your Backyard

Water-wise Trees for Central Texas

capty99 — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:36:23 -0500

Central Texas has a diverse cross-section of soils, terrain and plant life. For many people, it evokes images of white limestone, brilliant wildflowers and stately live oaks. However, drought and extreme heat make it difficult for most non-native plants to survive without supplemental water and soil improvement. Before making your plant selection, evaluate the size, texture, flowering patterns, light requirements and wildlife value of each tree. To assist you with your landscaping plans, the Lower Colorado River Authority has developed a list of some of the most popular native and adapted trees for the Central Texas area.

Shade Trees

Evergreen

Arizona Cypress
Cypressus arizonica
25’ – 50’
good choice for limestone soils
requires good drainage

Deodar Cedar
Cedrus deodara
40’ – 50’
fine texture
requires good drainage

Live Oak
Quercus virginiana
30’ – 50’
oak wilt susceptible
provides dense shade

Monterey Oak
Quercus polymorpha
30’ – 40’
fast growing
attractive trees
prefers deep soil

Deciduous

Bur Oak
Quercus macrocarpa
75’ – 100’
large oak
majestic
very adaptable

Cedar Elm
Ulmus crassifolia
50’ – 60’
Fall color

Chinquapin Oak
Quercus mulenbergii
30’ – 50’
tall, slender form

Lacey Oak
Quercus glaucoides
20’ – 30’
bluish-green foliage’
grows well in limestone soil

Pecan
Carya illinoinensis
60’ – 80’
nut producing

Texas Ash
Fraxinus texensisn
40’ – 50’
fast growing

Texas Red Oak
Quercus texana
15’ – 30’
Bright red fall foliage

Western Soapberry
Sapindus drummondii
30’ – 40’
showy winter fruit
yellow fall color

Ornamental Trees

Evergreen

Cherry Laurel
Prunus caroliniana
25’ – 30’
screening plant
wildlife food

Yaupon Holly
Ilex vomitoria
15’ – 20’
red berries in winter
small tree
shade tolerant

Mountain Laurel
Sophora secundiflora
15’ – 20’
showy
fragrant purple flower

Texas Pistachio
Pistacia texana
12’ – 20’
almost evergreen
red berries
white flowers

Deciduous

American Smoke Tree
Cotinus obovatus
15’ – 20’
beautiful spring blooms and fall foliage
requires well-drained soil

Anacacho Orchid
Bauhinia congesta
8’ – 12’
orchid-like flowers
needs well-drained soil

Carolina Buckthorn
Rhamnus caroliniana
12’ – 20’
glossy green foliage
good food source for wildlife

Crape Myrtle
Lagerstroemia x. hybrida
15’ – 25’
summer flowers
many varieties

Desert Willow
Chilopsis lineaaris
15’ – 25’
orchid-like blooms
not a true willow

Escarpment Black Cherry
Prunus serotina var. eximia
20’ – 30’
fall color
fruit bearing

Eve’s Necklace
Sophora affinis
20’ – 30’
good nectar plant
flowers in necklace-like clusters

Golden Leadball Tree
Leucaena retusa
12’ – 20’
fragrant yellow blooms
fine-textured, airy foliage

Honey Mesquite
Prosopis glandulosa
25’ – 30’
long white blooms
wildlife nectar source

Kidneywood
Eysenhardtia texana
10’ – 15’
fragrant white flowers

Mexican Buckeye
Ungnadia speciosa
10’ – 15’
fragrant pink spring flowers

Mexican Plum
Prunus mexicana
15’ – 25’
white spring flowers
wildlife food

Possumhaw Holly
Ilex deciduas
12’ – 15’
attractive red winter berries
sun or part shade

Red Buckeye
Aesculus pavia
10’ – 20’
beautiful red flowers
loses leaves in late summer

Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum
Viburnum rufidulum
15’ – 20’
Beautiful spring blooms and fall foliage
Slow growing

Texas Persimmon
Diospyros texana
15’ – 25’
wildlife food
attractive gray trunks

Placement Tips
For future energy savings, plant trees to shade the west and southwest sides of your home. Space trees at least 15 feet away from structures to avoid future conflicts as they grow. Avoid planting trees that exceed 20 feet in height near or beneath overhead utilities. Be sure to locate underground utilities such as sewer lines, septic fields and waterlines, allowing enough space to accommodate root systems.

Choosing the Right Contractor

capty99 — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:21:20 -0500

Most people take for granted the comfort provided by their central air conditioner, heat pump or furnace until something goes wrong and the unit needs to be serviced or replaced. When this happens, you need a quality heating, ventilating and air conditioning/ refrigeration (HVACR) contractor who is knowledgeable, skilled and qualified to do the job.

