Start a Native Plant Garden

- Howdy, I'm John Hart Asher.

This week on "Central Texas Gardener", let's add more native plant diversity.

In a standard front yard, Michelle and Louis Lay went for a wildlife habitat all year long.

Drake White from The Nectar Bar, a native plant nursery in San Antonio, picks options for sun and shade.

Daphne answers your questions, and Leslie Uppinghouse from the Wildflower Center prunes wax mallows, also called turk's cap.

So, let's get growing, right here, right now.

- [Announcer] Central Texas Gardener is made possible by the generous support by Lisa and Desi Rhoden.

Thank you.

(bright music) - When Louis and Michelle Lay's grass and foundation plants bit the dust in drought, they went for native plants.

One nook at a time, they've layered wildlife habitat from the front door to the curb.

- We wanna attract as many hummingbirds and bees and butterflies as we can.

Hi, we are Michelle and Louis Lay, and we bought our house in 2018 and we started on the garden in fall of 2019.

We started out with kind of basic builder plants, not much interest, and slowly, over years, we've been replacing the plants with native plants.

- When we first bought the house, as far as we know, it was a rental for a long time.

And so, the yard was in a state that you would kind of expect.

There wasn't much here, we had the trees, we had the cenizo, but pretty much everything else we ripped out and replaced.

We started with a lot of the adapted plants and we noticed that, by the end of the summer, a lot of them were starting to look really bad or dying.

And so, that's when we kind of made the move to all native plants because they can take the heat without us having to water it every day.

- We have mainly clay soil, but there's a variety of different conditions.

So our front yard is gently sloping down, so it is a little bit better drained, and then there's other portions in our yard where it's a little bit of a denser clay soil.

So you really need to experiment with your plants and see which plants can tolerate that dense clay and which need better drainage.

And then a lot of parts of our yard, because we are so close to the Edwards Plateau, have a lot of limestone within the clay.

So depending on the exact location, it can be clay or a little bit rocky.

- Our yard is a mix of Bermuda, horseherb, some other random grasses.

It's too much to fight the Bermuda to get it all out, so we just treat it as just a mix of everything in the yard and mow it as if it's, you know, a turf lawn.

I think for, you know, kind of separating stuff out, one, it's good to have a barrier to be able to mow and edge against.

- So for our foundation bed, it started out with a lot of old hedges and we didn't like that the hedges were covering up our windows and blocking our light in the house.

So we ripped all that up and kind of made the bed a little bit bigger and we started focusing on flowering perennials that would be shorter, that would give us a lot of blooms throughout the year so that we could kind of enjoy and invite people into our space and make it look really cheery.

Kind of starting from the left, we have some heartleaf skullcap, some native cacti, a flame acanthus, some different coneflowers.

One of the larger perennials is the Texas lantana, we also have Engelmann daisy, which bloom in the early spring, we have coreopsis that bloom a little later in the spring and then winecups and prairie verbena that kind of also gives us continuous blooms.

And the inland sea oats on the left side gives some height over on that other side and fills in a space that's pretty moist that not a lot of other stuff will tolerate due to the gutters.

- [Louis] We're fortunate that there's a preserve two blocks away from our house.

And so, we would go in there, see what thrives and works in there, and then, if you can find that plant at the nursery, you know that it's likely to work in your yard.

- We started out focusing really on perennials because we didn't wanna have to necessarily replace our plants all the time, we wanted lower maintenance, and as time went on, we realized we also wanted those annual wildflowers to give us really, you know, fun pops of color and just add some variety.

So, we've added a lot of annuals using seeds as well.

And it's a little bit more difficult to tell what's going to happen with the seeds and you have to be patient, so it's definitely a learning process, but it's well worth it.

By the left fence and it used to just be turf grass there and we decided, let's use this little corner and take some of the lawn out and put some more plants.

So we ended up cardboard mulching it for a whole season.

It was a long season of just, you know, ugly cardboard sitting there, but it did work.

We have some stuff for the hummingbirds over there, we have the standing cypress and the mealy blue sage, which are great.

