Making Your Yard Native: Turf Alternatives

• Introduction
• Who?
• We're Lisa and Jason Spangler
• We're programmers, so if we can garden for wildlife, anyone can!  :-)
• What is a native plant?
• Plants that occur naturally in an area and did not appear in an area due to humans
• Why garden with natives, and garden for wildlife?
• Less work after initial investment
• Less water, especially when expensive
• The whole family can have fun planting and watching the critters.
• Environmentally friendly
• Most can survive extremes of our area: from an ice storm to 110 degree drought
• Note
• Scientific names aren't complex
• Just need to use them to make sure you get a native plant and not a related exotic
• Common names are not unique
• First word is genus, second word is species
• Genus and species is unique, unambiguous way of naming plant
• Like the make, model, and year of a car
• They change the names sometimes
• Plants that may appear in your lawn or garden
• Why?
• You may have been admiring native plants and not known it.
• Ever mown around these because they appeared and were pretty?
• Plants [6]
• Pink Evening Primrose: Oenothera speciosa
• Frog Fruit: Phyla nodiflora var. incisa
• Day Flower, Widow's Tears: Commelina erecta
• Rain Lily
• Spring: Cooperia pedunculata
• Fall: Cooperia drummondii
• Mustang grape: Vitis mustangensis
• Blue-eyed grass: Sisyrinchium ensigerum
• Scarlet Gaura: Gaura coccinea
• Mexican Hat: Ratibida columnaris
• Purple Horsemint: Monarda citriodora
• Windflower: Anemone heterophylla
• Wood-Sorrel: Oxalis Drummondii
• Virginia Creeper: Parthenocissus quinquefolia
• Wild Onion: Allium canadense var. canadense
• Wild Garlic: Allium drummondii
• Crow Poison: Nothoscordum bivalve
• False Day Flower: Tinantia anomala
• Dewberry: Ribus trivialis
• Trumpet Creeper: Campis radicans
• Native gardening
• Why?
• More interesting
• Critters
• Less work after creation
• More ecologically sound
• What?
• Replace plants in beds with native ones
• Group plants with similar water requirement, don't over water the natives
• Make beds bigger, reduce lawn
• Evils of lawns [4]
• Work
• Mowing, fertilizing, pesticides, raking leaves
• Water
• Lots of water during high cost water periods
• Pollution from lawnmowers
• Ecologically unsound
• Almost nothing lives in a lawn, nothing benefits from a lawn
• Evil bermuda
• Invasive plant!
• They are a waste of resources, aren't needed, are an old ideal, not for this climate
• Alternatives to traditional turf: Native turfs
• Why?
• Low water [1] so less money
• Buffalograss: every 21-45 days
• Zoysia: every 7-10 days
• Bermuda: every 5-10 days
• St. Augustine: every 5 days
• Stays short
• No mowing needed!
• Don't need to water to keep alive
• Let it go dormant in summer
• Water extra to keep it green, still requires less than the other grass
• What? [2]
• Buffalograss: Buchloe dactyloides
• Hardy, disease resistant, no need for pesticide or fertilizer
• Not good in shade
• Many varieties (609, Prairie, etc)
• Dormant in winter and in drought
• 3-12 inches high if unmown, leans over so doesn't look tall
• Blue grama: Bouteloua gracilis
• Good for a wildflower meadow
• Not good in shade
• Neat little seed heads with a blue color
• Nonaggessive, so usable in a perennial garden
• Usually 1 foot high
• Cedar sedge: Carex planostachys
• Good for more shade than the above grasses
• Not a true grass
• Notes
• Natives aren't totally carefree
• Will need water for the first year or two to become established in your garden
• Some will need trimming if you prefer a more traditional garden look (but not required!)
• Mulching plants saves water (except on plants that don't like it)
• 4 inches
• Try to get local mulch, less transportation cost
• Free at City Landfill
• Rocks
• Deep watering
• Get plants or seeds from as close to you area as possible, since they will be best adapted to conditions in your area
• Alternatives to lawns
• Possibilities [5]
• Native traditional landscape: traditional landscape with natives plants instead of non natives
• Naturalistic landscape: less pruning, more natural looking, softer shapes
• Natural habitat landscape: all plants indigenous, original habitat or recreated, functional ecosystem
• How?
• Gradual expansion of beds
• Gradually expand the beds out into the lawn
• Keep curved edges to make it look natural
• Gradually replace non natives with natives
• Don't have to have all natives, but the more the better!  :-)
• Dramatic
• Rip out the lawn
• Kill the nonnative grass
• Mulch it
• Newspaper
• What?
