Austin Chapter

The topic for the May monthly meeting of the Austin chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas is:

Spring Bloomers—Care & Feeding.

Summary:  Every 2–3 years, we repeat this type of presentation, previously with great success.  Cathy Nordstrom will provide a PowerPoint display of a couple of dozen native herbaceous or shrubby plants which begin blooming in spring.  Mike Powers will moderate an open-forum discussion of their maintenance in a garden–soil, sun/shade exposure, water, site selection, drought challenges, etc.  We’ll sit in-the-round, so that we all communicate across a circle… in this case a horseshoe shape with the open end toward the stage and projection screen.  Bring your experience, questions, and notebooks.  If your problem plant or site isn’t on the list, ask anyway.  Challenge our rich experiential brain trust.  There are no stupid questions!

Meeting details:

Tuesday, May 15, 2012, 7-9 PM at Wild Basin Preserve, 805 N. Capital of TX Highway (Loop 360), Austin, 78746.

Doors open at 6:30 PM for socializing, munching, and general good fun!  Nonmembers welcome; free admission.

Remember to bring:
(1) seeds to exchange and give away;
(2) mystery plants for identification.

For further information, contact Mike Powers at 512-453-2289 in Austin.

Click this image for a larger view of spring wildflowers.

Please join us for our annual spring social and pot-luck dinner!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

No formal program… just food and chat and cheer!  Bring a dish or beverage to share.

Meeting details:  
Tuesday, April 17, 2012, 7-9pm at Wild Basin Preserve, 805 N. Capital of TX Highway (Loop 360), Austin, 78746. 

Doors open at 6:30 PM for socializing, feeding, and general good fun!  Nonmembers welcome; free admission.
For further information, contact Mike Powers at 512-453-2289 in Austin.

Click for a larger view of this spring's bluebonnets.

How to Get Kids Interested in Plants

A simple enough premise, right?  Yet often a real challenge.  Plants don’t generally run, jump around, fly, or make noises like animals.  Well, nor are they as slow as geological change, but maybe they need better public relations agents.  That implies you and me. Our speaker David Matthews says:

“It is true that young people are drawn to fauna more readily than to flora. There is, after all, a popular cable network dedicated to animals…Animal Planet…but not a Plant Planet.
Actually, getting kids interested in plants really isn’t so hard. I will share the “hooks” I regularly use with the students in my Environmental Science classes.  Joining me will be fellow teacher and one of the cofounders of the Green Tech Academy, Nate Rosenberg.”

David Matthews has been teaching in Austin ISD for over 30 years and has been recognized by Keep Austin Beautiful and Westcave Preserve for his work as an environmental educator. He is co-director of the Nature Camp at Bamberger Ranch Preserve. His gardening efforts on his campus led to the creation of the Green Tech Academy at Small Middle School.

The meeting will be on Tuesday, February 21, 2012, 7-9pm at Wild Basin Preserve, 805 N. Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360), Austin, 78746.

Doors open at 6:30pm for socializing, munching, and general good fun!  Nonmembers welcome; free admission. Those attending are encouraged to bring:

(1) seeds to exchange and give away;
(2) mystery plants for identification.

For further information, contact Mike Powers at 512-453-2289 in Austin.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012, 7-9 P.M. at Wild Basin Preserve, 805 N. Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360), Austin 78746.

Thanks to chapter member Steve Schwartzman for the photo of a rather rare vision in central Texas - snow on possumhaw!

Please join us for our annual winter social, pot-luck dinner & silent auction:

Tuesday, December 13
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Wild Basin Wilderness, 805 N. Capital of Texas Hwy (Loop 360), Austin TX 78746

No program…just food and chat and cheer!

Just bring a dish to share, any items for the silent auction, and your checkbook or cash! (Proceeds from the silent auction go to deserving native plant causes.)  Menu note:  the chapter will provide the main meat course.

(Please note…December 13th is the second Tuesday in the month, not the third!)

See you there…

Mike Powers
NPSOT Program Chair
512-453-2289

Valerie Bugh - critter expert

“Give me your bugs, your flies, your mystery critters yearning for IDs….”

That quote defines the passion which Valerie Bugh will deliver to our November 15th chapter meeting.  An accomplished naturalist and photographer, she will present Floral Fauna, a survey of tiny critters living within local native floral habitats.

Valerie specializes in the arthropods of the Austin area, with interests in taxonomy and photography. She runs the Fauna Project at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, leads insect discovery walks, provides insect/spider identifications, gives talks to local organizations, and has published a pocket guide to The Butterflies of Central Texas. Website: www.austinbug.com

Tuesday, November 15, 7-9 p.m. at Wild Basin Preserve, 805 N. Capitol of TX Hwy (Loop 360), Austin, TX  78746.

For additional info, call Mike Powers at 512-453-2289.

Have you ever wondered why you can’t find certain native plants in the nurseries but can always find others? Frustrated by the fact you can’t buy a shin oak to plant in your yard?

COME TO THE OCTOBER CHAPTER MEETING:

OCTOBER 18th, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. (6:30 p.m. for plant sale)
Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, 805 N. Capital of Texas Highway, Austin

Jared Pyka, Sales and Marketing Manager, Native Texas Nursery (Austin wholesaler) will speak on:

• The future of native plant propagation
• Challenges of native plant propagation
• Mareting decisions made by plant nurseries
• Propagation techniques from seed and cuttings
• Sources for plant propagation

Bring your questions for this informal presentation!

PLANT SALE!

Come early at 6:30 p.m. and bring your checkbook and/or cash to purchase our native plants remaining from the Wildflower Center’s Fall Plant Sale (Oct. 14-16).

Chuck Sexton in big bluestem

Hey!  Have you heard the joke about Mother Nature’s relationship with the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics?  No?…well, Mother Nature walks into a bar and…

Okay, I’m being silly.  You will laugh while you learn, however, when Dr. Chuck Sexton, local wildlife biologist, presents Energy Flow in the Landscape at our September meeting.  I’ve previously attended…and enjoyed…his fun, non-technical exploration of how energy flow can be seen as an organizing–and disorganizing–concept for understanding the shape, complexity, and everyday functioning of the natural world all around us.

Chuck migrated from southern California to UT-Austin in the mid-1970′s, earning his 1987 doctorate by studying the impact of urbanization on birds.  An acknowledged expert on both the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo, he first served as an environmental specialist with the City of Austin, 1985-1994, then as staff biologist for the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge (USFWS) 1995-2010.  Chuck has been active in environmental issues for over 25 years locally and around Texas.  You may know him best as one of the driving forces behind the formation of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve system.

Tuesday, September 20, 7-9pm at Wild Basin Preserve, 805 N. Capitol of TX Hwy (Loop 360) , Austin 78746

This chapter meeting will be preceded at 6:00 p.m. by a gathering of the Rare Plant Rebels (rare plant & seed exchange group).