Local native plants - gardening

Tue Apr 05, 2011 5:31 pm

So, I have been doing research and with some suggestions from this forum I have been told that looking at what grows native in your area is the best way to find out what is good to start growing in your garden.

I have been trying to find as much research as possible with no luck, does anyone know how they can help me find it?

I live in Brownsville, Texas ... the region is called the "Rio Grande Valley"

here is a map, its the south tip of texas

Tue Apr 05, 2011 5:54 pm

Search for a Native Plant Society in your area: they may be online, in the (yes!) phone directory, posted on a nursery bulletin board, etc. Some Native Plant Societies are quite small and informal; others are quite organized and a bit larger.

This could be another question to ask the ag. extension agent (as I responded to the "Year-Round Harvest" topic): does s/he know of a native plant society nearby?

HTH.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

Tue Apr 05, 2011 8:57 pm

Check out http://www.wildflower.org/plants/

this is a native plant data base sponsored by U Texas. It isn't just texas plants, its for all the US. But it is a searchable db, so you can enter TX and just look for TX wildflowers (or trees, shrubs, etc). You can tell it your sun exposure, moisture conditions, what kind of plant you are looking for, etc and it will pop up a list for you.

It won't tell you Brownville local native (Cynthia's suggestions are good for that), but it will tell you TX native. Most plants have a regional distribution anyway as long as conditions are suitable.

Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:28 pm

I did some research and it turns out I am in zone 10 and 11 whatever that means O_O

is there any way I can use that to research?

Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:30 pm

Not really. That just tells you how cold it gets in winter, so what plants will survive your winter. But it tells you nothing else, like how humid/arid, how hot in summer, etc. Zone 10 includes some places in Florida and California that have very different climates than yours and very different native plants.

Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:02 pm

wouldn't it be a start though?

Is it possible to grow fruits from a different climate under the same zone (IE wont freeze to death) with a little more care

Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:24 pm

We are in Central Texas, but I have three suggestions for your research:
1. How to Grow Native Plants of Texas and the Southwest by Jill Nokes. Gives growth habits and propagation techniques for trees, shrubs, and flowers.
2. Southern Herb Growing by Madalene Hill and Gwen Barclay. Absolute Bible for herb growing in Texas and the South.
3. Perennial Gardens for Texas by Julie Ryan. Covers just about any flower you would want to grow in this state.
For vegetable varieties, contact your county agricultural extension agent (usually the court house can give you the phone # if you can't find it otherwise) who will have a list of varieties adapted to your area, as well as a planting time chart for both the spring and fall gardens. Not many vegetables are "native" but there are many bred specifically for Texas.
Being in zone 10 or 11 is helpful knowledge, but soil types, amount and timing of rainfall, and local conditions (mini-climates) contribute to the choice of plants to grow. For example, azaleas do well in our zone 8, but our soil is alkaline and azaleas need acidic soil so no azaleas for us!
Good luck with your gardening. You're in an area where you can garden all year round, and grow some wonderful plants!

Thu Apr 07, 2011 2:13 am

how can i find out what the PH of the soil around where we live is???

Thanks a lot for those resources too by the way

I have come a long way in figuring all of this out

Thu Apr 07, 2011 3:03 am

The answer to the vast majority of the questions you've asked, both here and in the "12 month harvest" thread, is:

Please contact your county ag. extension office.

This agency is the best local, tax-supported--YES! you've already paid for the services you're about to use!

--source for information on soil pH, when to plant, what to plant, etc.

I do not recommend, however, believing them in matters of pesticides or herbicides. Too many of them get free samples and/or literature from Big Chem Companies.

Cynthia

Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:05 am

Vorguen wrote:wouldn't it be a start though?

Is it possible to grow fruits from a different climate under the same zone (IE wont freeze to death) with a little more care

Yes, in a lot of cases, it is possible to grow things that are rated for zone 10 when you are in zone 10, even though there are climate differences. Not always because heat index matters too. Some zone 10 areas are just mild all year round and some are fierce hot in the summer. Not all plants like the fierce hot.

But that was not the question you originally asked. You asked how to find what grows native in your area, not what will survive there. Very different. And the zone gets you nowhere in finding what grows natively there. But Mg has given you really good resources.

Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:40 am

cynthia_h wrote:The answer to the vast majority of the questions you've asked, both here and in the "12 month harvest" thread, is:

Please contact your county ag. extension office.

This agency is the best local, tax-supported--YES! you've already paid for the services you're about to use! --source for information on soil pH, when to plant, what to plant, etc.

I do not recommend, however, believing them in matters of pesticides or herbicides. Too many of them get free samples and/or literature from Big Chem Companies.

Cynthia

Hey Cynthia... I have been trying really hard to find the agricultural extension office for my county, or anywhere nearby.

I'm having no success, I tried googling Cameron County (my county name) agricultural extension office, but I think there are quite a few counties in America named Cameron County and I can't for anything find this. Also I believe Cameron County is the poorest county in america too so I don't even know if we HAVE an ag ext office

I've been doing quite a bit of digging up with hardly any success, any help that anyone can offer would be very valuable... thank you

Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:38 am

Cameron County, Texas Agricultural Extension Service

Cynthia

Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:54 am

http://www.co.cameron.tx.us/cameron/directory.html

County of Cameron: County Extension Agent-Agriculture
1390 W Expressway 83
San Benito, TX 78586-7633
(956) 361-8236

Tue Apr 12, 2011 7:54 am

my goodness thank you so much both of you

Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:17 pm

Vorguen wrote:wouldn't it be a start though?

Is it possible to grow fruits from a different climate under the same zone (IE wont freeze to death) with a little more care

Um yes, and no. An example, peaches (well the whole prunus family), have depending on the cultivar different requirements for "chilling hours". The english of that bit of botanism is: depending on the cultivar, it will need the right number of hours of winter to reliably set bloom.

That shivering NH peach (yes they grow them), will never get cold enough, long enough, to wake up refreshed and ready to breed in Brownsville. Likewise a SanAntone peach, if it even survives the tunra of NH, won't fruit cause it'll try to set blossom too early in the spring.

Please, its ok to talk to your county extension service.