Friends of Hagerman NWR - Rewilding Sticker Hill

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).

Index of Rewilding Articles and Karen Glenn's Bio

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.

of Spring before removing the plant material from the property. This gives the pollinators resting inside a chance to emerge and move on to greener pastures.

Photo: Early May on the farm (2023) the arrowleaf clover, Trifolium vesiculosum is filling in space. There are dried stalks of last year’s tall gaura, Oenothera filiformis, still peeking through the vegetation. Most of the stalks have fallen over and are returning to the soil. In another month gaura will dwarf the clover!

While you may not want to let this plant take over your place, Oenothera filiformis is a great native for naturalizing an area. Just be aware that it will crowd out shallow rooted grasses, which was a plus for me, as I was trying to get rid of coastal Bermuda and stickers. It has been quite effective. It is now difficult to find a sticker on Sticker Hill! Everything cycles through this landscape, so if I don’t like the view, I know it will change in just a few weeks. Meanwhile, I will share this space with the native plants and critters and realize that we all must learn to share the space that we live on. Rewilding is teaching me to relax and enjoy the cycles in nature. I hope to continue sharing some of these experiences with you as the seasons change here on Sticker Hill.

Rewilding Sticker Hill: What May Grow Without the Mow?

Article II of Our Rewilding Series

Photos by Jennifer Vince-Recksiek

Large properties, such as Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, can do big things to build habitat and provide support for birds, wildlife, and pollinators in our area. A larger property has many options. Entire sections of habitat may be managed, thanks to a dedicated work force and heavy equipment like tractors and excavators, which support larger projects. They provide major support for our local wildlife. Smaller property owners may not have access to all these options, but they can still make a substantial impact on the local flora and fauna by providing native vegetation that local food webs count on. Think of smaller properties as steppingstones between larger sections of native habitat. Species often need a place to rest or forage when moving from one area to another, but as humans we tend to create sterile environments around our homes. If an insect shows up, or we see a leaf chewed on, it is normal to reach for the pesticides. We want to eradicate anything/everything that threatens the perfect order we work hard to maintain around our abode. If a weed pops up in the lawn, it must go. We tend to want a perfect monoculture, uniform and trimmed, to show others we care about our property.

Unfortunately, very few things can survive in a monoculture, but this is the way we style our modern lawns. Somehow, we have lost sight of the fact that extensive lawn care is a relatively new thing for this land. The first lawns were manicured golf courses and huge estates, where there was labor available to do the work necessary to beat back unwanted plants. Thomas Jefferson is credited as one of the first to replicate a manicured lawn at his Monticello Estate at the beginning of the 19th century. Most individual landowners used their yards to grow vegetable gardens or feed livestock at the time. It is easy to forget lawn mowing was not widespread until recently, when lawn equipment became affordable and designed for smaller properties.

Individual lawn mowing became widespread only in the past 60-75 years. The first rotary powered lawn mowers became available in the late 1940’s, and since then we have cleared off most of the plants that nature depends on and replaced them with nonnative grasses, forbs, and trees. The seeds of invasive plants have entered our natural areas, causing even more loss of the forage plants our local ecosystem depends on. If each of us adds a few of the important native plants here and there, we can provide a scaffolding system of support to help species get from one fragmented habitat to another. This can make an enormous difference in the success of native flora and fauna. Think of your property as a steppingstone in between available habitat. Your addition may be the difference in survival of numerous species, by providing food and shelter in areas where native plants have been all but eliminated. We can all support native pollinators and songbirds in small ways that add up to big impacts on our local species. Doug Tallamy, one of my favorite authors, refers to this concept as “Homegrown National Park.” I highly recommend his books if you are interested in joining this project.

If you are interested in rewilding a smaller property, there are two basic paths you can choose. The first path is more direct, expensive, and labor intensive. It works best for smaller properties, like traditional lawns and requires removing nonnative plants entirely and replacing them with native species where possible. It may or may not be successful, depending on the soil, insect communities on property, and other ecological factors, but it is quick and efficient. Even small yards can make a big difference by establishing a pollinator garden and/or creating edges around an existing lawn. These plantings are by choice, quickly set up, and the rewards are easy to observe. Container gardening can work with limited spaces, such as a patio or the balcony of an apartment. No space is too small to have influence. What takes time to develop are all the inter-relationships between the soil, plants, and animal species. One thing is for sure, if you grow it, they will eventually show up. It may take a year or two, but you will start to see how the plants are being utilized by the local fauna. That hard part is seeing eaten leaves as a sign of success, rather than harm!

Photos by Jennifer Vince-Recksiek

Larger spaces can become expensive and labor intensive to convert to native landscape over a season. For this reason, we picked a more natural, passive rewilding strategy. Plants have been introduced naturally on Sticker Hill, through the seed dispersal systems found in nature. Many of the reintroduced natives were planted by birds within the first couple of years. The birds, joined by wind, ants, and even small mammals, such as mice and squirrels, add new plantings to the mix over time. The animals in the habitat will quickly bring in the native plants they forage on. Most of us in this area live on small fragments of Blackland Prairie, often intermixed with hardwood forests, making up the Cross Timbers Ecoregion, which used to cover north Texas and southern Oklahoma. Sticker Hill is situated on a small strip of the Cross Timbers region, so we concentrate on having a diverse mixture of native trees and prairie plants.

