Central Texas Gardener - Sept. 28, 2013 - Native american seed

Hi I'm Tom Spencer. This week on Central Texas gardener, bring on the butterflies with Bill Neiman from Native American Seed. He serves up the seeds to plant this fall for habitat restoration. On tour in Temple get a couple's new perspective in their makeover to welcome wildlife. Daphne makes her pick of the week and Tricia has your backyard basic tips, so let's get growing, right here, right now. Support for Central Texas Gardener comes from Geo Growers offering custom soil blends for lawns, gardens, xeroscaping and organic landscaping supplies. More information at geogrowers.net When you move into deer country how do you change your ways? See how this couple did it in Temple. In Temple, Texas Mary Lew and David Quesinberry wanted a garden, not a lawn. They didn't want to seed it all at once flat to mention either. We moved here in 1998, it was a long flat narrow lot with Cedar Elmes and probably about three Live Oaks. This wasn't their first garden but when they fell in love with this property they realized the plants they'd grown in Belton weren't going to work. We moved here and we saw these beautiful deer peeking out from the woods and I just had these huge racks and we were so excited and we had a herd of 27 deer when we moved here. Rather than fence out the deer. they went for plants that usually are safe from nibbling. We hate fences, so we wanted a living fence or a screen and so that's what we did all around the property. We'd have little seedlings come up of yopauns we just plant them. Orchid trees come up periodically and we just dig them up and place them in various places. Rather than be mad at the deer we wanted the deer to be welcome in the garden. In back the dimensional view for watching wildlife of all kinds starts near the house. Its panoramic entrance from the patio or indoors refreshens even when it's hot. Seasonal changes join perpetual structure. Musicians tune-up in the shady cove. When Mary Lew and David saw this group of trees for the first time, they knew at once that it was the perfect spot for a picnic table. A nearby shed harbors the tools that are in their hands every spare minute. A decomposed granite pathway separates the cove from sunnier gardens. To frame the property with evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs they frame textures and colors with wildlife attraction all year Perennials join self-seeding annuals Moving around the bend they change perspective with the first berm they built That garden evolved because there's no water back there The land back there was just flat, don't like just flat land. A dry stream to flex crazy rain, but mainly it simply adds to the charm. They got help with the largest bolders, but mostly they hauled them all themselves. The family calls it grandpas garden but they didn't stop there. We were just going to have one berm back there and they said well you're not supposed to have you know, just this one thing back here, lets do three have three berms. We did it one rock at a time, one plant at a time, we had no plan. We just, it was like playing, was like lets pretend when you were a kid, let's pretend, let's do this this way, and then the other one will go- yeah, well what if we do this?- And we just kind of knock ideas off of each other basically around maybe one plant. What if we, you know we buy this plant, what are we going to do with it and we don't know what to do with it after getting home. That was all mowed, we did hours and hours to mow it and said, this is so silly. Along with habitat and food for wildlife, they make sure there's water too. Their plants don't need much, but the creatures do. People ask what do you do about pest control, you don't need any pest control. If you have water, you have the birds, the birds take care of everything. We came back after one night, we have a bird bath back there in the back, and there was a screech owl taking a bath at nighttime. We got a picture of him too, he was so cute. He just kind of turned around and looked at me, he went back taking his bath. Your wasps and bees and spiders and everything now have a purpose, so we know we don't try to kill anything, except fire ants. Their newest project in spare time is a pond and waterfall, as much for the wildlife as for them. We extended the patio so that a lot of that soil, rather have them carry it off, we just had them stack it back there, we'll make a waterfall. A lot of the inspiration we get were in the house looking out the windows and go you know, that seems like the perfect spot to put it, because we'll enjoy it when were in the house too. And certainly it's all a wonderland for kids. My grandchildren love it here, they just want to come outside all the time. They love playing out here. My grandson has a little electric car and he just drives all over the roads. They're so cute, and I think my little granddaughter's going to be a gardener. She just loves, it she loves raking; she just loves working. In the garden, when they get a little older, were going to put them to work. In front, they change the formerly dull dimension with multiple hearts gates destinations and plants formal and casual. They didn't banish all the lawn but they did exchange buffalo grass with water wise palisades asoisa. Originally we had Buffalo out there, but when they put the grass in there were little sprigs of bermuda in the dirt. I mentioned that to them and they didn't seem to mind, the Bermuda just kind of took over the Buffalo. In an alcove, they didn't swap it with shrubs when they replaced the grass, instead