Prairie-scaping: A perfect alternative to lawn

By Kim Eierman, CH, AOLCP 

Founder, EcoBeneficial!

www.ecobeneficial.com 

Tired of watering, fertilizing and mowing your lawn? Why not consider planting a native prairie-scape: a prairie or a prairie-like garden? Prairie-scapes are fantastic ecological alternatives to lifeless lawns, what I call "the Green Deserts."

A traditional American lawn is composed of exotic cool-season turf grasses that evolved in Europe. These non-native turf grasses are not adapted to our climates or our ecosystems and they don't support our wildlife species. Additionally, turf grasses are very shallow rooted, unlike our native warm season grasses, and they require tremendous amounts of water to keep them going. The average American lawn uses 20,000 gallons of water a year - not very practical for the hot climates in Texas where water can often be in short supply.

Exotic turf lawns show their incompatibility with our ecosystems in other ways too - by demanding tremendous inputs of fertilizer and labor. Turf grass is like a demanding child - always hungry, always thirsty, incapable of being left alone. It's not happy here, so why do we keep planting it? My advice - keep only the lawn that you really use, and even then, think about some native grass alternatives that emulate shortgrass prairies like Buffalograss (Bouteloua dactyloides), Blue Grama Grass (Bouteloua gracilis) and Curly Mesquite Grass (Hilaria belangeri).

Even better, create a prairie-scape with a much greater degree of species diversity, and one which reflects your region - whether you are in the Gulf Prairie, the South Texas Plains, the Blackland Prairie, etc. To get some help figuring out what plants are native to your area, check out these helpful websites: Texas Parks and Wildlife "Wildscapes by Ecoregion," The Native Prairies Association of Texas, Biota of North America, and The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center native plant database.

Whether you have a tiny yard or an expansive landscape, you can create a native "prairie" and give your landscape a big ecological boost. Bees, butterflies, other beneficial insects, and many species of birds will appear, seemingly out of nowhere. Many of these creatures are in trouble, including a number of the 800 species of bees that are native to Texas. You have the power to help them out in your own landscape.

Unlike traditional lawns, prairie-scapes are low-maintenance, requiring less labor and fewer costs than lawns. After a prairie-scape has established, you will need to cut it back once a year, and that's it!

Here are some things that you need to know to create a successful prairie-scape:

- Prairies are almost always free of woody plants - no trees or shrubs.

- Most prairie plants require full sun and infertile soil.

- Utilize plants that are native to your eco-region that will support your ecosystem.

- Plant diversity is key. Bio-diverse landscapes have been found to be much more resistant to pets, diseases and extreme weather events resulting from climate change.

- Emulate the "plant communities" in your region when selecting plants - plants which grow together in nature. Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa), a tough xeric plant, is not a good partner for Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis), which likes it moist.

- Native grasses should comprise at least 50 percent of plants in a prairie-scape. In tall grass prairies, up to 80 percent of the plants can be grasses. Native grasses are a critical component in a prairie, creating a structural and ecological foundation both underground and above ground.

- A lawn which you stop mowing is not a prairie, it is only exotic cool-season grass allowed to grow, and will never provide the ecological benefits of a native prairie.

You can create a prairie-scape by using seeds, plant "plugs" or even large containers of plants. Your budget, the size of your landscape and your patience will determine which format you use. While seeded prairie-scapes are reasonably inexpensive, they can take several years to establish. Using large containers of plants can be prohibitively expensive, for all but the smallest landscapes. Plant plugs are a nice compromise - affordable and fairly quick to establish, but they can be hard to find.

Prairie-scapes can be naturalistic or more formally designed. A seeded prairie will be quite random in terms of where plants grow. By using plugs or containers of plants, you can create more of a design with swaths of plants, exactly where you'd like to have them. Do realize that plants will re-seed and move around over time.

Leave your prairie plants standing through winter to provide seeds for birds, cover for overwintering insects, and visual interest for you. Cut the plants back in early spring. If you have a large area, consider cutting back only half of the prairie-scape, or even less, each year to preserve habitat for wildlife species. Alternate the areas that you cut each year.

If you have a lawn, you can have a prairie-scape, and a much healthier ecosystem too!

Kim Eierman is an environmental horticulturist, an Accredited Organic Landcare Professional, a Master Gardener and Master Naturalist. She teaches at New York Botanical Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, The Native Plant Center, et al. Kim speaks across the country on ecological gardening topics and native plants, and blogs on www.ecobeneficial.com. All rights reserved by Kim Eierman.

Fall pecan crop

By Robert Burns

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

Because of significant damage from an April freeze along with other factors, it's become difficult to estimate the size of the Texas pecan crop, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts.

