The SFA Pineywoods Native Plant Center is like a spirited young sister, who follows her own rules, is a bit wild around the edges, shuns formality and is blessed with inherent beauty.
Home to a wildflower demonstration garden, a wetland and two miles of walking trails, PNPC promotes education about conservation. It is where rare native plants are rescued, researched and reintroduced.
Judy Morgan/The Daily Sentinel |
Red Buckeye
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Judy Morgan/The Daily Sentinel |
Butterweed
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Judy Morgan/The Daily Sentinel |
Iris
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Judy Morgan/The Daily Sentinel |
Primrose
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Judy Morgan/The Daily Sentinel |
Wild Hyacinth
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It's where a bob cat and her cubs visit the marsh for food, a copperhead seeks warmth on the walking path, and a red-shouldered hawk flies from tree to tree. It is not your typical garden.
Earlier this year, while driving north on Raguet Street, I impulsively pulled into the PNPC parking lot, picked up a self-guided trail brochure and ventured forth, not knowing what to expect. I soon realized I had found a special place — a little gem — right in the middle of town.
Not long after that initial visit, I contacted education coordinator Elyce Rodewald. I learned that a grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife had paved the ADA-accessible recreational trail. Interpretive panels are in the works, and the PNPC brochure is being updated.
Visitors are invited to hike, bike, jog, walk their leashed dogs and enjoy nature. There are more than 100 species of birds that migrate or reside at the PNPC, and there is always something blooming.
Rodewald explained the forest's layers from canopy to floor, from mature oaks, pines, hickories and sweet gums to the decomposers that turn dead plant material into nutrient-rich soil.
Mid-story is where we will find dogwood and red bud trees. Understory consists of shorter shrubs, including the American beautyberry.
One project, apparent to visitors, is the eradication of Chinese privet. It is shading out native wild flowers, including the wild hyacinth. Research plots were established in September 2007, and work will continue through August 2008.
Behind the scenes, research assistant Greg Grant is propagating endangered plant species for re-introduction into their native habitats. He has composed the following month-by-month list of what's in bloom at PNPC. Think of these plants as items on a treasure hunt.
January: possum haw holly (fruit); February: red maple, trout lily, redbud; March: bloodroot, pussy toes, spring beauty, trillium, violets; April: grancy graybeard, red buckeye, dogwood, wild hyacinth; May: purple coneflower, giant coneflower, bee balm, bush pea; and June: yucca, pitcher sage, rose mallow, oakleaf hydrangea.
July: obedient plant, blazing star, Carolina lily, Turk's cap; August: pickerel weed, rattlesnake master, gaura, passion vine; September: rain lilies, wild poinsettia, mist flower; October: beauty berry (fruit); November: goldenrod, aster, bluestem, sumac (fruit); and December: American holly (fruit).
Since my initial visit and followup conversation with Rodewald, I have returned to PNPC whenever time, weather and circumstances come together. I always take a camera.
Photographs of plants I have found growing close to paths can be seen at dailysentinel.com. I am not much of a photographer. Besides, sitting at a computer, looking at photos, can't compete with a walk in the woods.
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PNPC is hosting the Lone Star Regional Native Plant Conference. Workshops, lectures and field trips to places not usually open to the public are planned.
Registration is May 28. The conference runs May 29 through May 31. For registration or information, visit pnpc.sfasu.edu. or call Rodewald at 468-1832.