In the back corner is the evergreen sumac, which is a really beautiful evergreen shrub for here in central Texas.

And then, we have red columbine, four-nerve daisy, a nolina and a skeleton-leaf goldeneye in the middle.

So, the best time to plant native perennials and also native wildflower seeds is in the fall.

So we try to do most of our new plantings in the fall, but we do still do some planting in the spring and even during the winter, if we can try to get away with it, we know it's a little bit of a risk, but to really get it ready to fill out, sometimes we plant in the spring as well.

- So the desert willow strip, so originally that was a really large Arizona cypress that was was here when we bought the house and we did really enjoy it, but we lost it in the 2021 freeze.

So when we took that out, we decided to start over, kind of keep the same boundaries that we had had where the Arizona cypress had created kind of its own little bed with its needles.

So we replaced it with the desert willow and then kind of just surrounded it with perennials.

And then, in the spring, we have lots of wildflowers to fill in.

- The woolly ironweed should be really fun when it starts blooming, it gets bright purple blooms and attracts a lot of pollinators.

We started going to Native Plant Society local chapter meetings, and started learning a lot more through that venue, and that's been really, really helpful.

And then, I also got more and more interested in volunteering and completed Texas Master Naturalist training in 2022.

So the right driveway strip started with really just that large cenizo and a couple of Salvia greggii.

When we first moved in, we weeded it and then, over time, we just started adding to it.

It really does draw neighbors into our yard, a lot of times, if I'm out there weeding and someone's walking their dog, they'll stop and look at the flowers and it'll start up a conversation.

Right at the curb, we have kind of a micro-prairie where we have grasses, wildflowers, a lot of prairie plants in there in front of the cenizo.

We don't have a sprinkler system here, and it's not really practical for us to install one in this small of a yard.

So we really just do everything by hand.

So that means some intensive watering, right when things are planted for about a week or two.

And then we kind of let them gradually, you know, wean off of any watering.

And so, most of our plants don't get supplemental watering other than in the middle of the summer if it's, you know, very, very dry.

As you enter into our backyard, we have two strips on either side of the sidewalk where we have dappled shade, so we really filled those up with a lot of dense native plants, including some hummingbird plants, we love to attract the hummingbirds and see those every day.

My office overlooks those gardens, so it's really fun to see the birds there.

We have an area in progress that we are planning to turn into a rain garden.

Our goal with that will be to dig that out a little further, deeper, and capture stormwater as it runs off.

- And that part up against the house has been another like trial and error area because it gets the really bad afternoon sun.

But it also, when it rains, it kind of the water consolidates there.

So you have to find plants that can deal with the dryness and the sun, as well as can deal with periodic flooding.

- While the wildflowers are all really vibrant right now in the spring, in parts of the middle of summer and also in the late fall and winter, they will start to look different, so they'll be more brown, they'll be going to seed, they might be going, you know, dormant if it's too dry.

So part of what we want to do to maintain habitat is to let those seeds be so we don't necessarily immediately cut everything down as soon as it looks starts to look brown.

You can leave some of the messy parts for wildlife and still have a good relationship with your neighbors.

When I started my Instagram account for the garden, I called it @falsedayflower, that was the first wildflower that popped up in the yard and I thought it was kind of a nice name to use for the account.

We have gotten a lot of nice, friendly feedback from our neighbors.

A lot of people enjoy seeing the wildflowers, so it creates a talking point to get to know each other and say hi and it just, you know, it's good to know that your yard is putting a smile on someone's face, you know, on their daily walk.

- People always ask about where they can get native plants.

So today, I am thrilled to meet with Drake White, a habitat advocate and certified master naturalist who launched The Nectar Bar, an all native nursery in San Antonio.

Drake, how are you doing?

- I'm doing great, thank you so much for having me.

- Well, thank you so much for coming here.

When did you get started growing native plants?

- So it started about 2013, I really got into the conservation of butterflies and so I started as a landscape company, and as soon as I started getting really involved into my work, I realized that a lot of the plants needed, especially for host plants, weren't even available.

So I began my journey and searched far and wide and found the things that I needed and just started implementing them into my own space.

