Native plants and wildlife

Have you noticed the flocks of robins this year?

January is the month they come, but there seem to be more than usual this year. This time of year, they eat berries.

On the Cypress Creek Trail, I have noticed the robins eating the Yaupon berries and the fruit on the Possum Paws. Both of these native plants are in the holly family. The female cedar trees (Juniperus ashei) still have juniper berries and the Robins as well as other birds are consuming them.

The Primrose Jasmine (Jasminum mesnyi) bushes around town look terrible. They are usually evergreen, and they start to bloom toward the end of January. Not this year. February 2021, when we got down to zero degrees Fahrenheit, they suffered, and the latest series of freezing days in December has denuded them. I had a nice hedge of them along my backyard wire fence. Now, I can see straight through the fence. I am thinking about what native plants I can put among the Primrose Jasmine in case they do not return.

The Native Big Muhly grass has continued to do well with the drought and the bouts of very cold weather. They do so well that baby Big Muhly plants volunteer from their seeds. I think I will relocate some of those baby Big Muhly to the fence where the Primrose Jasmine are located.

It is the native plants that have managed to survive our extreme cold, extreme heat of 100+ F days and droughts. Once established, natives do not need to be watered. They need no pesticides or even fertilizer. The only thing they need is to be trimmed now and then. It is the native plants that support the local wildlife.

Speaking of trimming, the established date for trimming your roses is around mid-February. Think Valentine’s Day.