While slower, I have found this more passive method results in a diverse community of native plants that are used right away. New additions grow quite well and have usually been in place a couple of seasons by the time I find them! Of course, this method requires patience and a change of perspective from what looks good to our eyes to what works best for the habitat. I move some plants around to other places on the property slowly, over time, after identifying them, learning about their growth habits and their place in the ecosystem, and observing their preferred growing conditions on this property. We save seeds from the more desirable volunteers. Getting to know what is already present on my small fragment of habitat helps me to recognize invasive species when they appear, which is another important task when restoring native species. The earlier they are removed, the better!

The first two years of rewilding were quite difficult on my eyes and shifting perspective. Pioneer plants are usually the first to arrive. These are often dispersed by the wind and tend to be annual, weedy, and opportunistic. It took about 3-5 years for some of the more desirable annual and perennial plants to become established. We are now in the eighth year since we began allowing the place to go back to nature, and the rewards are enormous. Most of our time is spent walking around taking pictures, discovering new species, thinning out areas that are overgrown, and selectively removing woody plants, which tend to begin taking over the habitat within 5-7 years. Observing succession as it occurs and helping to shape the plant community is a relaxing pastime. Developing a close relationship to one’s own piece of land gives time to slowly learn new plants, which is much less intimidating than trying to learn about hundreds of native plants that may be found in our area! One may adjust as they go. Apps, like SEEK and iNaturalist, take the guess work out of identifying plants, which has made rewilding much easier than the days of having to key down every plant or find a local expert!

My main focus is native pollinators, especially bees, which tend to prefer flowers from three huge plant families providing food for birds and pollinators in north Texas: the Asteraceae (composite, or sunflower family), the Fabaceae (legume, or bean family), and the Rosaceae (rose family, which contains most of our fruit trees, vines, and shrubs). These three large families provide both humans and wildlife with important nutritional resources. They come in a variety of sizes, growth forms, and blooming times, which makes them excellent members of a native habitat. There are numerous specialized relationships between pollinators and other plant families, but these three are great to start with.

On morning walks this month, the bumble bees have been working hard gathering pollen and nectar from the bright yellow patches of Partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata). This native annual has formed thick patches interspersed with the tall gaura in the pastures. It happily reseeds itself each year. Partridge pea leaves host the larva of many butterfly species. This plant appeared early and has become well-established in the pastures.

The partridge pea’s cousins, the Illinois bundleflower (Desmanthus illinoensis) and the yellow puff (Neptunia lutea), are relative newcomers to the property. All three of these members of the legume family support many pollinators with their bright yellow flowers. As a bonus, small mammals and birds forage on the seed pods, which are quite edible. The roots of these native legumes help add nitrogen to the soil. The bean family is highly diverse, and its members make excellent additions to the native landscape. From trees and shrubs to small, delicate plants, like the yellow puff, there are bound to be useful members of this family that will work well in your own native plantings. I encourage you to get out there and see how many you may already have lurking about the place!

Rewilding Sticker Hill: The Fall Bloomers Are Here!

Article III of Our Rewilding Series

Marsh fleabane, Pluchea odorata, on the left has blooms that range from almost white to striking deep purple. The late boneset, Eupatorium serotinum, on the right, has bright white flowers. These two clumps are growing in the partial shade of a large boxelder tree, Acer negundo, a member of the maple family (Sapindaceae). These plants are 3-4 years old and are around 4-5 feet tall.

Early Fall has become one of my favorite times of the year. The Fall bloomers are beginning to take over the landscape. As I mentioned in a previous article, the three most common plant families providing food for birds and pollinators in north Texas are the Asteraceae (composite, or sunflower family), the Fabaceae (legumes, or bean family), and the Rosaceae (rose, which contains most of our fruit trees, vines, and shrubs). This is the time of year for the sunflower family to shine. There are many fantastic fall bloomers in this huge family of flowering plants!

The two composite plants that get the most Fall visitors on Sticker Hill are late boneset (Eupatorium serotinum) and marsh fleabane (Pluchea odorata). Out of the two it is difficult to say which gets the most activity. Late boneset seems to get more butterflies, while the marsh fleabane attracts a bigger variety of different pollinator types. They will produce blooms until frost, providing pollinators with important, late-season resources to help get them through winter.

A Southern Plains bumble bee (Bombus fraternus) foraging on late boneset (Eupoatorium serotinum).

An unidentified skipper butterfly sipping nectar from late boneset (Eupatorium serotinum)

Late boneset was the plant that really caught my attention when I began rewilding this property. The butterflies, and other pollinators, went crazy over this plant. It is usually covered in tiger swallowtails, which have not been common to see this season, so far. I am not sure why, but hopefully they will return next year. There has been a lot of development in our area, which has drastically cut back on our wild places where useful “weeds” are allowed to grow, so I rarely remove boneset, even if it comes up in a place that I wouldn’t normally want it to. It seems to be a plant many pollinators use for late season nectar, plus it is a beautiful plant, even before the blooms come in.

Late boneset is native across the eastern half of the United States and will grow in just about any soil and under most conditions. It is a perennial, so it will come back year after year, becoming larger with prolific blooming. It has handled the lack of rain this year like a champ. After blooming it produces seeds for birds to feed on all winter. As a bonus it is deer resistant. Even my goat leaves it alone! If you are having trouble with critters eating your flowering plants this may be an excellent choice to try. According to several sources this plant also attracts beneficial predatory insects that help control other insect pests. It may be propagated by seed and readily self-seeds if left alone.

An American bumblebee (Bombus pensylvanicus) on marsh fleabane (Pluchea odorata)

A closeup of Western ironweed, Vernonia baldwinii, growing in full sun and moist soil on the edge of a pond.

