Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

One of the things we tout about Wildscapes—which are landscapes comprised of native wildflowers and other native plants that provide food and shelter for wildlife—is how little maintenance they require once established.

That doesn’t make them entirely carefree, though.

Dr. Damon Waitt, senior botanist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, says fall and winter can keep a body busy working on Wildscapes.

Fall and winter are both great times to start working on the wildflowers that we don’t think of as wildflowers: our trees and shrubs. And so, you can be planting trees and shrubs, you can be doing tree and shrub maintenance, pruning, and trimming your plants back—your small perennial, herbaceous plants—your lantanas, and things like that. You know, getting rid of that brush so the plants have room to grow the following spring. You can be collecting leaves and vegetative material from your plants to start your mulch pile, so you have mulch. There’s lots of things you can do in the garden in fall and winter.

So, if you thought you were free of yard work until spring…sorry.

That’s our show….we receive support from the Wildlife Restoration program…working to protect and preserve wildlife habitat in Texas….For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

If cats, dogs and grackles are the only wildlife visiting your backyard—you need a wildscape. Creating one is not as tough as you might think.

02–You know, the hardest part is just getting started.

Kelly Bender is an urban wildlife biologist and co-author of the book Texas Wildscapes, and was instrumental in creating the Texas Wildscapes interactive DVD, which comes with the book, and guides users through planning an urban oasis.

15–The wildscape DVD is designed to help people to get started in planning their habitat, understanding what wildlife need to succeed, or to survive, and to give them the tools that they need to start implementing wildlife habitat management principles in their own gardens and landscapes.

Just pop the DVD into your computer, and a wealth of information, including which plants will grow in your area and what wildlife they attract, is at your fingertips.

20–We made this product that allows us to enter in different variables. So, you can say, well, I want something that is native to Central Texas, that needs a lot of sunshine or a little bit of sunshine, or attracts hummingbirds, or attracts songbirds, or whatever it is that you really want to have in a plant. And it will give you a list of plants that are appropriate for your goals.

Texas Wildscapes DVDs come with the Texas Wildscapes book from book sellers through Texas A & M Press.

That’s our show…we receive support from the Wildlife restoration program, working to preserve habitat in Texas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

Trees are habitat for wildlife. And if you’re adding new trees to your landscape, you need to know the rules.

People frequently ask how close they can put a tree to the house, because shade on the house obviously is a huge energy savings. The general rule of thumb is you go no closer to the house than the eaves are high. So, if you measure up to the eaves of your house, and it’s ten feet high, then you need to get ten feet back from the house.

Scott Harris, a certified arborist in Austin, recommends planting only native specimens.

You always want to plant your trees at the exact level they were in the pot. Don’t dig a big deep hole, dig a big wide hole. Always use the same soil you took out to backfill. But, you can put your compost underneath the mulch, and then all of that organic goodness will dribble down in the way that nature intended.

By watering infrequently and deeply, we can help new trees develop extensive root systems.

If you just have a little bit of water in one area, that’s where the roots are going to go. But if you water very deeply, it’ll spread into the surrounding soil, and the roots will follow that moisture out.

Strong root systems help trees remain strong and withstand drought.

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

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This is passport to Texas

Now is an ideal time to plant trees throughout most of Texas…and you might wonder why.

Two reasons: the two most important constituents in tree planting—the people planting the trees and the trees. It’s just much easier on them.

Scott Harris is a certified arborist in Austin. Tree planting season in Texas started in October and continues through March.

Getting the trees in the ground in the fall [and winter], they have the entire cool season, dormant season, to spread roots out before the big demands on roots and water start in the spring.

Just because a tree will grow in Texas, doesn’t mean it should grow here. Harris advises that we all exercise caution about what we plant in our yards.

The biggest thing to avoid is non-natives. Our natives have all of the features you would want, but they’ve spent thousands and thousands of years getting used to being here, and with all of the wildlife used to having them, too. It’s all a web, and you can’t tell which string you can pull out without upsetting things.

Tomorrow we’ll have a few tree planting tips to help you and your newly planted tree enjoy a long and happy life together.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

If cats, dogs and grackles are the only wildlife visiting your backyard—you need a wildscape. Creating one is not as tough as you might think.

You know, the hardest part is just getting started.

Kelly Bender is an urban wildlife biologist and co-author of the book Texas Wildscapes. She was instrumental in creating the new Texas Wildscapes interactive DVD, which guides users through planning an urban oasis.

The Wildscape DVD is designed to help people to get started in planning their habitat, understanding what wildlife need to succeed, or to survive, and to give them the tools that they need to start implementing wildlife habitat management principles in their own gardens and landscapes.

Just pop the DVD into your computer, and a wealth of information, including which plants will grow in your area and what wildlife they attract, is at your fingertips.

We made this product that allows us to enter in different variables. So, you can say, well, I want something that is native to Central Texas, that needs a lot of sunshine or a little bit of sunshine, or attracts hummingbirds, or attracts songbirds, or whatever it is that you really want to have in a plant. And it will give you a list of plants that are appropriate for your goals.

Texas Wildscaping DVDs are free and available now. But quantities are limited. Go to passporttotexas.org to find out how to obtain your copy.

That’s our show…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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To obtain your copy of the free Wildscaping DVD, send an email to:nature@tpwd.state.tx.us

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