they made it a cozy viewpoint. When we first moved here we had grass from the house to the street and we built beds all around that area to get rid of the grass; we just thought it looked prettier. Its just boring just to have, you know, grass from the house to the street. We still have little islands of grass, you have to have the grass to let your eye rest, if its too wild you get tired. Antique horse hedges, that they rescued in Temple, mark the entrance from the sidewalk to the front door. David and Mary Lew have always been gardeners, but she took a step to become a Bell County Master Gardener with encouragement from colleagues at Scott and White hospital. It's wonderful to be around people that are just so excited about nature and plants. Sre Mary Lew and David finish? Oh, probably not. It's just like a painting you just want to keep making it pretty. Thanks to our friends in temple for sharing their garden with us. Right now we're going to be talking about wild flower planting and habitat planting, if you will, for migrating species and for water conservation. I'm joined by Bill Neiman from Native American seed, it's great to have you back on Central Texas gardener. It is a very good plesure be back, thank you Tom. Well Native American seed is one of the primary purveyors of so many different native plant seeds here in Central Texas. Not just in Central Texas but you're actually probably in the nation right now. The southern plains for sure and actually some into northern Mexico. Alright, so you are providing what I think is probably a pretty hot commodity right now. Well I guess every time they pour another yard of concrete, there are others that realize the value of what's being lost and the need to put it back like it was. Right, well put it back like it was is critically important these days because these are species that are habituated, or are used to, the kind of drought experience that Texas is going through right now. Yes, we haven't used the word here, but I might as well get started, is called prairie. And they're really prairies evolved with drought. And and it's a co-mingling of grass, fire, drought, and cloven hoofed animals that made the prairie work. And there are historic records that go back that show these droughts, in fact the times that we're in now are actually more normal. There is some research now coming to light that shows about the last forty or fifty or sixty years was actually abnormally wet. People like you and I who grew up thinking that that was normal, are really being awakened to the to the reality that this is a prairie and that prairies evolve with drought. And perhaps what we thought was normal, was actually abnormal. Right, and that perhaps we are in a more normal climate as far as rainfall goes. Its pretty theres a lot of history that says that long extended periods of drought have been here before. Alright, well thats sobering to say the least but you have an answer for that when you talk about prairie and prairie restoration because you have been doing this for decades now. This is our twenty-fifth year. And you've developed how many different kinds of seed mixes? Well we have thirty mixtures, some of them as many as fifty two species that are specific to solve ecological problems right. And many of our mixtures we feel are actually ecosystem in a bag. When you saw all the fires, for example, in 2011, we developed two Scorched Earth Recovery mixes for an eastern one perfect for Bastrop, Bastrop in the southeast areas and the west of 35. The Scorched Earth Recovery make so these are species that are a wide range of conditions from Caliche to bottomland soils they are short annual wild flowers that advantage by any kind of disturbance on the soil that would rapidly recover and re vegetate the land. And also a mixture of deep rooted warm-season perennials annuals, perennials warm season and cool season. So this is the approach that I have found to be the most successful. And in particular with the subject at hand, with the butterflies, but not only just butterflies but all of life. Is all about a holistic approach and the understanding of the intermingling of the relationships of the plants to the animals and even to us the humans. You talk about the mixtures, seeds, and the deep rootedness of some these I think it's striking to just talk about one species like liatrus, which is one of the premiere forms of wild flowers from the state of Texas especially in Balcones a suburban area they can have roots 20 feet deep. These are healing the plants, they are survivor plants, and they are healing plants. I have a little quick story about liatris its unbelievable, but these plants will find their way. They're wind born seeds and they blow in the wind, but they find disturbed, ruined piece of land and that's where they want to root up and thats some of the harshest conditions. Sometimes, in fact, if it's a really rich, lush, moist soil area, they don't do very well at all. They will rot, but these are very long-lived, almost prehistoric looking bulbs if you ever dig one up. And in our farming operation we have rows and rows and rows, but as the years go by, some of them actually die out. Maybe we care for them too much or maybe they just burn out. And so but this bulb becomes hollowed, and its real fibrous on the inside, and mice will come and borrough and make a nest in there in the winter time and bring seeds of native grasses into that to recall. That is how I'm talking about where you at the system has either holistic approach. Oh that's beautiful. And now this is the time of year for a lot of folks here in