• Good for a garden (many many more than this) [2] [6]
• Squarebud Primrose: Calylophus berlandieri subsp. pinifolius
• Giant Spiderwort: Tradescantia gigantea
• Standing Cypress: Ipomopsis rubra
• Scarlet sage: Salvia coccinea
• Mealy Blue Sage: Salvia farinacea
• Cedar Sage: Salvia roemeriana
• Gregg Salvia: Salvia greggi
• False Fox-Glove: Penstemon cobea
• Hill Country Penstemon: Penstemon triflorus
• Turk's Cap: Malvaviscus drummondii
• Blue Mist Flower: Eupatorium coelestinum
• Prairie Verbena: Glandularia bipinnatifida
• Yaupon Holly: Ilex vomitoria
• Fragrant Mimosa: Mimosa borealis
• American Beautyberry: Callicarpa americana
• Texas Lantana: Lantana horrida
• Damianita: Chrysactina mexicana
• Hill Country Aster: Aster oblongifolius
• Red Yucca: Hesperaloe parviflora
• Zexmenia: Wedelia hispida
• Winecup: Callirhoe involucrata
• Lindheimer Muhly: Muhlenbergia lindheimeri
• Little Bluestem: Schizachyrium scoparium
• Sideoats Gramma: Bouteloua curtipendula
• Blackfoot Daisy: Melampodium leucanthum (no mulch, very little water)
• Shrubby Skullcap: Scutellaria resinosa (no mulch, very little water)
• Prairie
• How?
• Pocket prairie in backyard
• Why?
• Prairie is almost gone from Texas
• Plants
• Little Bluestem: Schizachyrium scoparium
• Indian Grass: Sorghastrum nutans
• Sideoats Gramma: Bouteloua curtipendula
• Maximillian Sunflower: Helianthus maximiliani
• Liatris: Liatris mucronata
• Wildscape
• Critters!
• Birds
• Spring nesting: Mockingbirds, Chickadees, Wrens
• Summer visitors: Hummingbirds
• Fall migrants: Warblers!
• Over wintering birds: Goldfinches, Robins
• Lizards and amphibians
• Toads
• Frogs
• Anoles
• Insects
• Dragonflies
• Butterflies
• Principles [3]
• Food
• Native plants!
• Bird feeders
• Water
• Pond or other water feature with native water and bog plants!
• Bird bath
• Cover
• Evergreen shrubs
• Trees
• Rock piles
• Unmortered rock walls
• Log piles
• Leave the leaves!  Function as both mulch and cover.
• Places to raise young
• Trees
• Snags
• Nest boxes
• What not to do
• Don't use chemicals, hurts the critters!
• Justification for neighbors if needed
• TPWP Wildscape and NWF Backyard Habitat signs make it look more official
• A small border of shorter plants or a little grass helps too
• If starting from scratch
• Building envelope
• Leave existing native vegetation
• Don't scrape off topsoil
• Don't bring in soil
• Brings in nasty non-native weeds you'll never be able to get rid of
• Nutgrass
• Bermudagrass
• Sources of more information
• Info sources
• Web
• Texas Parks and Wildlife Wildscapes: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/wildscapes/
• National Wildlife Federation Backyard Habitats: http://www.nwf.org/habitats/backyard/
• Books
• Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country, by Marshal Enquist
• Native Texas Plants, by Sally and Andy Wasowski
• Native Texas Gardens, by Sally and Andy Wasowski
• The Landscaping Revolution: Garden with Mother Nature, Not Against Her, by Andy Wasowski with Sally Wasowski
• Texas Wildscapes: Gardening for Wildlife, by Noreen Damude and Kelly Conrad Bender
• Organizations
• NPSOT: http://www.npsot.org/
• NPSOT Austin: http://www.npsot.org/Austin/
• Meets on the third Tuesday of each month (except December) at 7:00pm until 9:00pm at Wild Basin Wilderness
• February Chapter Meeting: Tuesday, February 20th, 2001, 7:00pm-9:00pm, at Wild Basin Wilderness
• Lady Bird Wildflower Center: http://www.wildflower.org/
• Us
• Notes and pictures at: http://sss.org/~jasons/Interests/Nature/Welcome.html
• Email questions to:
• Jason: jasons@wumple.com
• Lisa: lisa_spangler@yahoo.com
• Plant sources
• Here at Wild Basin during this event!
• Local nurseries
• Barton Springs Nursery: Austin, 512-328-6655
• The Natural Gardener: Austin, 512-328-6655
• Madrone Nursery: San Marcos, 512-353-3944
• Natives of Texas: Kerrville, 830-896-2169
• Red Barn Garden Centers: Austin, 512-335-8093
• Park Place Gardens: Austin, 512-458-5909
• Pots and Plants Garden Center: Austin, 512-327-4564
• Bolton Works Nursery and Country Landscapes: Dripping Springs, 512-894-4234
• Kimas Tejas Nursery: Austin, 512-303-4769
• TexZen Gardens: Austin, 512-454-6471
• Bastrop Gardens: Austin, 512-303-5672
• Texas Ornamental Service: Jarrell, 512-303-5672
• The Lady Bird Wildflower Center has a native plant sale each Spring and Fall.
• Native American Seed sells seed of native plants.
• Credits
1. Sources
1. Texas Parks and Wildlife Wildscapes page by Kelly Bender: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/wildscapes/bufgnews.htm
2. Native Texas Plants, by Sally and Andy Wasowski
3. National Wildlife Federation web page: http://www.nwf.org/habitats/backyard/basics/provide.cfm
4. The Landscaping Revolution: Garden with Mother Nature, Not Against Her, by Andy Wasowski with Sally Wasowski
5. Native Texas Gardens, by Sally and Andy Wasowski
6. Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country, by Marshal Enquist
2. Pictures
1. Lisa Spangler
2. Steve Schwartzman (check out his CD-ROM, Austin and Vicinity: The World of Nature)
3. Jason Spangler