So then, over time, with advocacy, through other outlets of social media, which is amazing sometimes, it really started to spark a growth in the importance of native plants and biodiversity within your own yards.

So with that, around 2017, I launched my backyard nursery and started propagating from my own yard and then moving it out to other backyard growers as they would propagate from my yard and then grow them for me.

This is a need, and so, yeah, on April 1st of last year, we opened up San Antonio's first all native nursery here in San Antonio.

- That's amazing, so were you a certified master naturalist before all of that?

- Yes, and that's actually what, even more so, sparked my interest, in 2015, I became a certified Texas master naturalist and that's also where I learned the importance of biodiversity and the importance of native plants for habitats for wildlife.

- Why are native plants so important?

I mean, what is this backyard habitat concept that you're talking about?

- Yes, exactly, so it's really just totally understanding what you need.

So if you're, for an example, if you wanna bring, if you're a birder, if you wanna bring in certain birds, there's certain native grasses that will really bring in certain birds.

So like a painted bunting, for example, Texas cupgrass, it's their favorite seed, they will eat other seeds, but that's their favorite.

So it's really understanding, and for me, it started with a black swallowtail butterfly.

And so, it was like, okay, besides herbs like fennel and dill and parsley, what do they need for their natural native plants that will actually start building the colony with them?

So when they start growing and building that colony, then the birds move in to eat them too, everybody's gotta eat, everybody has their niche in what they like, and so if you're actually planting for that, you'll bring that in.

And when you're planting for one, you're planting for all.

And us, as people, can become better stewards of our land because we may not, as a person ourselves, deplete everything.

But we, as a growing population, do.

So if we give back, even if you're in an apartment, you can put something in a nice big pot on your patio and still provide habitat.

My space is like a park.

- [John] Wow.

- And I have your basic suburban backyard, your 100 foot by 45 foot backyard and the front yard too.

It's a sanctuary for all habitat.

From birds to spiders to lizards to all of it, frogs, turtles, everything has shown up.

And that's a good point too, that once you are actually starting to purposely plant, then everything moves in, you don't have to do anything to bring it 'cause you're providing and they automatically move in.

Many of times, when I'm first starting people's habitats, they'll be like, "Well, what do I do now?

Where do I buy my butterflies?"

And I'm like, "You don't, they show up."

Because you have what they need, and it's just understanding what they need.

If you just have flowers, you're gonna be a stop by, you'll be a flyover.

But getting the host plants and being okay with something eating your plants because eventually something's gonna move into eat them too, and everything will balance out the ecosystem.

- We've got a number of plants we wanna talk about, some of these are my favorite.

But let's start with Flame acanthus.

- Oh, Flame acanthus is one of my favorites.

And just because it's literally one of those little shrubby plants, it'll get every bit of four foot tall, three foot wide.

So give it space.

This is one you can plant it, water it in and ignore it, and it does not care.

It thrives off of complete neglect.

But it's a host plant, so it's the host plant for the Texan crescent and the Crimson patch butterflies.

So you're providing food source for those caterpillars.

And then, also, it is just, I mean, everything's on it from hummingbirds fight over it.

- Right.

- Bees, butterflies, everything will be all over it with the flowers.

So it's a great nectar source as well, but really thrives on neglect.

Even if you have what I like to call a hell strip, it does not care, it does not care, not one bit.

- What about Liatris?

A lot of people, yeah.

- So Liatris, yes, and that one is a magnet for everything pollinator.

It does bloom mid to late summer, into the fall.

- [John] Which is great.

- Yes, because there's really not much else blooming when we're 500 degrees, so.

(laughs) It's really a great source for hummingbirds, for bees and butterflies and it's beautiful.

- Absolutely.

- And there's different varieties or species, and depending upon your height requirements, some can get every bit of six foot tall and some get about three foot tall.

It also does not like water.

Plant it in, water it in and completely ignore it.

That's the beautiful thing about native plants, they don't require all this extra care.

- And then what about Texas prairie parsley?

An overlooked plant.

- Yes, and many people don't even know, but especially here in Austin, y'all have it down 35.