Central Texas to be thinking about seeding, so again you've got mixes for just about every different situations sunshade. East of i35 and deep clay soils or in the caliche all those different things are there. What do you recommend to people in terms of prepping their sites? Well the seeds have to touch the earth, and so you can't just cast them out there on top a bunch of dried straw or Leafs material. And or if the soil is really heavily crusted over or compact, the seeds will just lay on top and then the first wind or rain will just blow them away. So the soil crust needs to be made somewhat friable, and the seeds need to be able to touch that earth. And the rule of thumb is to plant the seed two times the diameter of the seed is how deep you would plant. Okay, you take like a lemon mint seed that is the diameter of this 0.5 millimeter pencil lead, and you put it two times that deep. Okay alright. So in other words, on the surface and then just press it down. Okay, got you. Now one of the reasons why we're talking today, encouraging people to take this approach, is because these species, these habitats that you create are so beneficial to migratory species including the butterflies and they provide not just food but cover and lots of other things right? Yeah, sometimes I get a little bit I guess, where I wanna say, if a person can only focus on a blooming flower and a butterfly landing on it, they're missing the point that that is a moment in time but the butterfly is alive and the plant is alive and both of them are changing and their needs are various and great so the butterfly needs a place to hide, to sleep, it needs food, it needs a place for nesting or for to raise its young, and when the young hatch they need a certain kind of protection in food so this is where if you can think in terms of rebuilding a habitat instead of planning a specific species, instead build a colony or like a little pocket prairie that could provide a lot of needs for the various species. Right, well I love the bigger picture that you're you're trying to get people to focus on because the the butterfly and the plants are interdependent in many different ways and one of the cool things that I've noted in your products now is that you have the specific blends of things, theres Sustain the Migration Kit specifically for butterflies for monarchs and then you have "Butterfly Retreat Mix," now how would those two be different? Well, let's take the "Sustain the Migration" kit and it is a blend of three different individual milkweeds and that is for the person that is, yes, really focused on a monarch and in fact that little kit contains what is required to do a cold stratification, there's actually vermiculite and instructions and some neoprene rubber gloves so that you can go through the whole motion's and cold stratify those seeds, and now let's talk a brief second about that for the fall planting, that you could put these seed out without going through all those motions and let the wintertime cold stratify them and they would sprout next spring The Butterfly Retreat is numerous species, perennials, and annuals that provide all of those verious sustinences I mentioned. Okay and things like the frost weed, gay feather, and all those other things- all those beautiful species Yes. Well it's just terrific work that you're doing and I know that you have created a place out there were people can come and visit, as well, Native American seed. You're located in Junction, Texas and people can also find you online and your catalog I have to say is an amazing resource. Well thank you we produce two of those per year, this is our twenty-fifth year so our 50th production is underway right now of this catalog. Alright well Bill it's a real pleasure to be with you and thank you for the work that you're doing for all of us- thank you for spreading the word and coming up next our friend Daphney. Hi I'm Daphney Richards. Augie's taking a little time off to vacation with his doxie cousins, but he'll be back soon. This week's question is about jalapenos turning red in weather that indicates a problem with the plant. Well if you're growing jalapenos for the first time or you've never lost track of harvesting them and let them go too long, you may not have noticed that a natural development of these fruit is the redening when the actually ripen. Normally we harvest them green which stops their development, because they're much more tender and tasty at this stage, but if left on the vine they do indeed turned red and begin to dry out the way any seed pod does. Because we're usually interested in eating the flesh of the pepper, we don't want it to dry out, so we harvest them green while the flesh is still nice and juicy and if allowed to ripen, that valuable flesh begins to dry up and the flavor changes. You may see red flesh jalapeno sold in the market but more often you won't. Most red jalapenos are dried, smoked and given a completely new name, chipoltle. Chipoltle peppers are used in cooking to provide a unique smokey flavor and not the heat normally associated with jalapenos. So if your jalapenos are turning red before you can harvest them, that's just a sign that you need to eat more jalapenos or that you should experiment with creating some chipoltles. Our plant this week is Lindheimer muhly, Muhlenbergia lindheimeri. This gorgeous ornamental grass is native only in the Edwards Plateau region of central Texas, but it's become widely used in the nursery trade and for good reason. The sharp bluish gray fooliage and seed heads create a striking addition to any garden. These perennial