Month: September 2020

Water Feature Fun for Beauty, Conservation, and Natural Habitat

Sue Ann (Suna) Kendall2 Comments

by Pamela Neeley

Note from Suna: Pamela Neeley from the El Camino Real chapter has been working with water features on her property for the past few months (years), creating not only areas of beauty (sight and sound), but places for aquatic plants to flourish, and wildlife to sustain themselves on. I toured her property a couple of weeks ago and encouraged her to share some of her ideas and techniques with fellow Master Naturalists. Maybe you can borrow of her creative thoughts some in your own gardens and wild areas!

  • The rock is for butterflies and others to perch on
  • A leaky hose fills the container
  • thirsty bees
This water feature is made from a hose repair that leaks. The container spills out on one edge, and the bees and wasps congregate. So far, the stones haven’t attracted many customers; bees like the edge.
  • See the fish?

  • Stunning skink
  • Lots of vegetation to hide in
Here’s a simple water feature using a dripping hose connection. It feeds this container that’s used by my dogs and cats. There’s also a goldfish, goldfish housing (clay pot shards), and something green: a length of crow’s foot. A new visitor was This toothy skink, with beautiful turquoise tail stripes.
Here’s another example of a dripping faucet connection caught into a container. Cats and dogs like this one, too.
This large, formal water feature has an electric pump, a ceramic fountain, goldfish, and terra-cotta shards. I didn’t think the wildlife cared for it until I saw the toad contemplating the water music.
This one is movable. I was very proud of my engineering and water movement. The birds were curious, but didn’t descend on it, so I’m not very bird clever. The fountain developed from a need to either water trees or the cement slab of the house. So, I added hope for bird visits. I do like the flexibility of being able to move this around.
  • This is Ruby
  • Ruby likes the water.
This one’s a simple water feature with dwarf papyrus. The roots have created an underwater jungle. The two goldfish have a strawberry pot and a terra-cotta pot with side pockets to swim in and around.
I’ve seen wasps and bees here, along with an occasional dog or cat. The water is very clean. It’s a straightforward container with a solar fountain that works, terra-cotta shards housing, a goldfish (previously two goldfish), a juncus, twisted arrow, and a fairy god duck. There are enough nutrients in this water to experiment with growing lettuce or other edible in a Styrofoam float.
A few of my water features have rubber duckies. Here are Count Duckula and Ghost duck. Some color fading has occurred.

Summer Madness

Sue Ann (Suna) Kendall1 Comment

by Catherine Johnson

It’s been one and a half years since the Milam Wildscspe  began. My, how it’s grown!

Last year at this time, the Wildscspe was beautiful and neat, and this year it is a beautiful jungle.  Three natives have made it so: Coreopsis, red salvia, and purslane.

  • A LOT of salvia.

Master Naturalists and their families/friends have been pulling these over-enthusiastic residents out. 

Richard Johnson is one of my favorite helpers.

Many creatures thrive in the garden, and there are many free plants still available. 

Customers at Bird and Bee Farm continue to take home brochures, including the recent Predators and Prey of Milam County brochure. 

  • Visitors taking free plants
  • Brochures to give out (a few at a time)
So much to give!

We are propagating native plants right now, and we’re excited that a huge water fountain and coal car has been donated. 

  • Coal car
  • Three-tier fountain
New additions to the wildscape!

Thanks go to our volunteers: Donna Lewis, Janice and Richard Johnson, Pamela Neeley, Liz Lewis, Linda Jo Conn, Kim Summers, Gene and Cindy Rek, Rosie, Gary, and Mitch.  

We love our chapter members!

Email me if you would like to volunteer for hours.

Turtle Nests after Rain

Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

Hi. I know we haven’t posted much. Blame the blogmaster, Suna, who has been doing a huge work project and hasn’t had extra energy. However, over this weekend you’ll hear from more of our chapter!

I (Suna) just wanted to quickly share what I found on my walk today, where I was checking out flooding. I saw what looked like trash on the roadside in front of my ranch, on County Road 140. I looked closer, and I realized it was eggshells!

Eggshells next to a depression.

They were not hard. They were rubbery and soft. Judging from the nest, I figure they were turtle eggs. That made me happy, because I’d never seen a nest in my nine years of exploring this area.

Egg up close. Turtle?

I’m not 100% sure what it is. Maybe snakes? But it appears the rain encouraged a lot of them to head on out. I found a second nest with shells.

another nest.

Now, maybe a skunk or raccoon found them and had a snack, but I didn’t see any carcasses. I did see what appear to be another couple of nests in the area, so my plants is to go back and check them in a couple of weeks.

I’m heading back to the pond!

I’ve seen a lot of turtles in the road lately. Maybe they were laying. I think we have red eared sliders and pond sliders, both native, though the red eared ones are considered invasive.