Earth Day 2017

The Earth from space. NASA photo.

I have been very lazy about writing in this blog, as you can tell by the date of the last post. I have been trying to keep up with the Facebook page--as a consequence, this blog as fallen to the wayside. Earth Day is a good time to get back in the saddle. There are plenty of things that need more room than a Facebook post, and there are plenty of people who are not on Facebook. So I am going to make an effort to be a little more regular about updating this. I will then post a link to the FB page for those who are members of that page.

I am old enough I can remember the first Earth Day in 1970. Since then, we have gradually lost interest and allowed Earth Day to pass by largely without notice. This year looks like it may resurge a little bit, at least in part because of the March for Science takes place the same day. That is no coincidence, as the issue that started the entire march is Climate Change. I haven't heard of a march in the Falls, but if I do, I will pass on the details.

There aren't a lot of activities surrounding Earth Day here in the Falls, which is unfortunate. As always, the city has more activities happening than any person could take advantage of, it's just most are not related to nature or the environment. With a little effort, we could have a great themed series of activities around Earth Day (in Penny's head--just say, "No!")

River Bend has some of their usual Saturday activities going on: Science Saturday and Nature Tots Story Time. The Wichita Falls Public Library has a plastic bottle crafts and upcycling programs happening. That appears to be pretty much it, unless there are things I haven't heard about. If you know of an event, email me at green.wichitafalls@gmail.com and I will try to get it here and on the FB page.

So, what to do? I am planning to have my own little Earth Day celebration. Birding in the morning. Gardening in the afternoon. The Audubon Society is asking people to plant a native plant to support the birds. I have quite a few in my yard now, but I will be stopping by Wichita Valley Nursery for another to add. I just have to decide what I want to plant. I also have the makings for an insect hotel standing by--if I don't get it done before, Earth Day would be a good time. It won't be as pretty as the ones you can find on Pinterest, but it will still be home for the bugs. If you want to see some of the photos I've collected on Pinterest, here's a link to by board. Feel free to browse.

How do you plan to celebrate Earth Day?

Pollinator Workshop

Penny speaking at the Pollinator Workshop at
River Bend Nature Center

We had a pretty good group for the Pollinator Workshop at River Bend Nature Center tonight.

We even had a couple of young people. One was working on an entomology project for Camp Fire. His proud mom told me he had won a prize in River Bend's photography competition for his photo of a parasitid wasp larvae in a caterpillar.  How cool is that?

Just a summary of a few of the main points of what we can do to help the pollinators.  I realize some of the points may not be clear without the background information in the presentation. All I can say it, "You should have been there!" Seriously...if you have questions, feel free to contact me off line at green.wichitafalls@gmail.com.

As individuals, we can:

• Plant a pollinator friendly yard
• Plant natives
• Put in plants pollinators like
• Plant varied types of flowers with varying flowering periods
• Accept some losses
• Provide nesting areas
• Don't use (or use sparingly) poisons in your yard
• Buy organic when possible
• Use Save the Night practices
• Advocate

As a citizen, we can help our community be more pollinator friendly by:

• Being a smart consumer (money talks)
• Encourage native plants at our workplaces and community areas (medians, for example)
• Educate
• Advocate

Good questions and discussion following.

Permaculture Tour

At last week's presentation on suburban permaculture, several people indicated an interest in working together to share ideas. I went to John Hirschi's house this past weekend to check out his front yard native landscaping. John's yard is beautiful. It was designed last year by Paul Dowlearn at Wichita Valley Nursery and is doing well. Many of the plants are multiplying. The only problem he is having now is a marauding wild pig which is rooting around in the yard and doing a lot of damage. John has traps out, trying to catch the critter. I hope he gets him soon, it is making a mess of a beautiful landscape.

We also discussed some of his ideas for his backyard.  Because we had such a good time talking about what he had done and his ideas going forward, we discussed putting together a day to visit one another's yard and share ideas with other members of the permaculture group. Even if we haven't done anything, this would be a chance to share ideas and talk over what we're trying to do with others with similar interests.

If you're interested in joining in, email me at green.wichitafalls@gmail.com or "Like" the Living Green in Wichita Falls page on Facebook and join in.

