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<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="096d4c00dduajq.gif"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Carol Cullar"><U>Carol Cullar</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#003333" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Best of Texas Nature Writing . . . </B></FONT>     |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Best of Texas Nature Writing . . . "><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id110.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Current Column"><U>Current Column</U></A>   |   <B>Archives</B></div> <div> Archives</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Gardening With Native Plants</B></div> <div> <B>Carol Cullar</B></div> <bR> <div> Eagle Pass News Guide</div> <div> August 11, 2002</div> <div> © 2002, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" >2003 Carol Cullar</FONT></div> <bR> <div>      Scientists have just announced that this has been the hottest century/decade/year we have had in the last 800 years or so; and debate rages over hot issues like global warming, greenhouse effects in the atmosphere, El Nino weather patterns, and holes in the ozone. Other researchers have found a river of fresh water beneath the Atlantic Ocean flowing off the melting polar icecap and expect this to disrupt the Gulf Stream, plunging North America into a mini-ice age. Most of us would just like to live a peaceful life and as the ancient philosophers advocated, simply tend our garden.</div> <bR> <div>      Despite recent rains, drought in the Southwest is now being compared with that of the early 50s and covers about one fourth of the nation, while tension and frustration over water and water allotments and water debts between the U. S. and Mexico continue to rise.</div> <bR> <div>      The Rio Grande is a limited water source, and as populations and water usage increases in the region, alternative water sources will be required, which in turn will involve passing increased service costs on to the consumer. That's inevitable. But what if we break the chain and, rather than increasing our water demands, begin to find alternatives? Some of those options can really be attractive and don't even involve showering with friends!</div> <bR> <div>      One of the most productive means of conserving water is gardening with native plants. Once it has established its extensive root system, then a genuinely native plant is on its own and can be relied on to grow, blossom and bear fruit without large expenditures on upkeep or water.</div> <bR> <div>      The trick is identifying a "native plant!" Despite the very best intentions of gardening centers and commercial nurseries in the region, there is a caveat emptor, a buyer beware, that should be noted: the "native" label on a tag at a nursery ONLY means native to Texas! Native to Maverick County is, well, a rose of another color!</div> <bR> <div>      Texas is generally divided into nine biotic regions based on rainfall, soil types, and regional vegetation. Maverick County sits at the extreme north edge of the South Texas (Tamaulipan Biotic Province) division and shares characteristic vegetation with regions to the west (Chihuahua Desert) and north east (Hill Country.) We are in Zone Nine when it comes to frost periods.</div> <bR> <div>      Within the County are regions with little topsoil and primarily limestone, caliche soils. Other regions are given over to sandy clay river bottoms in the vegas. Gardeners need to consider their location before selecting trees and shrubs better suited to the vega and vice versa. Sycamore, pecan, cottonwood are ideal trees for the sandy lowlands. Up on the bluffs overlooking the river, the Texas or Mexican persimmon is better suited and will grow beautifully when planted singly or in a small grove. Other ideal trees/shrubs for Maverick County are Texas ebony<I> (Pithecellobium ebano)</I>, retama <I>(Parkensonia aculeata),</I> Texas paloverde <I>(Cercidium texanum)</I>, Border paloverde <I>(Cercidium macrum),</I> and huisache <I>(Acacia farnesiana),</I> as well as numerous other varieties of acacia, hackberry, and mesquite.</div> <bR> <div>      It is generally recommended that tree and shrub planting be done in December and root systems for these plants be given a two year period of generous watering in the form of deep soakings to get them started. After that they are hardy to long dry periods.</div> <bR> <div>      Ideal shrubs that are rarely utilized are the Calderona <I>(Krameria ramosissima),</I> Allthorn <I>(Koeberlinia spinosa)</I>, Blackbrush acacia <I>(Acacia rigidula),</I> Guajillo <I>(Acacia berlandieri)</I>, and my personal favorite, Guayacan <I>(Guaiacum angustifolium)</I>. Guayacan flowers between March and April with lilac to purple flowers and forms interesting seed pods containing two large red seeds. Its dramatic branches are dark, stark and leaved close to the bark, creating bold silhouettes against light walls.</div> <bR> <div>      The bonus one receives for planting native plants is the increase in nesting birds and wandering butterflies attracted to their blooms and branches</div> <bR> <bR> <div>      Gardening for scent can also create pleasant spaces for humans and wildlife alike. Cresote <I>(Larrea tridentate) i</I>s particularly redolent, flowering through August with yellow flowers and thriving on the limestone soils away from the river.