When I first discovered marsh fleabane on my property, I thought it was Western Ironweed (Vernonia baldwinii,) a similar plant and another excellent plant for a pollinator garden that blooms early April to October. Fleabane did not pass the smell test. As its Latin name suggests, marsh fleabane (P. odorata) releases an interesting fragrance. Some people call the plant sweetscent, although I do not find it very sweet smelling. Think flowery camphor. The scent is still somewhat pleasant, and it seems to draw in the pollinators. Mine is usually covered in bumble bees. It has a different growth habit depending on its location and resources, but it prefers habitats that are moist, hence the marsh in its name. I have found it grows quite well in most locations, although the colors are not as vibrant when grown in harder packed, drier soils and/or partial shade. It will grow in all light conditions: shade to full sun. It is pickier about having wet feet than bright light.

Marsh fleabane is native perennial in Texas, although some sources will call it an annual in northern regions. It is a close relative of camphorweed, which explains the hint of camphor in its scent. It begins blooming from early summer through frost, so it is an excellent addition for both its beauty and utility. It is also deer resistant, so it may be a good choice for lower places that tend to stay moist. It also grows quite well over lateral lines! It will freely self-seed.

Gray Hairstreak by Laurie Sheppard

Revisiting last month, the tall “Gaura” (Oenothera filiformis, in the evening primrose family) is finally blooming like crazy, and the entire pasture is buzzing with activity. The foraging bees are getting so much pollen they can barely fly away! It is somewhat comical watching them travel from flower to flower, loading their back legs with so much extra weight they wobble in the air. Much of the season this plant is somewhat scraggly looking as it prepares for its turn to shine, but from now until frost, it will be a graceful, early morning “all you can eat buffet” for the local bees and other pollinators. One might think that bumblebees would have a hard time foraging this plant, but several were observed successfully gathering resources from the delicate flowers.

Another common name for tall Gaura is beeblossom. In the past I never noticed much activity on the blooms out in the pasture, so I didn’t understand why it would be called beeblossom. Early one morning I stepped outside to hear loud buzzing. It sounded like a swarm or hive was hiding inside the stands of Gaura. It was quite a show with honeybees, native bees, wasps, and all manner of pollinator insects flitting through the flowers. Within a couple of hours after sunrise most of the nectar and pollen has been harvested for the day, and the bees are few and far in between. Afterwards a few reconnaissance flights are made, where foragers search for blossoms that may have been missed during the early morning. I am not much of a morning person, so I had missed the heavy traffic in the wee hours of the morning. This made me realize how important it is to make observations at different times of the day all through the seasons. Making observations at the same exact time of day, every day, may result in missing a lot of activity!

If you would like to create a little wild space, put in a pollinator garden, or maybe try a few new plants, I highly recommend adding some members of the sunflower family. There are hundreds to choose from, and you probably have several already present. Asters, goldenrods, and almost all the daisy-like native wildflowers are great choices for attracting more butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. I encourage you to get to know your land. Explore and try to find out where your property fits in with the local ecosystem.

I spent the first couple of years walking around, taking pictures of new plants, and identifying them on iNaturalist. Once identified, I looked up information about their place in the ecosystem. Are they an annual or a perennial? When and how do they reproduce? What are their growth habits? Do they support local pollinators or desirable wildlife? When you know what is on your property, you can discover new arrivals much easier. This is also a great time to make plans for removal of any invasive species! I try to walk around at least once a week and spend time searching for new plants and taking pictures about once a month. With a phone camera and iNaturalist it does not take long to get to know your flowering plants. It may take a year or two to discover a new arrival, depending on the size of your space. Sometimes it takes a while for a native perennial forb to become established and flower. Chances are you already have some great natives waiting for their chance to shine with a little encouragement.

Another member of the sunflower family, blue asters are a great, easy to grow Fall plant.

Rewilding Sticker Hill: Trying to Succeed at Succession

Article IV of Our Rewilding Series

One thing I really love about the concept of rewilding is the opportunity to take things slow. It is a process of working with nature and looking at a habitat from the perspective of native flora and fauna. Farming and gardening are mostly based on a human perspective of land use. Permaculture practices were movements towards rewilding, and while building a permaculture is much better for the native habitat, the practices still focus on a human-needs perspective. While I add my own food plants here and there, true rewilding looks at things from the perspective of what is best for all the members of the habitat: soil microorganisms, plants and animals. With modern practices we have increasingly gone to war with the natural processes that have taken place on this land for tens of thousands of years. A rewilding perspective realizes nature is much better at taking care of itself than we are, because we are not aware of all the pieces present on our land and how they all interact. There are many species we are not even aware of co-habiting with us. The hardest thing about rewilding is letting go of our human perspective enough to release control. Thinking as an observer and member of the local ecosystem, instead of the sole master of it.

The leaves of Peppervine (Nekemias arborea) were popular with foraging insects this year. Earlier in the Spring the leaves were eaten by a number of caterpillars and other insects. Even so, the vines produced loads of berries this Fall. Looking at things from a wilding perspective, those chewed up leaves mean success! The organisms that ate the leaves are, at the very least, meals for something else higher up the food chain.

Once mowing and clearing stops in a habitat the native plants will attempt to reestablish themselves. Letting that happen - the new buzz word is nonmanagement- allows the habitat to go into its recovery mode. A well-kept lawn tries to stop this repair system in the natural habitat. This is why it is so difficult to keep weeds out of your lawn. They are relentless in their duties! My goal is to help keep my small piece of land in a mid-secondary succession stage. The first 3-4 years were spent observing the land and getting to know plants as they appeared. Annuals tend to show up first, followed by perennials. Once the perennials become established the habitat begins to settle into a more stable mixture of plants and animals. Now it is time to manage the woody growth togive the forbs the room and light they need to remain in place. The battle is much slower paced than trying to keep a weed-free lawn!