A Quality Contractor

Complies with state and local codes and regulations and carries the proper business and workers' compensation insurance
Is prompt, courteous and provides fast, reliable service while attempting to perform service at your convenience
Has the skill and knowledge to not only service your equipment, but if necessary, to design and install the right system for you
Is up to date on the newest developments in equipment, technology and design procedures in order to choose and install a system which will be the most efficient and most reliable system for you
A heating, ventilating and air conditioning system is designed to suit your needs. Your contractor selects each part of the system individually so that everything works at top efficiency to provide the comfort you need. All the system components are matched (the furnace, the condensing unit, fans and blowers, air conditioning coil, the duct work) to produce a heating and cooling system that will work best for you.

When Consulting an HVACR Contractor
Ask the contractor for references. Find out if other customers were satisfied.
Ask the contractor about his or her license. If a license is required in your area, ask for the license number.
Ask if the contractor's technicians are NATE certification. NATE-certified technicians have proven their knowledge of modern HVACR systems.
Ask the contractor if he or she is a member of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America. ACCA members have access to the latest technical information regarding HVAC systems. Through ACCA, contractors learn how to make quality an integral part of their company operations.
Don't forget to ask about ENERGY STAR qualified heating and cooling equipment.
For more information: Susan Lundgren, ACCA Austin 512.507.4826, www.accaaustin.org

Why Use Native Plants?

capty99 — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:06:56 -0500

Wait, before you plant that holly fern, azalea, or marigold, or lay in a St. Augustine lawn, consider something that actually thrives in, and speaks to, central Texas.
Native plants offer three huge advantages over the mass-produced cultivars that glut the marketplace: they are adapted to our environment; they support our local wildlife; and they provide a Texas-proud “sense of place.”

Being adapted to our geography and climate is critical. Native plants have had tens of thousands of years to adjust to our precise soil components and weather patterns: from the dark heavy clays of the Blackland Prairies in the eastern half of Travis County to the limestone of the Edwards Plateau in the western half; from balmy winters with sporadic freezes to oven-baked, rainless summers.

Adaptation means that natives will actually thrive, blossom, and reseed in conditions in which other plants merely persevere. Adapted to long periods of dryness, natives will use much less water, once established, than non-natives. Given the increasing pressure on water use in the Southwest, this in itself, strongly recommends the plants. But adaptation implies many other attributes. Having built up resistance to the insects and pathogens of our region for eons, native plants don’t require pesticides and can fend for themselves with only minimal damage. With an ancient lineage in our soils, they also need no artificial fertilizer; in fact, fertilizers often make them grow lank and scraggly.

Consider, by contrast, the non-native St. Augustine grass lawn. St. Augustine is a tropical grass native to the Gulf of Mexico, the West Indies, and western Africa. It is used extensively as a turfgrass in southern states, and throughout Austin, on account of its fondness for warmth and its partial tolerance of shade. However, it requires fertile soil and lots of water – and we’re often shy of both. For a St. Augustine lawn to flourish, you need about 1” of water per week (560 gallons per week per 1000 sq. ft. of lawn), plus fertilizers, especially on alkaline soils. Since the grass is prone to chinch bugs and various fungi, pesticides are also frequently needed. Finally, a thriving St. Augustine lawn will need mowing at least once every other week. Add up the costs of water, fertilizer, pesticides, and mowing…and you’ve got quite a layout of expense, to say nothing of the toll that the chemicals take on the environment.

Native plants are also adapted to our wildlife. All trees and shrubs offer some sort of shelter and nesting sites for mammals and birds, but only the natives offer provisions that our specific wildlife use. For instance, the endangered golden-cheeked warbler only uses bark strips of one native tree --the Ashe juniper (aka cedar) -- to construct its nest. As for food, the natives win hands down. Shrubs such as the beautiful Texas persimmon or evergreen sumac offer fruits that are the delight of raccoons, ringtails, and opossums, while yaupon holly and possumhaw attract birds throughout the winter with their brilliant scarlet berries. You’ll note that many of our birds avoid the fruits of non-natives, many of which are unpalatable to them.

The list goes on and on. Hummingbirds are wildly attracted to our native Turk’s cap, crossvine, and scarlet sage, some of which are timed to bloom as the hummers migrate through our area. Mockingbirds greedily devour the chiltepin pepper, which, incidentally, is the ancestor of all modern peppers and has kicked up the local human cuisine for centuries. Even school children know that monarch butterflies rely on milkweeds as larval host plants. Simply plant one so-called butterfly-weed in your yard, and you’ll find out soon enough. The stunning tiger swallowtail butterfly equally depends on our Mexican plum, and the brilliant orange gulf fritillary is crazy about our passionflowers. You won’t see a single butterfly visiting a begonia, petunia, or pansy –or any other of the hundreds of other horticultural varieties—because decades of breeding for showy flowers have left them sterile for wildlife.