But that doesn't stop Monte Nesbitt, AgriLife Extension pecan and fruit specialist, College Station, from "going out on a limb," and predicting a total Texas crop of 50 million to 55 million pounds.

These production levels, along with increased demand by Asian markets, will probably mean continued high prices for retail consumers this fall, especially for shelled pecans, he said.

Yield projections used to be much easier, according to Nesbitt. Pecan production used to vary from heavy one year to light the next year, then back to heavy, with the cycle repeating.

"Prior to 2009, we would look at a heavy year to be about 70 million to 75 million pounds total for the state, and we would expect 30 million pounds to be a weak production year," he said. "The last two or three years, we've vacillated in the 35 million to 45 million pound range, and that's been made up by some good production and some bad production across the state. So we're kind of averaging out to the middle-of-the-range production, which would be 50 million pounds, and that's what I expect this year."

This year's April freeze damaged pecans in the Panhandle, Far West Texas out to Fort Stockton, portions of the Midland/Odessa area and even into Central Texas, Nesbitt said.

"There was some regrowth after that, which included some new flowers, but there were questions of the pollination sequence being a little bit thrown off," he said. "You overlay that with what we've had the last three years, which is drought and other problems in various parts of the state, and we're in a pattern of 'un-synchronicity,' where we don't have a true on-year or off-year."

As for prices, the pecan market "is often a mystery to pecan growers themselves," Nesbitt said. "But we expect very volatile wholesale prices, with prices very strong early in the season and extremely volatile later in the pecan marketing season."

The June estimates for the overall U.S. pecan crop was 256 million pounds, Nesbitt noted.

More information on the current Texas drought and wildfire alerts can be found on the AgriLife Extension Agricultural Drought Task Force website at http://agrilife.tamu.edu/drought/.

Previous studies have suggested that plant growth can be influenced by sound and that plants respond to wind and touch. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri, in a collaboration that brings together audio and chemical analysis, have determined that plants respond to the sounds that caterpillars make when eating plants and that the plants respond with more defenses.

"Previous research has investigated how plants respond to acoustic energy, including music," said Heidi Appel, senior research scientist in the Division of Plant Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and the Bond Life Sciences Center at MU. "However, our work is the first example of how plants respond to an ecologically relevant vibration. We found that feeding vibrations signal changes in the plant cells' metabolism, creating more defensive chemicals that can repel attacks from caterpillars."

Appel collaborated with Rex Cocroft, professor in the Division of Biological Sciences at MU. In the study, caterpillars were placed on Arabidopsis, a small flowering plant related to cabbage and mustard. Using a laser and a tiny piece of reflective material on the leaf of the plant, Cocroft was able to measure the movement of the leaf in response to the chewing caterpillar.

Cocroft and Appel then played back recordings of caterpillar feeding vibrations to one set of plants, but played back only silence to the other set of plants. When caterpillars later fed on both sets of plants, the researchers found that the plants previously exposed to feeding vibrations produced more mustard oils, a chemical that is unappealing to many caterpillars.

"What is remarkable is that the plants exposed to different vibrations, including those made by a gentle wind or different insect sounds that share some acoustic features with caterpillar feeding vibrations did not increase their chemical defenses," Cocroft said. "This indicates that the plants are able to distinguish feeding vibrations from other common sources of environmental vibration."

Appel and Cocroft say future research will focus on how vibrations are sensed by the plants, what features of the complex vibrational signal are important, and how the mechanical vibrations interact with other forms of plant information to generate protective responses to pests.

"Plants have many ways to detect insect attack, but feeding vibrations are likely the fastest way for distant parts of the plant to perceive the attack and begin to increase their defenses," Cocroft said.

"Caterpillars react to this chemical defense by crawling away, so using vibrations to enhance plant defenses could be useful to agriculture," Appel said. "This research also opens the window of plant behavior a little wider, showing that plants have many of the same responses to outside influences that animals do, even though the responses look different."

The study, "Plants respond to leaf vibrations caused by insect herbivore chewing," was funded in part by the National Science Foundation and was published in Oecologia.  

Seguin: "Rain Gardens and Storm Water Treatments" will be presented by Matt Madrone, Landscape Architecture, at 7 p.m., July 17, at the Justice Center, 211 Court St., Seguin. A 6:30 p.m. social function precedes the meeting. For additional information, call 830-303-3889 or visit www.guadalupecountymastergardeners.org.