When we establish a lawn, build new homes, or grow acres of crops in a previously wild area the original habitat on the property responds in the same way as destruction from fire, floods, or any other major disturbance. If the damage is great enough primary succession begins. If the habitat is partially damaged the repair may begin in an early secondary succession stage. Photo credit: Copyright Shutterstock.com

Weedy annual native plants will be the first to arrive within a disturbed space as pioneer plants. They usually produce a ton of seeds, and this is the constant struggle we find ourselves in: fighting weeds to keep the perfect lawn or garden. From the habitat perspective this space has been severely disturbed, and pioneer plants come in to cover the soil, repair the damage, and make way for the habitat to become established with native grasses, forbs, and trees. Once they do their job they are replaced within 3-5 years with perennial species, trees, and shrubs, which provide important food and shelter in the habitat. Within a few years the pioneer “weeds” will give way to longer-lived native forbs and grasses. This is why the first couple of years are the hardest. It requires patience, leaving the system alone to do its work.

As humans we tend to want everything to be in neat rows and perfect rectangular beds.

Societal pressure dictates everything must be a controlled and a uniform length. Square corners and straight lines look pleasant for human eyes. It shows human effort and control. Meanwhile, native plant communities, when left on their own, tend to be diverse and messy. Try to find a monoculture of grass or fruit trees growing in a perfectly straight line out in nature, without some kind of disturbance influencing where the seeds settle. Build a fence and soon a line of trees will form in a neat line.

Large patches of Plantago lanceolata, or Narrowleaf plantain, popped up the first year. Plantain is a common pioneer plant genus and often among the first to appear in disturbed sites. It has slowly begun to disappear as other plants have moved in.

Long after old fences deteriorate and disappear, their positions remain marked on the landscape. These are old fence lines on a pasture west of Gordonville, visible on Google Earth. The developed land’s appearance stands in stark contrast with the native tree-lined areas around the creeks.

It is easy to fall in love with diversity on the property. It isn’t so easy to fall in love with the messiness of some seasons, but everything deserves time to rest occasionally, and a native habitat is no different. There are a few bare spots here and there due to the lack of rain. Several species of ants are abundant on the property, and I have noticed antlion pit traps have been popping up in the sandy areas. A few adults have been spotted in the yard, but I never seem to have my camera when they do. It is much easier to take pictures of their larval homes! The larval stages of this insect require relatively undisturbed, bare ground to successfully reach adulthood, and it may take up to two years to fully develop into a winged adult. Most of their life span is spent in the larval stage eating ants and other small insects that fall into their traps. Antlion pit traps used to be everywhere when I was a kid, but I do not see them much anymore. Now that I know they are here I will make sure there is always a bit of bare ground for them to go through their 2-year pupating stage.

Signs of my ant-eating brigade, antlion pit traps. They are members of the Myrmeleon genus. Sticker Hill has quite a few antlions in residence. These larval homes are found in a sandy area, below a huge sugar maple tree, where ground cover is sparse. Inset photo of antlion larvae by Jim Moore, 2013.

I never noticed adult antlions in the habitat, until I started looking for them. They resemble small, dull-colored damsel flies with club-shaped antennae. Antlions, damselflies, and dragonflies do an immense job of controlling pest species in the habitat. Their numbers automatically adjust to match the forage available, although their appearance sometimes lags behind their prey items by a season or two. It is tempting to reach for the pesticides, but waiting usually pays off with a permanent solution. All we have to do is get out of their way and not interfere with their work. The native plants and animals already have systems in place to restore balance and heal the land. When we learn to work with these systems, instead of against them, beautiful things begin to happen.

An antlion, Myrmeleon sp. (Neuroptera: Myrmeleonidae), adult. Photo by Drees. More information about antlions and other beneficial insects may be found in the Texas A&M AgriLife - Field Guide to Common Texas Insects. This guide is a good resource for learning about the insects in our area.

Rewilding Sticker Hill: Is it Finally Fall?

Article V of our Rewilding Series

Leaves are beginning to drop from trees and shrubs, summer plants are drying out and turning dormant, and the fall bloomers are beginning to slow down a bit as the occasional cooler weather prepares us for the winter ahead. We are currently experiencing another false fall. There may be more summer-like days, but soon cool days will be here. That means it is almost chore time. Purple asters and goldenrod are the dominant plants still actively producing forage for the pollinators on Sticker Hill. The tall gaura is done, for the most part, so the tall stalks are bare giving the impression of a sheer curtain in the areas it gathered. The late boneset and marsh fleabane are taking a break. They will bloom again soon, but for now the goldenrod and asters are doing a good job providing resources for the local bees and butterflies. I visited Hagerman NWR a couple of weeks ago, and the Butterfly Garden was still full of late summer and fall bloomers. One of the most popular plants the day I visited was the Blue Mistflower, Conoclinium coelestinum, which I hope to add to this property soon. It was filled with butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.

A Gulf Fritillary, Dione vanilla, and a Common Buckeye, Junonia coenia, on a Blue Mistflower, Conoclinium coelestinum, at the Hagerman NWR Butterfly Garden.The garden is still full of local pollinators and gorgeous blooms.

