by Sue Ann Kendall and Carolyn Henderson
As part of our grant from the H-E-B Pollinators Across Texas Project, members of our chapter spent the morning at the Milam Wildscape making sure invasives have been removed and preparing for planting the native plants we hope will attract the set of pollinators we want to document over the coming months.
Chad, Scott, Bill, Liz, and Kit shoveled and moved a whole lot of crushed granite. Luckily, we had multiple shovels and wheelbarrows to get the work done.
Meanwhile, Tina, Catherine, and Carolyn spread the gravel and stomped on it. It was quite satisfying to stomp, and the rose bush did not permanently injure any volunteers. The end result is beautiful and will make the area safer for visitors.
Don’t worry, we need more gravel spread- for our chapter members who missed the opportunity!
Patsy and Sue Ann recorded the whole event for reporting purposes. They even found a few pollinators lurking around the Wildscape.
Donna, Ann, and Kim greeted visitors who wondered just what we were doing. The visitors got free wildflower seeds and pollinator brochures to answer all their questions.
The most impressive achievement of the morning was that the excessively aggressive (though native) Cypress vine that took over the awning was removed – again. Kit, Tina, Liz, Scott, Chad and Carolyn slayed it – for the moment. This will probably need to be repeated. The vine is beautiful but very aggressive.
We look forward to sharing the progress of this project and are grateful to H-E-B for the Pollinators across Texas grant.
Nature Along the El Camino Real 