It's a Start

When we moved into our new house, I was a little bummed because the yard just wasn't the best for birds and butterflies. So, one of the first things my husband did for me was to set out the bird bath. With water and a feeder, the birds have been coming to the yard--white winged doves, mostly, but also house finches, blue jays, robins, western kingbirds, cardinals, Inca doves (once) and red-bellied woodpeckers. So not a huge variety, but it's a start.

A couple of weeks ago, my husband dug up the area for me to put flowers around the birdbath. I am trying to stick with natives that are drought/heat tolerant and preferably plants that attract birds and butterflies. My hummingbird feeder has seen no hummers--there just aren't enough flowering plants around to bring them into the neighborhood. Anyway, I planted some lantana, blue mist flower, turks cap, pigeonberry, and red ruellia. Some are perennials; others annuals that will self-seed.

So we begin. It will be a multi-year project to make the yard as pretty and as wildlife friendly as I would like, but you have to start somewhere.

What are you doing to improve the habitat in your yard?

Interested in Native Plants?

The Rolling Plains Native Plant Society is planning a field trip to LBJ Grasslands near Decatur this Sunday, April 17. If you are interested in carpooling or following the caravan, meet at Wichita Valley Nursery on Southwest Parkway at noon. You may also choose to meet the group at the park HQ at 2:00 PM. Although there have been drought conditions this year, the group should be able to see some good wildflowers and other native grasses and plants in the company of people who know their plants.

Two Great River Bend Programs Saturday

River Bend Nature Center has two great programs coming up on Saturday.

The Science Saturday program continues with a program on freshwater fish. Science Saturday programs are targeted to the 5 - 12 year old age group, although anyone can attend. The program begins at 1:00 PM and ends at 2:00. Admission is $3 per participant--accompanying adults for children under 12 (required) are free. There is an art program following at 2:30 PM for those who are interested.

If you are interested in native plants, Paul Dowlearn of Wichita Valley Nursery will be doing a program, "Native Plants in the Conservatory," from 10 AM - noon. Admission is $3 per person; members and children under 2 are free.

What's the Big Deal About Invasives?

Mimosa at left is an invasive. In this area usually in yards or along waterways. Very invasive in the wetter climate to the east. This photo was taken along the Chat Trail in Lake Wichita Park.

This summer my husband has been working diligently to remove a number of shrubs and vines around our house. In his mind he has been working to take out some unsightly plants I wanted to get rid of to make way for something that looks nicer. My real motive was to get rid of non-native invasive plant species to make way for native species more hospitable for native birds and butterflies. An added plus is that the area will look nicer.

We plan to plant some new plants now that fall is here. Fall is the perfect time to plant shrubs and we'll be heading to Wichita Valley Nursery as soon as he finishes getting rid of the English ivy. I haven't told him yet that there is at least one tree that has to go as well.

Why the big deal about invasive plants? First of all they can drive out native plants (think kudzu in the east.) Secondly, invasives support far fewer native insects, birds and other wildlife than our native species do. If you get a chance, read Douglas W. Tallamy's Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens. The book is easy to read, has lots of pictures and plenty of ideas for good plants to put into your home landscape to encourage butterflies, pollinators and birds to visit and stay in your yard.

If you want to know more about invasives in Texas, see Texas Invasives.

Why Native?

I try to encourage people to plant native in their yards, but it is often hard to prove that this is better for the local wildlife.

Last year at the Texas Master Naturalist annual meeting, I found a book, Bringing Nature Home, by Douglas Tallamy. This book provides actual data to show the difference between the number of species supported by native plants versus invasives. The author lives further east, so many of his examples are from the eastern US; however, the principles are the same.

For example, there are about 80 species of oak trees in the US. It has been documented that these oak trees support 517 species of butterfly. Willow support 456. Conversely, he documents that even trees that have been in the US for many years, don't support near the number of species of native plants, nor the number of species they supported in their original homeland. So, for example, although Clematis vitalba has been in North America for 100 years, it supports only one species of herbivore here (versus 40 species in its homeland.) Even Phragmites australis, which has been in North America for over 300 years, supports only 5 species of herbivore in the US, versus 170 species in its native land.

The book provides suggested plantings for various areas of the country and also a list of plants to encourage butterflies and moths.

A very interesting book with lots of photos; well worth buying.