant Materials class taught by Dr. Dave Creech. Over the years, this garden has expanded into one of the most diverse collections of plants in the South. The Mast Arboretum is dedicated to acquiring, testing, introducing and promoting new plants for the landscape and nursery industry in the southern USA. The SFA Pineywoods Native Plant Center (PNPC) is a 42-acre garden on the north end of the SFA campus dedicated in 2000. It's a unique mixture of uplands, mesic mid-slopes, and wet creek bottoms. The Tucker House serves as the central feature of the property, which is surrounded by native forest and gardens that celebrate the wonderful diversity of native plants in the region. Since 1996, endangered plant research has been a core research practice. We are in a capital campaign to build a Conservation Education Center at the PNPC, which will support our environmental education programs on-site, in all weathers and in a building that exhibits green building practices and environmental conservation practices. The eight-acre Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden is the result of a partnership of the SFA horticulture program and members of the Nacogdoches community, nurtured by several local families who believe beautiful gardens are an important part of community vitality and the education process. This garden was developed as a project of the SFA Mast Arboretum, and was begun in response to the wishes of Nacogdoches residents Mr. and Mrs. A. T. Mast, Jr. that the university beautifies its eastern entrance. It wasn't long until SFA alumna Dorothy Wisely lent a helping hand with an endowment for the garden. Construction began in an overgrown loblolly pine forest in the winter of 1997. Dedicated in April 2000, most of the plantings were completed 2 years later. Today, the garden contains 46 planting beds, 1.25 miles of universally accessible trails, and 50 benches. The garden features over 550 varieties of Rhododendron, 100 varieties of Camellia, two hundred plus Hydrangea varieties, and a wealth of other unique collections. After a decade in existence, the Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden is a highlight of the annual Nacogdoches Azalea Trail. Special events each March include guided tours during azalea season, an annual Azalea Symposium, and a Little Princess Tea Party. The Gayla Mize Garden was initiated in 2011 as the result of an endowment by SFA alumnus Ray Mize to honor his late wife Gayla Mize, a long time supporter of Nacogdoches Beautiful, SFA Gardens, and many other civic adventures in Nacogdoches. This garden is a part of the 68-Eve's Necklace, Sophora affinis, is a great small native tree with good flower interest and black seed pods that hang well into the winter. Extremely drought resistant. Mexican buckeye, Ungnadia speciosa, sports redbud like flowers, good fall color and interesting buckeye-like seed. Basically a very large shrub, this drought tolerant species has performed admirably outside of its more western habitats. Texas mountain laurel, Sophora secundiflora, is almost a commodity in central and western portions of the state, but it does remarkably well elsewhere if given good soil drainage and full sun. Beautiful blue fragrant flowers are a key feature, but the evergreen glossy foliage is unusually crisp and clean. A white flowering form is rarely encountered but is quite striking. Possumhaw, Ilex decidua, is one of our favorites. A small multi-stemmed small tree with several varieties in the trade, possumhaws are underutilized in East Texas landscapes. Red or yellow berried. 'Warren's Red' is perhaps the most common variety in the trade, but there's a real need to introduce varieties that sucker less from the ground and from the basal portion of the plant. Yaupon, Ilex vomitoria, is a commodity known for durability, evergreen nature and its ability to tolerate heavy pruning and training. 'Scarlet Peak' is a new variety that is destined to replace 'Fleming's Upright' in the years ahead. Oakleaf Hydrangea, H. quercifolia, is not native to Texas but it's nearby in Louisiana and it's such a superior landscape plant we mention it here. It has surprising drought resistance in our area, but only if soil drainage is superior. It finds the steep banks of Sara's branch at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center so comfortable it's taken to naturalizing along this stream, perhaps a first in Texas? We are evaluating a great list of oakleaf varieties and seedlings. Viburnums are reliable and make great plants for the landscape. Rusty blackhaw, Viburnum rufidulum, and Arrowwood, Viburnum dentatum, are most well known. Viburnum nudum, Smooth withered Viburnum, is showy and durable. Paul Cox, formerly of the San Antonio Botanical Garden, has introduced two great plants that have performed well in landscapes-'Lord Byron' and 'Sir Robert', and both are crosses of V. obovatum and V. rufidulum. While V. obovatum, Walter's Viburnum, is certainly popular and several varieties are available, we've found their suckering nature to be quite frustrating. Cross vine, Bignonia capreolata, is one of our favorite native vines and we love Greg Grant's introduction, 'Helen Fredel'. With big flowers, glossy evergreen foliage and a tenacious habit, there's no better vine. 'Tangerine Beauty' is more readily available. Carolina Yellow Jessamine, Gelsemium sempervirens, sports bright yellow flowers and evergreen foliage. This is a another must have vine for the Texas landscape. Trumpetcreeper, Campsis radicans, is a tenacious vine that deserves respect for its ability to find its way any where it wants to go.