Fall is a great time to look over the past growing season to see what worked, what didn’t, and make plans for next year. It is also a great time to seed grass for next season. I have been spreading native grass seeds all month. We seeded the pasture with big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii). Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), and little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium). We also added blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) and sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) in areas where shorter grasses were needed. There will be no raking of leaves on Sticker Hill but there will be some minor clearing of small trees and shrubs that have popped up over the past few years. I usually wait 2-3 years before deciding whether to take small trees down, but there have been so many volunteer redbud, persimmon, and catalpa trees popping up that many will be removed as seedlings. There is currently too much shade at the front of the property, so this winter we will be removing quite a bit of woody growth. The trees will be used to build a couple of new wood piles, which will provide shelter this winter for the smaller critters on the property.

A splitgill mushroom, Schizophyllum commune, colony on an old persimmon branch. This common fungi will rapidly break down smaller trees and branches.

When small diameter trees are used, wood piles quickly return to the soil as stored carbon. I will probably burn a small amount when the burn ban is lifted for Grayson County, but not much since burning releases the carbon back into the air as carbon dioxide. Allowing fungi to return the trees to the soil adds organic matter rich in carbon and other nutrients. This builds healthy soil and gives soil organisms an abundant energy source. One of my goals is to capture as much carbon as possible with plantings, then return the plant material back to the soil using natural processes. This helps to build and sustain a healthier ecosystem.

This is also the time of year when the local peppervine needs a bit of thinning and clearing. Peppervine, Nekemias arborea, is a native vine in the Grape Family (Vitaceae) with beautiful foliage and colorful berries. Often mistaken for poison ivy, it is an attractive, fast-growing plant, but it may be a poor choice for smaller spaces. Peppervine will take over quickly, if you let it, but it isn’t too difficult to control with a little maintenance.

Peppervine, Nekemias arborea, produces berries which start out white, then alternate with bright blues, reds, and purples until they reach a deep, glossy black color when ripe. The berries are not considered edible by humans and cause throat irritation, but this native vine is favored by many pollinators and songbirds.

Once the berries are eaten by wildlife, the vines are cut at the ground, dried out, and added to a woodpile. Dried peppervine also makes a great fire starter for campfires, and it is recommended to avoid planting near homes and other buildings because of its flammable nature. Some gardeners have referred to this plant as the “plant from hell” but it is native to Texas, so I am trying to learn how to manage it and figure out what companion plants can compete with it to help hold it in check. Many plants have bad reputations mainly because they can outcompete the non-native plants we try to keep in our spaces. I try to evaluate the native plants that appear on Sticker Hill as unbiased as possible. The native Peppervine has not caused a problem yet, but it has an invasive cousin, Amur Peppervine (Amelopsis glandulose) that appeared at the same time. Another name for the invasive species is porcelain berry, and it was sold as an ornamental, due to its colorful berries. It has large heart-shaped and three-lobed leaves, so the two vines are easy to tell apart, even without fruits present. Since it is invasive, it must go!

The fruit of peppervine (Nekemias arborea) is a little under a half-inch across and quite popular with songbirds and small mammals. The berries are stripped off the vines rapidly as they ripen.

Invasive Amur Peppervine (Amelopsis glandulose), a cousin of native Peppervine. It is beautiful, but it does not belong in the native landscape. Notice the difference in the leaves from the native peppervine.

If you have room for a roaming ground cover or a quick growing semi-evergreen screen, native peppervine might be a good choice. It happily covers the fence along the driveway. With proper support it can grow 30 feet or more in a season, although my vines rarely get over 7-8 feet on the fencing. Peppervine prefers to live on the edges of woods and along fence rows. This plant also has a reputation for taking down smaller trees (which could be beneficial, if trying to weaken or remove woody thickets, especially before a burn). Wildlife of all kinds use this plant from the leaves and flowers to the shiny black berries, although it is not considered edible by humans. The ripe berries have calcium oxalate crystals, which are harmful, if swallowed. If small children are in the vicinity, that may be something to keep in mind. Songbirds and small mammals have no trouble eating the sweet berries, though. If it becomes problematic and must be removed, most of the resources suggest cutting it at ground level and applying a broad leaf herbicide directly to the open cut. Young plants are easily pulled up, roots and all.

Fire ant mounds are easier to see in the winter months. A disturbed mound shows eggs the worker ants will bring to the surface after the first treatment. It is important to treat the mound with a second drench of boiling water to eliminate any survivors. The process may be repeated as often as necessary for large colonies.

Another chore for this time of year is fire ant control. It is never ending, but this is the time that the spring and summer ground covers dry up, so hidden mounds become visible. I try not to use synthetic baits and poisons on the property and prefer physical methods to remove unwanted invasive species. For fire ants my method of choice is the good old trusty tea kettle! A little gravity and boiling water works wonders to kill the ant colonies, while leaving behind no toxic residue. Plus, it is satisfying hearing the water percolate deeply into the underground passages! The soil provides insulation that holds in heat as it effectively kills the ants. After the first drench, wait about 20-30 minutes, then drench again. Any workers who survived the first round will be moving the eggs and resources up to the soil surface, so a second treatment usually eliminates any survivors that may have been in side passages. If it is an older, deeper mound, more treatments may be needed, but most of the time two tea kettles full of water per mound will suffice. This is the safest and most effective fire ant treatment I have found. It is instantaneous, safe to use around ponds, pets, and livestock, and there are no worries about toxic residues. So, if you see me wandering around out in a pasture with a tea kettle in my hand, I am not out of my mind (although this is debatable), I am stalking fire ants!

