Rewilding Sticker Hill

By Karen Glenn, Texas Master Naturalist 

Sticker Hill is the nickname of a small hobby farm, located in far northwest Grayson County, near Gordonville, Texas. The property sits in the East Cross Timbers ecological region of north Texas, where the Blackland Prairie meets the post oak/hardwood forests. Beginning in 2018 the property became an experiment in rewilding or returning  the land back into native habitat for songbirds and native pollinators. The farm consisted mostly of coastal Bermuda, sandburs, and cockleburs when the project started, but slowly the property is returning to a diverse mixture of native trees, deep-rooted prairie grasses and native forbs (flowering plants). The small acreage now hosts over 120 distinct species of plants and animals (and counting).

What a Spring it has been! The rain has certainly made things grow around here. I have noticed a lot of small persimmons on the ground, so the crop is probably not going to be very big this year. I am not sure if it is from water-saturated soil, but many of the unripe fruitlets are on the ground. We received over 9 inches of rain in May and over 4 inches, so far, in June. What a wet season, but thankfully things are beginning to dry out a bit. It was a fun time to pull invasive plants up, though. The privet is taking over this year. Every time I go outside a new privet sprout or bush is hiding in the understory!

Once the sun came out this month the plants on the property grew like weeds. Speaking of “weeds”... the current star of the landscape this month is tall gaura, aka longflower beeblossom or Oenothera filiformis. This plant is no longer considered a species of gaura and has since been reclassified in the Onagraceae, or Evening Primrose Family. Old habits die hard. I will probably always call it gaura. Most people consider this plant a weed, but I have learned to embrace and appreciate it here on the farm. Tall gaura was introduced here by a round bale of hay, collected next to the Fobb Bottom Wildlife Management Area, near Willis, Ok. Those bales of hay came with tons of wildflower seeds, which most ranchers would be upset about, but I was thrilled! I first noticed it in the pasture in 2012, and now it is everywhere I look.

Photo: The "weed" of the month, tall gaura, aka longflower beeblossom or Oenothera filiformis. This is a tall native plant with delicate pink and white flowers that blooms from June until November.

My number one rule on this property: If it is being used by local wildlife, birds, or beneficial insects, it stays. Rule number two: If it stays, it has to learn to share its space well. Gaura follows both rules, so it stays, for now. This plant knows how to share the landscape, with a little attention. This year it is mixed with another tall pollinator plant, late boneset (Eupatorium serotinum), and they are both sharing space nicely.

Gaura is a tall annual on my place and reseeds in thick patches, so it sort of takes over empty space. The good news: it cannot stand mowing and pulls out of the soil easily, so it is easy to keep out of an area you do not want. Just note 

that if left on its own it will ramble. What I like most about gaura is the amount of cover it gives for small mammals and birds to forage underneath, as well as its place in the plant community on the farm. We tend to get mostly colorful songbirds nesting on the property, and the tall gaura gives them foraging cover and protection from overhead predators, like the local Cooper’s hawks.

Tall gaura is also an “airy” plant, which allows dappled sunlight to reach the ground. The plant is very leggy with a strong central stem and very few lower leaves. It will drop lower leaves throughout the growing season, until it is basically flowering tops waving in the breeze by fall. This allows other plants to grow and fill in the spaces close to the ground. Perennials will eventually push the shallow-rooted gaura out of the way as they become established, so it has enabled desirable native forbs to self-seed, germinate, and become established in the pastures. This eventually gave me the idea of using small, circular clearings in the gaura thickets as protected areas to help reestablish native grasses and forbs in the pastures. Opening up the space allows desirable perennials to have the sun they need while protecting them from high winds and competing neighbors. Unwanted gaura is easily mowed, pulled up, or cut at the base with loppers. It has worked pretty well in the areas where this method was used.  

Another wonderful thing about tall gaura is its generous gift to the native cavity-dwelling wasps and bees, who count on having sturdy stems to raise their brood and overwinter. Birds also use the stems to perch and feed on the winter seeds left behind. If the stems are in an unwanted area, they are easily moved to another part of the yard, so the wildlife still has access to the substrate to help them survive the winters. At first it was tempting to remove all the stems left behind, but I have found having a little patience pays off. Almost all of the stems will drop to the ground and go back into the soil by Spring. If cleaning up is necessary, try to wait until the warmer months 

Photo: Plant life under the tall gaura.  Arrowleaf clover, Trifolium vesiculosum, has done especially well this year.  The strong woody stems are all tall gaura.