Author: Anita Westervelt
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Plant now for October butterflies
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Story and photo by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist It’s tree planting time in the Valley! An annual theme that means cooler temps in January and February make it more pleasant to dig in the garden. It also means it’s a good time to plant trees and shrubs. They establish better without the stress of…
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Anita’s Blog — Feeding the Tiny Birds
Tony Henehan is our local Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife biologist and now a licensed hummingbird bander — Yay, Tony! Congratulations. Tony and the Ramsey Hummingbird Brigade are asking for help with hummingbird feeders in Harlingen’s Hugh Ramsey Nature Park to attract more hummers — where Tony has recently held bird-banding sessions. Norma Friedrich,…
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Anita’s Blog — Urban Bird Habitat from an Expert
I attended a fun and interesting lecture at Quinta Mazatlán, in McAllen, about Bird-friendly Urban Habitat Design. The lecture, presented by the park’s Urban Ecologist, John Brush, may be offered again in April. You’ll want to get on Quinta’s mailing list for event notifications: http://www.quintamazatlan.com/support/newsletter.aspx During the lecture, John noted that feeding birds with seed,…
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Anita’s Blog — But it’s So Pretty
I should have listened to Sylvia. I knew the beautiful, hot-pink queen’s wreath, AKA corona de reina, (Antigonon leptopus) vine was invasive when I planted it. But it’s so pretty! And then last year, a friend had told Sylvia — who told me — that he had watched caterpillars eat the leaves of the queen’s…
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Anita’s Blog — A Time to Plant
It’s tree planting time — the annual winter mantra here in the Valley. Lately, it’s been perfect to be outdoors — except maybe for those 50-mile-an-hour gusts and high winds the other day! Winter here is mainly for the birds. January was busy with the Christmas Bird Count and backyard feeder count. Read to the…
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Native plants are the true survivors
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Story and photos by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist If you ask the Internet what is the definition of a native plant, you are afforded a multitude of answers from a wide range of federal and state agencies and state and local plant groups. As Texas Master Naturalists, here in the Deep South of Texas,…