Rewilding: Preparing the Habitat for Winter

Article VI of our Rewilding Series

Using the Leaves and Brush in a Good Way. Photo by Karen Glenn

The rain has finally arrived, the drought seems to be over, and the burn ban has been lifted for Grayson County. The fragrance of burning wood is in the air as people begin fall clean up. Winter is creeping in as the weather cools, and with it the leaves are beginning to pile up. The recent storms filled yards with branches and broken tree limbs. Sounds like a lot of work, but it is actually a fun time of year to get out and learn about winter landscapes. It may look like everything is dying, but there is still a lot of life going on behind the scenes. Rewilding is about recognizing the natural cycles in nature and trying to replicate and support them as much as possible. Allowing plants to rest and go into dormancy is an important part of the overwintering process. Give yourself time to learn about the activity going on in your habitat before plunging into that winter cleanup. It is not a race. Like a popular meme says, it is okay to leave the leaves. They will turn into soil, not break into your house to drink all your wine! The native plants and animals need all the shelter and food resources they can get, and we can all make big differences locally by doing small things to support the natural processes going on all around us.

Frogs, turtles, birds, butterflies, bees, and other small animals depend on leaves to help them overwinter. Removing leaves from the landscape also removes all the stored nutrients the soil needs for future growth. Photo credit: Jack Wallington, November 12, 2022.

I will admit it, I burned a small pile of downed limbs, vines, and unwanted plant material, but I have other plans for the small trees and branches that will be thinned out this month. All the leaves stay put as much as possible here, but we will be removing quite a few young redbud, cedar, catalpa, and mulberry volunteers this year. My plan is to keep as much plant material on the property as possible, so burning will be minimal. I have been looking into alternatives for dealing with woody cuttings and trees besides burning brush piles and hauling yard waste off. We need a few new brush piles, so we will begin there, but most of the woody material will not be burned. Instead, it will be used to create rich soil.

A small brush pile provides important shelter and an abundant food source for insect-eating birds and small animals. Photo credit: Vic MacBournie, 2020, https://www.fernsfeathers.ca.

Brush piles are crucial for overwintering birds and other wildlife. When we clean up our yards and throw away the leaves and tree branches, we are also throwing away hundreds, if not thousands of insects that could be next year’s pollinators and winter food for birds. Insects will readily populate a brush pile providing a winter café for foraging wildlife. Birds and small animals, like frogs and lizards, will seek shelter inside when storms roll in or temperatures plummet. Most yards have space for a small brush pile, and it is one of the easiest ways to provide a much-needed resource for overwintering birds. Audubon suggests starting with larger branches, spaced a few inches apart to create cavities, then a second layer of medium branches. The smallest branches, leaves, and other yard materials can then be placed on top, leaving a few open areas here and there. It is a good idea to build new piles every year, since the structure will begin to break down and return to the soil within 2-3 years. Once a pile begins to collapse, its use as shelter for birds diminishes with age, but its use as an energy source for soil microorganisms and fungi increases! I usually allow the natural processes to happen, but many people suggest burning older wood piles in late spring. An active brush pile in the winter is a bird magnet, so if you decide to provide this shelter, make sure one is within viewing distance of a window. It will provide hours of entertainment all winter. Over winter break we will use some of the wood and brush for a couple of projects. We plan to build wattle fencing with the smaller branches and try a technique called hügelkultur, which will use up larger branches and logs.

Examples of simple wattle fencing used as partitions and/or enclosures in the landscape. It is a fantastic way to use small branches and twigs while providing a natural look that blends in nicely with native habitat.

Wattle fencing is a cheap and straightforward way to build small garden fencing while using waste branches and small trees. I plan to put a couple of low fences around trees and an herb garden I want to start in the spring. The idea is simple and requires relatively small, easy to handle pieces and simple tools to construct. To begin, cut small tree trunks about a foot longer than the desired height for the fencing. Make sure to taper the bottom of each vertical post, to make it easier to pound into the ground, then drive the posts in the ground, following the desired shape. Spacing is usually 1-3 feet depending on the amount of curves in the design. Once the posts are in place smaller, flexible branches, stripped of side shoots, are woven through the upright posts. I plan to let the smaller limbs dry out on a wood pile, then soak them in water the day before using them, to help prevent breakage. Once everything is in place, clip any stray ends and the fence will settle and provide several years of utility. It is flexible, able to make small, tight circles, and once settled it becomes fairly strong. Creative gardeners have used willow fronds, or other trees that readily sprout, to create a living fence. I am not quite that ambitious yet, so I will mostly be using dried out redbud for this project.

Wattle fencing may be used to support tall, unruly plantings while blending into the background. The style is only limited by materials and imagination. Wattle fencing may be built almost any height, as long as the upright posts can support the weight of the woven branches

The second winter project will be started as a possible solution to an erosion problem. I live at the base of a rather large hill. A few years ago, a landowner on the property above me removed all the terracing put in place in the early 1900’s to control water runoff. This has resulted in flooding and erosion problems across my property. My ponds are spring fed, and with the water running rapidly down the slope, it is no longer being filtered underground before entering the pond. This one change has had a huge effect on the habitat and washed excess nutrients into the south pond. After looking over options, I decided to try an ancient one. It is referred to as hügelkultur, or “mound culture” in German, and it is an incredibly old practice.