</div> <bR> <div>      For more showy flowers and hundreds of butterflies, the blue boneset or mistflower <I>(Eupatorium coelestinum), </I>is a must.</div> <bR> <div>      Further examples of South Texas plants can be found in Trees, Shrubs & Cacti of South Texas by James H. Everitt and D. Lynn Drawe. Butterfly gardening or gardening for hummingbirds are also topics upon which large amounts of information can be found on the internet.</div> <bR> <div>      In a later article the Nature Center will deal with perennial flowering plants that take little water to thrive in this region and should be planted in the fall or late winter.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>The Real Estate/Habitat Connection</B></div> <div> <B>Carol Cullar</B></div> <bR> <div> Eagle Pass News Guide</div> <div> June 9, 2002</div> <div> © 2002, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" >2003 Carol Cullar</FONT></div> <bR> <div>      Have you noticed all the dust lately? It's a sure sign of growth/construction/progress. But it's also a sign of the seven-year drought we are enduring and the lack of awareness of the natural world that is a growing concern in our society. The economy is changing-none will deny, and to say fewer and fewer people are growing up on farms and ranches or raising vegetables in their back yard is so obvious as to hardly need pointing out. We're getting away from our roots. People move to the cities and towns and lose touch with the land and Nature. But does it have to be that way?</div> <bR> <div>      People half-joke that the three most important considerations in buying property are "Location! Location! Location!" We want to pick what's ideal for our needs; we all have our comfort zones. When it hits 106º, we retreat to the air-conditioned shade and grab a cold drink. If it ever freezes again around here (and I have my doubts!), we will flick on the furnace and check our weather stripping, dig out a sweater and brew a cup of hot cocoa. But what if we are not so fortunate? What if we are animals?</div> <bR> <div>      We all require a place to live that suits our needs. When we are humans, we call it real estate; when we are feathered or furry, it's called habitat. The tragedy is that as real estate grows habitat shrinks.</div> <bR> <div>      Steve H. Murdock, research fellow with the Real Estate Center and chief demographer with the State Data Center at Texas A & M University, expects South Texas to have a population of more than 1.7 million by 2010 and nearly 3.5 million by 2030.</div> <bR> <div>      South Texas has long been a major wildlife corridor for birds, butterflies, and insects migrating from south to north and vice versa. Over the last decade, The Valley has developed a thriving, multi-million dollar Eco-tourism industry to capitalize on the very birds and animals that are now being driven away by loss of habitat.</div> <bR> <div>      In Southern California, Mountain lions get their heads stuck in backyard fences and have to be shot. In South Texas so much native vegetation has been removed for real estate development that the local, native habitat for animals and birds of the region has been pushed back into islands so small that they are no longer inhabitable by native species. South Texas is now one of the most threatened natural habitats on Earth-right up there with the Brazilian rainforest!</div> <bR> <div>      The first week in May the Rio Bravo Nature Center welcomed one of Texas' preeminent ornithologists and authors, Tim Brush, to Maverick County. We acted as guides and facilitators for his research into nesting birds and particularly orioles along the Rio Grande. Dr. Brush teaches at Pan American University in Edinburgh and had begun to wonder where some of the disappearing species in the Valley were vanishing to.</div> <bR> <div>      Using the Nature Center's canoes, we traveled twenty miles along the Rio Grande observing, recording data, and listening for rare birds. Dr. Brush was excited to find dozens of breeding pairs of Orchard Orioles and even the White-collard Seedeater here in our region. This extremely rare and reclusive bird, whose habitat extends only "a few feet into Texas," is now gone from the Valley because large stands of carrizo have been removed from the riverbanks below Laredo.</div> <bR> <div>      It is inevitable that Eagle Pass can expect a spill-over effect from this population explosion just to the south of us. "Great!" we say! We can use a little economic prosperity! We welcome the expansion, the new industry, the sale of real estate, the development of new schools and opportunities for jobs.</div> <bR> <div>      But do we have to follow in the footsteps of development to the south? Is there a lesson to be learned from The Valley? Will we wipe out the native vegetation? Bring in trees and shrubs that originated in other parts of the world? Plant vast yards of alien grass that is perhaps native to Florida? And in doing so, wipe out plants that have served as habitat for our local wildlife for thousands of years?