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Vol. 12, No. 1 April 2006
Monthly Meeting: Regular meetings are the third Thursday of the month 7:00pm at St. Mary's Catholic Church Parish Hall, 2108 Ridgewood, Longview (just off Hollybrook Drive). No meeting in December. Also please check our chapter website at: http://www.npsot.org/NortheastTexas/
It’s finally here! Spring is getting here slower than Christmas, but at least the Easter Cold Snap came two weeks early. We hope everyone is getting ready for the BIG SALE on April 29. At our house, we have a lot of little plants that have been transplanted to 4” pots. Many of these plants are natives grown from seed. Hopefully, with daily watering, they will get enough sun to be a good size on sale day. We need as many natives as we can produce.
We are also potting up extra small plants that are coming up in beds around the yard. It is getting almost too late to do this kind of preparation for the sale. We want to have desirable plants to offer our customers. We have also looked through our usual pot plants and sorted a few into the “Plant Sale” category because it is time for someone else to enjoy them. If you have extra iris or narcissus, they make nice “pass-a-longs” for people who do not have a grandma with a green thumb.
As we said at the March meeting, we plan to “stage” the sale in the yard of Frances Beavers on the Saturday, April 22,prior to the sale. So, that is the day to bring your plants to Frances’s house on the corner of Greystone and McCann Rd. There, we will decide on markers and prices, trying to make our sale more orderly. Of course, we will be accepting all plants that show up whenever they appear, so we will not be so strict that we would turn down any plants. We would, however, like to have the majority of the plants in advance so we can get our act together. On Friday, April 28, we will set up at Wal-mart and move the plants there.
The Quarterly State Meeting April 8 in San Antonio went well. It was mostly housekeeping with one announcement on the NICE program to be discussed in our upcoming meeting.
Floyd Anderson
Please notify the editor if you have problems receiving the newsletter or if your email or mailing address has changed.
For information call or email:
President: / Nell Freedman /Vice President: / Lanett Moser /
Treasurer: / Michael Liverman /
Secretary: / Frances Beavers
Newsletter: / Rosanna Salmon /
Tyler Chapter NPSOT: Monthly meetings are the first Monday of the month at 7:00pm, Walter Fair Memorial Methodist Church, 1712 Old Omen Rd, Tyler, TX Contact Jim Showen, president for more information:
Northeast Texas Field Ornithologists: General membership meeting first Tuesday of the month at 6:30pm, St. Mary’s Catholic Church Parish Hall, Longview, TX. For more information on programs and field trips visit their website at: http://members.tripod.com/netfo_tx/
Gregg County Master Gardener: Monthly meetings on the second Wednesday at 12:00pm in the Gregg County Extension Office, 405 E. Marshall St, Longview, TX.
For more information call 903-236-8429 or visit http://www.greggmastergardeners.org/
Harrison County Master Gardener: Monthly meetings on the second Wednesday at 12:00pm in the Harrison County Extension Office, 102 W Houston St, Marshall, TX. For more information call 903-935-8413
First Annual Marshall News Messenger Lawn & Garden Show: Come to the first Lawn & Garden Show in Marshall, TX. Neil Sperry will be there, and the show will also have a children’s activity area where kids can be introduced to the fun of gardening. It will be held at the East Texas Conference Center, US Hwy 59, on April 20th from 11:00am-7:00pm (tentatively.) For more information contact the Marshall News Messenger 903-935-7914
Garden Gala Day: Hosted by the SFA Mast Arboretum on April 22nd from 9:00am-2:00pm. The plant sale is on the Stephen F. Austin State University Intramural Fields in Nacogdoches, TX. Check arboretum website http://arboretum.sfasu.edu/ one week before the sale for plant list.
Native Plant Society Northeast Chapter Plant Sale: Saturday, April 29th, from 8:00am until ?? at the Wal-mart parking lot on Gilmer Rd, in Longview.
3rd Lone Star Regional Native Plant Conference: May 24th-28th in Nacogdoches, TX. This will be hosted by the SFA Pineywoods Native Plant Center in association with the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference of North Carolina. For more information and to register for this event visit http://arboretum.sfasu.edu/events/
Using Water Wisely In East Texas Landscaping: A four part lecture series on water conservation sponsored by the Gregg County Master Gardeners Thursday evenings at 7:00pm June 8th, June 15th, June 22nd and June 29th. This lecture series will be held at the Gregg County Extension Building meeting room 405 E. Marshall, Longview. Call 903-236-8429 for more information.
ECOSCAPING
Rosanna Salmon
“We promote the establishment of native communities around homes and businesses, using ecologically sound practices.”
“Through preservation and restoration of our natural areas, we are dedicated to the conservation of biodiversity.”
“Through our Seeds for Education Fund, we award grants for educational projects using native plants. In addition, we present talks at conferences and chapter meetings and provide a number of publications.”
Sounds good?
I recently received my latest issue of “American Gardener” magazine, which is a publication produced by the American Horticultural Society. As I was flipping through the magazine I found a short article about an interesting nonprofit organization call “Wild Ones”. This organization provides environmental education and advocates work similar to NPSOT, which is to promote the use of native plants. I went to their website www.for-wild.org to learn more about them. What I had found is that in order to provide insight into what natural landscaping is about and to teach people how to practice it, the organization developed a program called the “Ecoscaper Certification Program.” It works similar to the Master Gardener Program that we are all familiar with. The program incorporates the ideas of ecology and landscaping. According to Director Donna Van Buecken “this is an exciting program because it enables participants to learn at their own pace about the benefits of using native plants in landscaping, while sharing what they learn with others and being recognized for it.” The Ecoscaper Program has four levels. Each of the first three levels requires participants to read specific materials and complete a test. Fieldwork and completion of a project are also required. Level four is continuing education where participants finish projects and interact with the community. For more information about the Ecoscaper Program, log on www.for-wild.org/land/ecoscaper/ or call 877-394-9453. This organization began in Wisconsin and is based there, but it is my understanding that one may complete the course via email or snail mail. According to their website they have 50 chapters located in 12 states. I will provide an informational brochure about this organization at our April 20th meeting.