Inside view of a typical hügelkultur. This mound structure is built on large logs and woody debris. There is detailed information on how to build a hugelkutur to manage water run off from the Oklahoma State University Extension office: https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/sustainable-landscapes-creating-a-hugelkultur-for-gardening-with-stormwater-management-benefits.html

Hügelkultur is similar to building a wood pile, but under the soil. It is a slower process. If built this winter, the mounds will not be ready for planting until next fall/spring. To build a hügelkultur, a trench or small bed is dug up about 1-2 feet deep. This trench is filled with larger logs and tree branches, stacked neatly to fill the space. A layer of medium-sized branches is added, then organic material on top of that. Anything that can be composted is added to the pile to fill in space and pack between the logs and branches. A layer of grass/turf removed from the area, flipped upside down, is added on top of the organic matter. Once the stack is the height desired, all the removed soil is added to the mound to cover the pile until it is thoroughly buried. It is a good idea to cover the mound with a thick layer of mulch for the first year. The entire structure should be heavily watered in and allowed to rest for several months to a year. Just like a wood pile, it will begin to collapse inside, rapidly, since the wood will be moist and surrounded by soil organisms and fungi. A hügelkultur should be built a couple of feet higher than desired, to allow for settling.

The hügelkultur technique also works in raised bed containers and is the model used for lasagna layering to prepare garden spaces. Photo credit: Rosina Buckman, Australian permaculturist.

Layering these materials creates a very long-lived raised bed that will feed plants for years. If built parallel to a slope, the beds may be used to channel water away from flood prone areas, much like terracing, with minor destruction in the landscape. Once the wood begins to decay, it will soak up water like a sponge. These beds conserve and channel water, feed plants, and extend the growing season for crops. This is also a great technique for filling enclosed raised garden beds. No wonder raised mounds have been used in agriculture for hundreds, if not thousands, of years! Instead of burning piles of wood and leaves, it makes more sense to use a little creativity to enhance the habitat while building up the soil. A healthy habitat should become more productive over time, not less. Removing biomass every year by throwing away all that plant productivity from the growing season makes the soil weaker and more nutrient deficient. We could all take a lesson from nature and learn how to give it a rest in the winter!

Rewilding Sticker Hill: It’s Alive!!!

Article VII of our Rewilding Series

Left: Possumhaw, Ilex decidua, just before it dropped the rest of its leaves. The birds have been feasting on berries all month. A few more Cedar Waxwings and it will be picked dry!

Right: A Carolina moonseed vine, Nephroia Carolina, growing up a shortleaf pine, Pinus echinata.

Winter has arrived, the leaves are rapidly piling up, and the native habitat has begun its preparation for Spring. During one of my recent walkabouts, I spotted a few new plants with bright red berries that are quite popular with local birds. The first one, possumhaw, or deciduous holly, Ilex decidua, was tucked in behind a redbud tree down by the pond. It has loads of bright red berries and lost almost all of its leaves during December. The berries are poisonous to us, but they provide quality food for the birds and small mammals all winter. The second plant, Carolina moonseed, Nephroia carolina, was growing up a large shortleaf pine. From a distance, before I saw its bright red berries, I thought it was green briar, but it had no thorns, and the leaves were quite different up close. Its berries are also poisonous, but the birds have no problem consuming them. No doubt birds are the source of the new plantings.

All of the late boneset and marsh fleabane have finally gone to seed. These two members of the sunflower family are generous when it comes to providing seeds for foraging wildlife. Native bees often use the tall stems to lay eggs and safely overwinter, too. In the past, when I would deadhead taller plants, I left at least 2-3 feet of stem in place for bees. This is good practice, but I finally stopped cutting the dried seed heads. So many plants in this family are designed to hold on to their seed heads all winter, where they provide food for local birds and small animals. The plants make the perfect storage and feeder systems for their seeds, keeping the food clean and available until it is either eaten or spread around the habitat. These two plants are welcome to fill in any spots they find convenient, since they are always covered with pollinators all season.

Late boneset, Eupatorium serotinum (left), and marsh fleabane, Pluchea odorata (right), have gone to seed, which will be left for birds this winter.

While it doesn’t look like much is happening in the native habitat right now, below the surface our winter landscape is an incredibly busy place. Even in the dead of winter, so much activity is going on around us, but we cannot see it without a microscope! While the ability to ignore the invisible world helps us focus on important aspects of daily life, it also prevents us from seeing some important processes happening quietly in the background, unaided by our efforts, time, or attention. One invisible process I am thankful for is our automated digestion system. We do not have to consciously control every step in processing and digesting our food to absorb nutrients. Imagine what it would be like to have to control all of that! I think most of us are happy to go about our day taking care of other things while these activities are carried out by our internal microbiome. Most of us are now well aware our digestive system hosts billions of hard-working bacteria and other microorganisms that help break down food into smaller compounds to fuel and repair our bodies. We depend on this automated system to give us energy and keep our bodies healthy. If we take medications that disrupt our gut microbiome, or become ill from harmful microorganisms, our internal community may become unbalanced, which is often followed by disturbances in our digestive and immune systems. Afterwards we often try to supplement our diets with probiotics, vitamins, and minerals to regain a healthy, functional digestive system. Like our own physical bodies, a body of soil also depends on a community of microscopic helpers remarkably similar to our own digestive systems.