</div> <bR> <div>      Little ranchitos spring up all over the country. Entrepreneurs name their developments "Linda Vista" or "Cenizo Hills" and the first thing they do is run the bull dozer over every square inch and utterly destroy what the site was named for, destroy forever the native plants that are ideally suited to our drought conditions. Plants that don't need to be watered every evening, that don't die with the first heat wave of summer, plants that are providing shelter and food for many species of wildlife.</div> <bR> <div>      Before we reduce what were vast acres of rolling hills and native vegetation to tiny, denuded lots that blow away and will erode down to barren limestone, let's think about the ultimate results. Are we to live in harmony with our world or pave it over to prevent its blowing away?</div> <bR> <div>      The logger may fell a tree and cry, "Timber!" But for every tree that falls, there are a dozen little creatures crying, "Home! Home!"</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Bats Any One?</B></div> <div> <B>Carol Cullar</B></div> <bR> <div> Eagle Pass News Guide</div> <div> July 25, 2001</div> <div> © 2001, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" >2003 Carol Cullar</FONT></div> <bR> <div>      I’ve never seen anyone who didn’t scream when they unexpectedly encountered a bat! They’re hairy beasts! They fly in your face! Then there are those far south of here that have fangs and feed on blood! Yeck! There are rumors that bats carry rabies and are simply lurking in the night to attack humans! Not so! </div> <bR> <div>      Somehow in all the myth, the facts are completely forgotten. Bats are not a health or safety concern. Bats make up one fourth of the mammals on this planet. Only the smallest percentages have been found to be rabid. There are over 1000 species of bats. They come in many different shapes, sizes, colors, and habitats. Different species of bats eat different foods: insects, fruit, pollen, and small animals are among the dietary preferences of some species. About 70% feed on insects; 20%, on fruit and nectar from blooming plants. Others feed on small animals and fish. There are only three species of bats that feed on the blood of other animals (usually cattle)—the so-called “vampire.” They do not suck blood; they lap it after making a small incision and only need about two tablespoons a night. Vampire bats live far to the south in Central and South America. (These bat facts came from a quick websearch.)</div> <bR> <div>      Eagle Pass is fortunate that we are in the migratory path of the Mexican Free-tail bat. One of the largest bat caves on earth is located in Mason County about 200 miles northeast of Maverick. These bats migrate back and forth between the cave and warmer climes in Mexico We’re fortunate because one small gray bat, weighing about an ounce, can eat 600 mosquitoes and small insects an hour. </div> <bR> <div>      Rather than spray their pecan orchards with what over the years amounts to tons of insecticides that get into the soil and the water table and kill every insect they touch (including the good guys: ladybugs, lacewings, and preying mantis, to name but a few) some pecan growers are looking toward natural eradication of the casebearer moth that can devastate a pecan crop. And how can they do that? Invite a family or two of bats to take up residence in the orchard, of course!</div> <bR> <div>      Just this past week Worick Farms consulted with the Rio Bravo Nature Center on how to build bat houses. Even a small structure 14” x 12” x 6” can house as many as forty bats. Let’s see now: 40 bats at 600 mosquitoes or moths an hour for eight hours every night . . . Well you get the picture! And in a community where mosquitoes DO carry disease, it would behoove us to be kinder to bats!</div> <bR> <div>      Bat house construction is extremely easy and economical. A rectangular box with a small bottom entry slot about ¾” in width and running the width of the box is ideal. The interior of the box should be routed with shallow horizontal grooves (for toe holds) every 3”. The roof can have a simple slant with a slight overhang for shade and four, tiny ¼” air holes drilled in the walls right below the roof. Seal all the seams and that’s it! You have a bat house!</div> <bR> <div>      Now there are some tricks to use to actually get the bats interested: 1) the box has to be in the shade in this part of the country. 2) The bottom of the bat house, where the narrow door is, needs to be at least 13 feet off the ground. 3) In this climate and with our heat, the box needs to be painted white to control the interior temperature. (This could be why your commercially purchased bat house never worked in this part of the country! Bats like it warm, but are driven off by temperatures over 98 degrees.) </div> <bR> <div>      How do you roll out the red carpet for your new tenants when the house is finished? You’ll have your best luck if you set up your house about six to ten feet away from where you have already seen bats—on a pole or tree or under the eaves.