But the real clincher for native plants is that they provide us with a unique sense of place: they help to make Texas look like Texas. We all instinctively recognize how the pine-clad hills of say, Oregon, differ from the deciduous woods of Pennsylvania, how the estuaries of Chesapeake Bay look nothing like the desert-scapes of Tucson. So, why when it comes to our front yards, do we all acquiesce to a one-size-fits-all attitude? Our vast stretches of clipped lawns with foundational plantings of shrubbery hark to a 19th-century British landscape that is not only out of place in America, but especially won’t work in Texas without considerable expense. Given the astounding variety found in nature, our front lawns end up looking monotonous and homogenized. Where are the prickly-pear cactus, the red yuccas, the bluebonnets, or lovely native bunch grasses, such as Lindheimer muhly, in our lawns?

Where to start?

Where can you get more information? Central Texans are lucky to live in a place rich with native plant resources. First, the City of Austin runs the Grow Green program (www.ci.austin.tx.us/growgreen), a comprehensive landscaping program that discusses gardening basics and design and for central Texas. The downloadable native (and adapted) plant list provides the thumbnail basics for any beginner. Available in booklet form as Native and Adapted Landscape Plants, the primer is free to Austinites at most local nurseries.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center hosts two annual all-native plant sales (April and October) where hundreds of natives, many available nowhere else, can be purchased. Their website ( www.wildflower.org) contains searchable lists and photos of thousands of native plants, as well as lists of suppliers, landscapers, and plant recommendations by region.

And be sure to check out the Austin chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas! We have monthly meetings where you can meet others interested in everything from growing natives, to participating in plant rescues, hikes, and restoration projects. Our website (www.npsot.org/austin) also has a good list of central Texas nurseries that regularly carry native plants, as well as lists of plants for special purposes (for instance, attracting butterflies and hummingbirds).

Be sensible.
Be generous.
Be a Texan.
Grow native.

BY MATT TURNER

Matt Turner is the current President of the Austin chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas and author of the soon-to-be-published Remarkable Plants of Texas (Univ. of Texas Press, Fall 2008).

Winterizing your Backyard

capty99 — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:04:36 -0600

As the temperature drops and winter approaches, central Texas homeowners have to start turning their focus to protecting their prized backyards. An area that is in its glory in the spring and summertime becomes the focal point of defense against the unpredictable Texas winters. To ensure a pleasant and inexpensive spring, any homeowner should evaluate the current situation of their yard to help save on energy consumption and to minimize repair costs in the upcoming year.

Home Exterior:

Foundation, Doors and Windows: Start with the basics. Check the exterior of your home, including siding and foundation, for cracks or leaks that may let in cold air. These areas should be repaired or sealed. Also, make sure to remove any debris or vegetation that might be built up around the foundation to prevent rodent problems. To limit airflow, consider using weather-stripping around doors and caulk all windows. In addition, any cracked or damaged windows should be replaced.

Roof, Gutters and Downspouts:

Next on the winterizing list is the roof and precipitation management system. Inspect the roof for any leaks and replace worn, loose or missing shingles. Make sure the gutters are clean and that water flows properly through and out the downspout. Use a hose to test the functionality of your precipitation system. This is very important because any significant blockage can cause ice damming when water is forced to seep into a home because of clogged gutters, resulting in water drips from the ceiling and walls.

Outdoor Plumbing:

Examine all outdoor faucets and pipes for gaps, cracks or holes. These areas can make the home vulnerable to heat loss and should be caulked. Consider insulating these faucets and pipes with a flexible heating cable covered by a foam-sleeve. This is a relatively cheap tip and can save you from a huge hassle. In addition, don’t forget to disconnect any water hoses connected to the house so that you can drain and store them over the cold months. If you have an outdoor kitchen, you should use the shutoff valve to drain the sink of any excess water in preparation for winter.

Outdoor Plants:

Protecting backyard plants is always a top priority for central Texas homeowners. Any dedicated green thumb naturally dislikes spending all spring and summer tending to plants just to see them die in the winter. To help prevent the problem, wrap the dormant plants with organic material, such as mulch or pine needles, to provide insulation. Potted plants should be grouped together in an area that is protected from the wind. During extremely harsh winter weather, bring plants indoors or in a safe sheltered area.

Landscaping:

To ensure that your backyard looks as good next year as it did this year, winterizing is essential. First, trim any tree branches that hang too close to the house or to electrical wires. During freezes these branches can become heavy and collapse causing costly problems. If you have an irrigation system, turn it off, release the pressure and drain all the water out. This will help you avoid any expensive sprinkler repairs. For outdoor fountains, homeowners need to drain all water and cover it. The pump should be removed, cleaned and stored during winter months. All summer gardening equipment needs to be drained of gas and either stored until further use.