Austin: Chris Doggett, of Williamson County Beekeepers Association, will present "Raising and Managing Bees, Saturday, July 19, 10 a.m. - noon, at Zilker Botanical Garden, 2220 Barton Springs Rd., Austin. Doggett will share his knowledge and expertise in raising and managing bees. Learn how to provide a healthy and attractive environment for bees, whether you have a backyard hive, or acres of crops needing pollination. A delightful speaker with hands-on experience, Chris will gladly answer your questions and concerns to take the mystery out of beekeeping. This seminar is free; Zilker park entrance fee is $2 per adult, $1 per child or senior. The seminar is presented by the Travis County Master Gardeners, a volunteer arm of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Travis County. For information, visit www.tcmastergardeners.org or call -512-477-8672.

Dallas: "Moths: Tales from the Dark Side" will be presented Saturday, July 19, from 10 a.m.-noon.

Delve beyond butterflies and learn about one of nature's "other pollinators," the moth. Learn about fascinating behaviors, adaptations and diversity in the moth world from Entomologist John Watts. $15; $12 for TDG members. Texas Discovery Gardens at Fair Park - 3601 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Dallas. For more information, visit http://texasdiscoverygardens.org/events_and_classes.php.

La Marque: "A Homeowners Guide to Weed Control" will be presented by GC Master Gardener Anna Wygrys. Saturday, July 19, 9-11:30 a.m. at Galveston County AgriLife Extension in Carbide Park, 4102 Main, La Marque; Phone 281-534-3413; email reservations to galv3@wt.net, further details www.aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston. Free.

Nacogdoches: Join Cindy Hoyt, proprietor of Pineywoods Herb Farm, for a special Herbal Seminar on July 19 from 9 a.m.-noon in the Ina Brundrett Conservation Education Building, 2900 Raguet Street at the SFA Pineywoods Native Plant Center in Nacogdoches. Participants will learn about creating infusions using bay leaves and also participate in a hands-on lesson of making compound (herbal flavored) butter. Cindy plans to share her culinary treats with participants, so get ready for the sight, smell and taste of fresh herbs at this delicious seminar. Pineywoods Herb Farm is located in Kennard, where Cindy and her husband Richard use organic and sustainable farming practices to raise herbs. They specialize in culinary, medicinal, and landscape herbs and also offer seasonal vegetable plants, Texas native plants, wildflowers, and plants that attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Cost for the seminar is $25 for SFA Garden Members and $30 for non-members. To register for the seminar, or for more information, contact the education office at 936-468-1832 or email erodewald@sfasu.edu .

San Antonio: The 2014 Junior Master Gardener Summer Adult Training designed for teachers, educators, and volunteers in support of Youth Gardening will be held July 22-24 at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, 555 Funston Place, San Antonio. Participants will become affiliated with the Texas Junior Master Gardener (JMG) Program, which engages children in novel, "hands-on" group and individual learning experiences that provide a love of gardening, develop an appreciation for the environment, and cultivate the mind. Participants will learn how to establish a garden, start a Junior Master Gardener group, and obtain the JMG curriculum. CPE Hours are provided for this three day training. Cost of the training is $100. No refunds, after the application is submitted will be accepted. For an application, contact Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Bexar County office at 467-6575, or download an application at: www.bexar-tx.tamu.edu.

• Many, many practical and timely garden tips that are for Texas - not Maine or California!
• Organic, earth friendly tips to make your garden grow and prosper
• Lots of space to record your own activities for future reference
• Planting dates and tips for vegetables, flowers, herbs, fruit and lawns

The Vegetable Book

By Dr. Sam Cotner

Finally, back by popular demand and in its fourth printing, the most informative and comprehensive "how-to" book on vegetable gardening in Texas (also, suitable for most other areas of the South) written by the late, great Dr. Sam Cotner, former head of horticulture at Texas A&M University and lifelong gardener. This interesting read has over 370 pages of detailed information on every crop, from Asparagus to Watermelon including problem/solving sections for each vegetable. If you want to maximize your enjoyment and success growing vegetables in Texas, this book is a "must have," whether you are a beginner or a seasoned gardener. Price $34.02

By William D. Adams

The best thing for tomato enthusiasts since the tomato itself! Adams draws on more than thirty years of experience to provide a complete, step-by-step guide to success in the tomato patch. Learn everything from soil preparation, planting, feeding, caging and watering. Liberally sprinkled with the author's easy humor and illustrated with his own excellent photographs, this must-have book has everything you'll need to assure a bumper crop! 189 pages. Lots of color photographs! Price: $31.94

($15.82 if ordered separately)

Remit payment to:

TG Books * PO Box 9005 * Waco, TX 76714

or call Toll-Free 1-800-727-9020

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