We cannot see them with our bare eyes, but almost every complex living organism depends on communities of bacteria, fungi, and other single-celled organisms for survival. Photo Credit: Unknown

We often think of soil as just a substrate, a holder of our plants. It is much, much more than that. Soil is alive. A teaspoon of healthy soil may hold billions of living, active microscopic organisms. Each type of nematode, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, or other single-celled life-form tends to perform a single type of chemical reaction or predatory behavior to obtain energy, but they do this job very well. Larger soil microorganisms, such as nematodes and paramecium, will act as predators on bacteria and other single-celled organisms. Some fungi are particularly good at breaking down pesticides or other harmful compounds in the soil to remediate contaminated areas. Still others break down organic matter, which increases soil carbon (as well as releasing some carbon dioxide) and makes other resources available to plants. One important family, mycorrhiza fungi, captures nitrogen in the atmosphere and converts it into a form of nitrogen plants can absorb, among numerous other benefits to associated plants. Similar to our own respiration, aerobic microorganisms compliment photosynthesis by breathing in oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide, which the plants use in photosynthesis.

Some of the many benefits of having healthy mycorrhiza fungi included in the soil microbiome. Photo Credit: Wahab, A., Muhammad, M., Munir, A., Abdi, G., Zaman, W., Ayaz, A., Khizar, C., & Reddy, S. P. P. (2023). Role of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Regulating Growth, Enhancing Productivity, and Potentially Influencing Ecosystems under Abiotic and Biotic Stresses. Plants, 12(17), 3102. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12173102

The soil’s invisible microbiome has been forging relationships with the native plant and animal communities for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, right underneath our feet. Without living matter in the soil, plants are unable to break down nutrients and organic matter and often suffer from deficiencies and disease, which we try to remedy by adding the missing nutrients back into the soil. There is a minor problem, though. It is difficult to know what the right fix is since the soil is such a complex mixture of numerous random species among thousands of possibilities. A soil’s biome is a unique community. Unfortunately, many of the soil amendments we choose may not be helpful to the original communities, especially when the native habitat has been disturbed by modern practices, like tilling, plowing, or stripping native biomass and adding in nonnative plants. Just like in our own bodies, a different version of a microorganism may be helpful or harmful, depending on what else is already there. When a healthy biome is weakened by chemical applications or physical disturbances, it may be taken over by competing, opportunistic organisms that raid and lock up the nutrients. Some herbicides, like glyphosate, are highly toxic to soil microbes, earthworms, and other important community members. Glyphosate is also known to chelate, or form a complex with, calcium, magnesium, manganese, iron and other metals in the soil. This affects the ability of plants to obtain these important minerals, since the chelated compounds are no longer water-soluble. Complex organisms foraging on these plants could also suffer from dietary deficiencies if they forage on nutrient deficient plants. Magnesium is now one of the most common deficiencies found in both plants and people. If present, some bacteria are capable of breaking glyphosate down in about 6 months, but that is a bit too late for the current growing season!

A close-up of the invisible world of living soil. Microbes in the soil are [also] central players converting carbon into greenhouse gases. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Many soil organisms may become dependent on a specific plant species to interact with and support. If its companion plant is removed the organism usually disappears with it. Replacing the plant does not always replace the missing microbial community needed for optimum health. Once the microorganism disappears the job it was doing stops, also. If there are no other organisms with similar activities, their specific job halts until another species with the same ability is introduced. When enough of these organisms are missing, plants will struggle to survive, soil becomes compacted and lifeless, and the productivity of the habitat suffers. Removing leaves and plant detritus by hauling it away from the habitat, removes much more than dead plant materials. The organisms that break down detritus lose their primary energy source. Instead of nutrients and minerals recycling back to the soil microorganisms they weaken and reduce in numbers, which lowers the ability of the soil to support healthy life. Trying to replace this delicate balance with alternative species is an art that requires quite a bit of extensive knowledge and luck.

An example of a soil food web showing examples of microorganisms and insect types found in healthy soil. Credit: Modified from D.L. Dindal (1972). Illustration by Vic Kulihin. From SARE-Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. (https://www.sare.org/publications/building-soils-for-better-crops/the-living-soil/)

Soil amendments are important in a disturbed habitat when rewilding, but realize it takes a long time for the soil’s communities to recover after an extended disturbance. The field of soil remediation has exploded in the last decade, and there are numerous sources to buy probiotics and microbes for your soil but leaving the leaves to allow plant matter to slowly return to the soil, instead of clearing all the deadfall and hauling it off property, is the best practice for a wild habitat. Besides, most of the commercial products were designed to work with generalist microbes in agriculture practices, not a specialized native habitat that may require more specialized organisms for their communities. While it may not be pretty to see dead plants and leaves pile up, their importance in returning nutrients to their source, and providing shelter for overwintering wildlife, cannot be underestimated. The native microbiome may weaken or starve without it. Dead plant matter still has many of the building blocks that were removed from the soil by plants, so allowing residual plant waste to stay in place reloads the minerals and energy resources needed for the next season’s growth. This is not to mention all the stored carbon, which feeds many of the oxygen-dependent bacteria and fungi. The best thing about this practice is no guesswork about what to add where and no need to identify all the microorganisms in the soil, which would be an almost impossible task for most soil scientists, much less the average landowner! Every sample would probably have a different makeup, depending on its location. It is complicated. These diverse relationships were not established overnight!

So, here on Sticker Hill winter is looking messy, but I know this Spring there will be a huge payoff. The soil is getting richer, the native plants are thriving, and I don’t have to do anything to the soil (for now), allowing the soil biome to do its job, for free, while I spend my time doing other things (like removing unwanted woody or invasive species). At first it was a struggle to learn how to get out of the way and not interfere with the natural processes going on. Nature can, and will, return health to the soil if we learn to work with our soil communities, instead of fighting against them or starving them to death. The process may not work as fast as we want it to, but it will thrive in its own time. I am learning that rewilding requires a lot of patience!

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