</div> <bR> <div>      Want to get them out of your walls without filling the walls with poison? All you have to do is sit out one evening armed with a caulking gun and wait for them to exit the walls or eaves, then an hour after they have departed for their night of hunting, simply caulk the seams between roof and walls. Any space wider than ¾” is an open door for a bat! Fill the gaps and your home is free of bats in the walls, but remember those little furry guys are working hard all night to rid our community of mosquitoes, so have a new bat house waiting for them when they return!</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *      *      *</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0a374690.jpg" border=0 width="372" height="361" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>This Special Place </B></div> <div>  Carol Cullar</div> <div> executive director<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" > </FONT>Rio Bravo Nature Center Foundation, Inc. </div> <bR> <div> Eagle Pass News Guide</div> <div> July 16, 2001 </div> <div> © <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" >2001, 2003 Carol Cullar</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Birds? Bats? Snakes? Frogs? Mountain lions and bobcats, javelina and hornytoads! Oh, my! What do we have here? What creatures besides people share this corner of Southwest Texas with us? And what makes this place, our little bit of earth, so special? </div> <bR> <div>     Maverick County and this surrounding region of Texas Brush Country belong to a larger area that shares the same climate, geography, plants, and animals. This sharing of similar lifeforms is called a biosphere. Our particular region, the Tamaulipan Biotic Province, consists of two subdivisions: the Tamaulipan matorral (higher forested regions in Mexico) and the Tamaulipan mesquital, which include South and Southwest Texas and Northeastern Mexico. </div> <bR> <div>     This biosphere, consisting of some 54,600 square miles, is the size of Illinois. This marvelously important region is home to more than 600 vertebrate species. More than 485 of those species are birds. There are in excess of 1,100 species of plants. Of the 423 species of butterflies in the state of Texas, more than two thirds of them are in the Tamaulipan Biotic Province. </div> <bR> <div>     In the Audubon Sabal Palm Grove, more than 900 species of beetles alone have been identified. Located in the far northwest corner of this region Maverick County isn't necessarily home to all the same species found along the Coast, but still thrives with varied plants and animals </div> <bR> <div>     This Tamaulipan Biotic Province is the most biodiverse in all of North America AND the most threatened. </div> <bR> <div>     Just within the last 30 years this region has undergone vast environmental change. Some of those changes are not caused by humans; most of them are. Humans cannot be blamed for the drought. All the other drastic changes in the region are the result of human influx into what was once a vast thicket of xeric [adapted to very dry habitat] vegetation fed by the fifth longest river in the U. S. </div> <bR> <div>     The Rio Grande continues to support these diverse species of animals and birds, but the last 30 years have in the name of progress and agriculture seen extreme changes to this already dry habitat: water diversion; flood control; brushland clearing; population growth; agricultural growth; contamination of water and soil with pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers; removal of carrizo from riverbanks, and more recently the proliferation of factories dumping pollutants into the river. </div> <bR> <div>     Habitats for the ocelot and jaguarundi, as well as other threatened and rare species, have been reduced to small isolated islands of brush along streams and rivers. When this chaparral thicket is broken into non-contiguous pockets of brush, it is no longer usable as a migratory corridor for many species. At some point the expansion of human habitation begins to irrevocably damage the irreplaceable habitat of our fellow species. </div> <bR> <div>     What's to be done? Whose problem is this? In whose hands lie the solution? Can these issues be left strictly in the laps of large land owners and agriculturists? Local governments? </div> <bR> <div>     Is there one single factor that will make the biggest difference for the good of man and beast throughout this region? </div> <bR> <div>     Is there anything that I can do as an individual to assure that this precious place and all its inhabitants in all their richness and biodiversity will be here for my children and their children? </div> <bR> <div>     The answer is “yes.” And that answer is education, awareness, and involvement. Become aware of what is being done in your area to protect threatened species. Can you name and identify the threatened species inhabiting Maverick County? Are your children being taught to identify all the plants and animals in this region? What are the state laws concerning the protection of songbirds and bats? Are you aware of the status of the Rio Grande? What is its future? Get involved in recycling and water conservation. Become a participant in the efforts to preserve our native plants and animals.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>