So if you're driving 35, you can see how much neglect it actually loves.

- [John] Right, right.

- And it will get every bit of three to four foot tall and it's about, you know, maybe a foot and a half wide.

But if you have multiple plants, you can make it a pretty, a good statement piece.

Also, it's the native host plant for the black swallowtail.

It does not like a lot of water and it likes to be ignored.

So these are things that I absolutely love to just preach over and over and over to people.

- [John] Sure.

- Because, typically, they're like, "But don't you have to get them established?"

And it's like, well, yes you do, but if you're still watering them once a week, you're gonna kill it 'cause they don't like that much water.

- What about the goldenrods, solidagos?

Those are responsible for all of the allergies, right?

- Yeah, that's what they say.

But it's so just, it's misconceptions, because, usually, it's in bloom when ragweed is in bloom.

- [John] Right.

- And so, they get the blame for it.

But the pollen that is actually on the solidago, it's sticky, so unless you're shoving it up your nose.

(laughs) - Which some people might.

- Right, they might, you know.

But if you do have actually allergies with hay fever and things like that, you can actually with the leaves and the flowers of solidago make a tea and it helps relieve all of that, so a nice little medicinal plant.

But it's also a great pollinator, it is one of the most important pollinator plants for our native bees just because when it's blooming in fall, it's providing all the nutrients that it needs for those bees to survive over the winter 'cause they're getting ready to go and hibernate and be ready for the next season.

So it's really good, there's several different species.

- [John] Right.

- So if you get the solidago altissima, then that's one, if you don't have the space- - That can get kind of tall, right?

- Yeah, that's six to seven feet tall.

But also it spreads very heavily by rhizome.

So it's one of those things that know which species that you have and which ones behave.

If you want that one, because it is so great, just put it in a pot, and make sure it can't escape the drain hole 'cause it will.

- [John] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- But it's a good source and all of them are great, and some can do even some part shade, so the gray goldenrod, for example.

- Great, yeah, yeah.

- [Drake] It can do some part shade as well if you don't have necessary full sun.

- And that's a little bit smaller, correct?

- Yes, it only gets about two and a half to three foot tall max.

But typically, around here, it's about two foot tall.

- Another tall one though, frostweed, which is another overlooked.

- Yes, that is another overlooked one.

And it is one for, in San Antonio anyway, it is the main nectar source, it's very nectar dense.

So the monarchs, when they're migrating, it's an important source.

You will be a stop over and a roosting stop just for that plant alone, but it's also a host plant for the bordered patch.

So it's multiple uses, it'll be used in spring and it'll be used in fall very profusely.

- Right, and it's one that is great for shade, right?

- Yes, it's a very, yes.

- Lot of people say, "I don't have any light, what can I do?"

- Yeah, exactly, and there's so many things that will flower and bloom in the shade, and they just don't know.

But that's why we're here, we're gonna let everybody know exactly what they can use for their spaces.

- Okay, and then what about some grasses?

Because we've talked about a lot of wild flowers per se, but grasses are sort of overlooked 'cause people don't really think that there's that connection with pollinators as well.

But things like blue grama or sideoats grama, those are great for pollinators.

- And those are actually two of my most favorite grasses because, one, they're easily to put into a regular space in your front yard or in your back.

Some can do full baking sun and some can do a little partial shade.

The blue grama can do a little bit of part shade as well and doesn't get too big.

But they're important because, when we think about butterflies and host plants, we don't think about grass.

- [John] Right.

- But there are several grasses that are needed, and blue grama and sideoats grama are definitely one of them for our grass skippers to survive.

- Well, Drake, I wanna thank you so much for coming today, I really appreciate all this information.

I hope everybody can come to The Nectar Bar.

- [Drake] Yes.

- And get filled up on all the wonderful plants that you have, and y'all are open from when again?

- We are open Thursday through Saturday from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and then on Sundays are noon to seven.

- Okay, well, thank you so much.

Now let's check in with Daphne Richards.

(upbeat music) - Some years, we get lots of wild flowers and some years not many at all.

What makes the difference?

In a nutshell, weather.