Outdoor Surfaces:

Most people take as much pride in their patio as they do in their living room. Winter can be extremely wearing on wood, especially decks, fences and outdoor kitchens. The best idea is to stain or re-stain all of the wood surfaces that will be exposed to the relentless winter winds and moisture. Remember that not all fences and decks are created equally, so be sure to use a protectant and finishing product appropriate for your type of wood. Brick patios and driveways also need winter protection. Use a quality sealant to avoid corrosion.

Aboveground Hot Tubs:

Depending on whether or not you decide to use your spa or hot tub during the winter months, there are two methods of care. Keeping in mind that it requires lots of energy to heat a tub any time of year, it is especially important to be sure your hot tub is functioning properly so no energy is wasted during cooler times of the year. To conserve energy, a floating thermal blanket can lower heat loss by reducing evaporation and help keep moisture buildup on the inside of your spa cover to a minimum. If you plan to give your spa a break during the winter, turn off the power, flush your system and drain the water. Remove all filters, loosen fittings and clean the inside shell of your tub. For wood tubs, leave a couple of inches of water in the bottom of the shell to prevent shrinking or cracking of the tub bottom.

Underground Pools:

The process of winter- proofing your pool starts by adding and running a ‘winterizing’ dose of chemical cleaner in the filter for up to 2 days. Next, clean floating debris and send the vacuum roaming. To keep the pool walls and bottom looking clean add stain preventer. Homeowners should then lower the water level just below the skimmers to aid with the cleaning process. Use “Swimming Pool Antifreeze” to flush out the pumps and prevent underground pipe damage. Once the antifreeze has been circulated drain the remaining pool filter, valves, lines and gauges to complete the process. Use a tight-fitting pool cover to protect it from winter winds and debris.

Here in Central Texas, we can never predict whether we’ll see intense ice storms or an 80-degree Christmas Day. Either way, we must be prepared for whatever Mother Nature throws our way.

Wonderful Worms

capty99 — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 13:27:22 -0600

In the plant world, you are what you eat. It all begins with the soil, and nature provides the best source of plant nourishment: worm castings. While it is true that synthetic fertilizers do provide nutrients, they are limited as to which nutrients are included and how well they are balanced. Earthworms “package” nutrients in tiny granules for optimum release in soil and plant absorption. Rich in bacteria, calcium, iron, magnesium, sulfur and 60 other trace minerals, these worm castings naturally:
Provide nutrients in the form that plants need for proper plant health, growth and development.

Increase beneficial microbe activity, aiding in the nutrient process and depriving harmful fungi and other pathogens of an adequate food supply.

Promote strong, vibrant plant growth, making your plants more equipped to compete with weeds, resist disease and drought and handle the onslaught of pests.

Encourage worm population growth, ensuring an ongoing recycling of organic matter in the soil.

How to Apply Worm Castings

Lawn

Apply castings once per year at 20 lbs. per 1,000 square feet.

Annuals and Perennials

Put a small handful of castings into each hole as you plant. Four times a year, apply castings at a rate of 10 lbs. /1000 square feet — OR — once per year at 20 lbs. per 1000 square feet. When preparing beds, mix 6 inches of compost into the soil, then mix in castings at the rate of 20 pounds per 1000 square feet

Garden

When germinating seed, place in bottom part of soil. At transplanting time, put a small handful of castings into each hole as you plant. This is also true for bulbs, vegetables and herbs.

Potted Plants

Mix a small amount of earthworm castings to your potting soil. Remember that castings are very potent, so don’t overdo it. No more than one-fifth of the ingredients should be castings.

For your worm castings, visit www.earthsoutlet.com

Smart Lawns To Save Water

capty99 — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 13:25:31 -0600

Text by Blake Wilson

your Backyard

Water-wise Trees for Central Texas

Shade Trees

Evergreen

Deciduous

Ornamental Trees

Evergreen

Deciduous

Choosing the Right Contractor

Why Use Native Plants?

Where to start?

Be sensible. Be generous. Be a Texan. Grow native.

Winterizing your Backyard

Home Exterior:

Roof, Gutters and Downspouts:

Outdoor Plumbing:

Outdoor Plants:

Landscaping:

Outdoor Surfaces:

Aboveground Hot Tubs:

Underground Pools:

Wonderful Worms

How to Apply Worm Castings

Lawn

Annuals and Perennials

Garden

Potted Plants

Smart Lawns To Save Water

Be sensible.
Be generous.
Be a Texan.
Grow native.