ornamentals look especially at home in a xeroscape, planted with other low water-use plants like Blackfoot and Copper Canyon daisies. The plant itself only gets two to three feet tall and wide but once it's in bloom, the flower spikes can extend to another two to three feet. Since they fill in quite nicely all the way to the ground, Lindheimers muhly, also known as Big muhly, creates a very nice green when planted in a hedgerow. Big muhly is native to dry prairies and rocky outcrops but it can tolerate a little extra moisture if rainfall is high and your soil is a bit heavy. It easily thrives in the full hot sun with very little water, so once established you can virtually ignore this plant. The native species have lovely pale green inflorescences which are called panicles in grasses. Improved varieties with pale yellow and even reddish panicles are also available. One of the most popular is Regal Mist with deep pinkish red flower spikes that develop in the late summer and add color to the garden in early winter when most plants are going dormant and their colors fading. This fine uniquely colored foliage also adds textural interest to the garden in addition to color. Place Big muhly in conspicuous areas of the garden, near walkways or in borders and allow it to shine as a sculptural element all year long. Out in your garden if you have a St. Augustine lawn, be on the lookout for brown patch which can develop when nighttime temperatures begin to cool and relative humidity is high. It's also time to plant wildflower and other spring flowering plants from seed. Cosmo, larkspur, bluebonnets, Mexican blanket and coneflowers should be planted in the fall. Be sure regularly water them if rains down arrive. We'd love to hear from you so please visit us at KLRU.org/ctg with your questionsand plants from your garden. Thanks Daphney. Now it's check in with Tricia Shirey. A lot of gardeners ask me, should I plant this as a seed or should I start with a transplant? Well seeds are definitely cheaper, you can always get a lot more seeds in a packet than and it's about the same price, usually, as the price of one transplant and there are a lot of varieties that are available online and in catalogs that you won't find just anywhere as a transplant. Some of my favorite cucumbers and some of my favorite peppers are just not available as transplants, so I need to start those with seeds. Now something like mosh, I never see that as a transplant, I have to start that one from seed. Starting seeds indoors does give us a jump on the season. We can't really plant tomatoes direct seeded in February, which would be the time to plant them, because it's too cold, so we have to start tomatoes as transplants to get them in the ground and ready to bloom in March and broccoli and cauliflower and things like that in fall, when it's time to plant them, the soil is strictly too hot for those seeds to germinate so we can put them in a shady location and get them started. Now things like beans and radishes grow really quickly and the root hairs are very easily damaged by transplanting so those are best direct seeded. The long tap roots of okra and sunflowers can be damaged by transplanting too so it's usually best to start those directly in the ground but it is difficult to get seeds to start in warm soil so when it's time for the fall garden, the soil dries out and crusts really fast so I'll start cucumber or melons or squash for fall in a shady location outside so that they can be transplanted in the garden at the proper time. You can also plant both ways, sometimes I plant lettuce by seed but also transplants because those transplants will provide me with an immediate crop while I'm waiting for the seeds to get going. You want to start your transplants in an area that's got really good light, but with good ventilation too. If you have poor ventilation you can often have problems with the diseases like damping-off, it's a fungal disease of the seedlings. You also need to water very gently for your plants that are started indoors. I like to use a spray mister bottle so that I can give them a very very light sprinkling of water and it doesn't form a crust on the soil. Camomile tea, instead of water, can help with damping-off disease if you do you have that fungal disease. Now whether you're growing your own or you're buying plants from a grower, it's important to harden off transplants before you put them in the garden. Things that have just come from inside or from a greenhouse are not going to be adapted to the wind and the sun outdoors and they will really suffer, so I move mine out gradually a little bit in the morning and then increase that every day until they've been out, they have been adjusted to being outside for a week or ten days before they get directly moved into the garden. So a combination is really the answer, some things from seed some things from transplants and always look at the package for more instructions about that particular variety because that's going to be a good source of information for you about how those plants are going to perform direct or as a transplant. For Backyard Basics, I'm Tricia Shirey. Thanks for watching. Find out more at KLRU.org/CTG and check out our blog. Next week fall into perennials with Hill Country Water Gardens & Nursery. Until then, I'll see you in the garden. To learn about today's program watch online and follow CTG's blog. Check out KLRU.org/CTG Support for Central Texas Gardener comes from Geo Growers, offering custom soil blends for lawns, gardens, xeroscaping and organic landscaping supplies. More information at geogrowers.net.