Our spring blooming native wild flowers require ample autumn and winter rainfall to sprout, grow and bloom the following spring.

No autumn rain?

Fewer wildflowers.

Also, the seeds of many of our native wildflower species, like our Texas bluebonnets, require scarification to sprout.

Scarification is the process of breaking down a hard seed coat and serves as a lifecycle strategy for many plants, ensuring that successive generations don't all sprout in the same year.

In nature, it usually takes at least a few years for scarification to occur naturally.

We get many viewer questions about wild flowers.

Carol Conkey sent us pictures of white bluebonnets from their property near Highway 71.

They love having these renegades, but want to know why are they white and will they be white again next year?

Well, Carol, your lovely white blooms, along with various shades of pink, are a recessive gene trait in bluebonnets.

And so, the only way to ensure reliably having them in the future would be to separate them from the blue ones to keep the plants from cross pollinating.

Augie and I always had fun taking our picture in spring wild flowers.

Augie recently passed away, so he won't be here on my lap for future episodes.

But I wanted to sincerely thank you for all the love that you showered on him from the very first moment he joined me in the CTG studio way back in 2010.

We'd love to hear from you, click on centraltexasgardener.org to send us your stories, pictures and videos.

- On Backyard Basics, Leslie Uppinghouse shows how to cut back wax mallows in winter, and how to tip prune this summer.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Leslie Uppinghouse, we're here at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, and today we're talking about winter cutting back.

So what I am doing here is this is a year-round garden, this is a small space, it's a long bed, and what I'm trying to do is have color and interest all year long.

So the plant I'm cutting back is a wax mallow, and you can see that it's done with its show, this is a summer and fall blooming plant.

I'm gonna cut it completely to the ground to show off the giant spiderwort, which is the bright green underneath that will be your ground cover through the winter, and then one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring.

So in order to do this, I'm using a lopper, you could use a hand pruner or you could use a shear, but I would recommend a nice pair of loppers to make it quick and easy.

So I'm just gonna show you how to cut it, you're gonna cut it all the way to the ground.

And if you notice, on your woody plants, there are nodes, and I'm gonna cut it right above the node.

So I'm just pushing the spiderwort out of the way so I can make a nice clean cut and I'm just cutting off the branches plant by plant, all the way to the ground above the node.

It's important to have a sharp pair of pruners, you don't wanna damage that tissue, so make sure they're nice and sharp.

This type of cutting back doesn't take a lot of thinking, you're really concentrating on the why.

This is for design reasons and aesthetics, doesn't hurt the plant.

So now that the wax mallow is fully cut to the ground, you can really see the giant spiderwort underneath it.

This provides bright green ground cover for the winter, and this will be one of the first flowers that blooms in very early spring.

It's a high flower, so it really does fill the space nicely, and you wouldn't even know that there's a wax mallow planted underneath it until that spiderwort is completely done in late spring, right when that wax mallow starts to come up outta ground bright green.

So both the spiderwort and the turk's cap are an edible food, but it also is a terrific pollinator food, so with the early spring flowers, you have your drawing in those very early pollinators, and then you wanna have that late summer and fall pollination, and the turk's cap or wax mallow provides that and it's a great plant for hummingbirds as well.

So this is a great example of how to pair two plants based on the shape and size and bloom time to squeeze into a small space to get more bang for your buck.

So for this wax mallow, I wanna be clear that you don't have to cut this plant to the ground.

This is purely for design and aesthetics.

This plant can take pruning for just lowering the size of it, or if you want to just cut it back a little bit and have fresh green growth at the top, at a certain level, you can cut it at different times a year, you can tip it when you want to.

So again, the wax mallow doesn't have to be cut to the ground every winter, but you can do that to have it come up very uniformly if you have a mass planting.

So for Backyard Basics, this is Leslie Uppinghouse, happy pruning.

- Find out more and watch online at centraltexasgardener.org.

Until next time, remember, adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience.

(bright music) (bright music continues) - [Announcer] Central Texas Gardener is made possible by the generous support from Lisa and Desi Rhoden.

Thank you.

(flute trilling)