Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Planting native trees in your landscape provides pleasing aesthetics, shade in summer, and habitat for wildlife. Late winter is still a good time to add new trees to your yard.

They have the dormant season to spread roots out.

Certified arborist Scott Harris says planting trees before summer arrives gives them an advantage.

You can plant a tree if you really baby it in the summertime; but you won’t gain any growth on it until after that first cool season, anyway. The only thing you’ll gain is getting it behind you. You won’t have a bigger tree for it.

The best trees to plant are natives. Native trees evolved with local wildlife and weather, both of which keep them in check. Non-native trees have no such relationships, which can make them a nuisance.

Unfortunately, they’re still on the market out there, and you can still buy them everywhere. They’ll spread seeds that the people at the parks and preserves will have to spend hours and hours cutting down and taking away so that the natives can thrive, so that the wildlife can thrive, and the environment can function the way its supposed to.

You can find lists of native plants for your landscape on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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