5th Lone Star Regional Native Plant Conference
2010
Learning Seeds Century Plant Yucca rostrata Bathtism So ... what? Bluebonnet Indian Paintbrush Ruminant Pie Horse mint Ironweed Faces of the Future Self-Poor-trait Community Looking Back 11 STAFF SFA Gardens currently employs six staff. Trey Anderson is the research associate responsible for the maintenance and development of the PNPC. Dawn Stover is the research associate who serves as the SFA Mast Arboretum manager. Barbara Stump is a ~time research associate responsible for the Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden, proposal preparations, budgets and development activities. Elyce Rodewald is our Research Associate Education Programs Coordinator and directs the educational program for adults and children. Greg Grant is the SFA Gardens~ time research associate SFA Gardens Outreach Coordinator. Duke Pittman is the SFA Gardens Technician, with primary responsibilities associated with development and maintenance in the azalea garden. HISTORY OF THE PNPC The Pineywoods Native Plant Center (PNPC), formerly known locally as the Tucker property, is a 40-acre mix of uplands, mesic mid-slopes, and wet creek bottomland that lies on the northern edge of Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) right in the center of Nacogdoches, the "oldest town in Texas." Drs. Dave Creech and James Kroll first met early one morning in April 1998 in the SFA Mast Arboretum, a meeting called by Dr. Kroll. After thirty minutes, a goal was in place. The deal was sealed with a handshake and the first steps were made to broach the subject with SF A's administration and receive a sanction. The SFA Board of Regents approved the idea in February 1999. Technically, the PNPC is a joint project of the SFA Mast Arboretum and SF A's Forest Resources Institute, a collaboration helping both organizations fulfill their conservation and educational missions. Drs. Kroll and Creech serve as founders and for the last decade have served as co-directors of this unique center for native plant education. The mission of the PNPC is to promote education about the conservation and use of native plants of the southern forest. The PNPC was dedicated at SFA in an outdoor gala event March 27, 1999. A grand opening followed on April 8, 2000, a very high publicity event that featured the dedication of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Demonstration Garden (LBJWDG) by Lady Bird Johnson herself. With the generous help of Ellen Temple, the PNPC secured the services of Darrel Morrison, noted
4th Lone Star Regional Native Plant Conference
2008
We describe the vascular flora of select plots within longleaf pine uplands at Fox Hunter's Hill in the Sabine National Forest in eastern Texas. The eight established 0.1 ha plots contained a total of 196 species and averaged 87.25 species (range 71 to 112) per plot; sixteen 0.001 ha plots averaged 28.75 species (range 17 to 46); and sixteen 0.0001 ha plots averaged 12.44 species (range 5 to 25). A comparison between longleaf pine uplands in central Louisiana and Fox Hunter's Hill shows that they have similar floristic composition.
Review of \u3ci\u3e620 Wild Plants of North America: Fully Illustrated.\u3c/i\u3e By Tom Reaume
2011
Beautifully and profusely illustrated with the author\u27s black-and-white drawings, the 12-year project that became this book shows his love for plants. Tom Reaume focuses on a representative selection of primarily native vascular plants of the Great Plains of Canada and the northern United States found in forests, lakes, prairies, rivers, and wetlands. The book appears to be designed as a supplement for an introductory course in plant taxonomy. This book is a useful reference for those interested in the flora of the northern Great Plains and adjacent regions. I highly recommend it for college and university libraries where botany and biological illustration classes are taught on campus. The accurate, beautiful, and profuse illustrations are worth the price of the book by themselves
Significance. This is the first record for Eastern Kartesz 1999, Miller 2003). Claytonia rubra (red-stem springbeauty) is native to western North America, north to southern British Columbia, Canada, south to southern California and near northern Arizona, all along the West Coast, and east to Colorado (one station) and eastern South Dakota (Miller 2003). It is an annual, or sometimes overwintering and biennial, prostrate herb, bearing minute tuberous bodies on the root hairs (Miller 2003). Within its native range, it occurs on vernally moist dunes, in coniferous forest or scrub, in sun or shade (Hickman 1993). In Virginia, 163 flowering plants were found over an area of 28 m 3 3 m along the ecotone of a cliff bluff dominated by deciduous trees and shrubs and a grassy roadside, on bare, open, mossy ground that is vernally in full sun, but mostly shaded by late spring. The dominant associated species was the non-native herb Veronica hederifolia L. The only native species observed within the Claytonia rubra population were Carex pensylvanica Lam., Eurybia divaricata (L.) Nesom. and over hanging branches of Juglans nigra L. and Cornus florida L. All other associates were non-native, including Poa annua L., Lamium purpureum L., Stellaria media (L.) Vill., Cruciata pedemontana (Bellardi) Ehrend, and Scleranthus annuus L.
Ethnobotanical Notes from the Valley of San Luis, Colorado
Journal of Ethnobiology, 1986
Knowledge and use of plants by the Hispano Americans in the San Luis Valley of south-central Colorado, USA, are the result of selective diffusion of Mexican Spanish traditions and of the adoption of local Native American customs. Of the 66 taxa recorded in the study, the native osha (Liqusticum potteti) is one of the most important herbal remedies of this once culturally and geographically isolated region. The Pueblo Indian term osha is applied also to the European lovage (Levisticum officinale) which is cultivated as a substitute for the wild plant. Certain native plants such as Ribes leptantbum and Mentha atvensis carry introduced Mexican Spanish names and uses. In addition to gathering the plants locally, 22 species are available from commercial suppliers through local pharmacies.