- Howdy, I'm John Hart Asher.

This week on "Central Texas Gardener," explore stewardship in collaboration with nature.

On tour, Chris Garza sheet mulched his small yard to kill the evil weedy Bermuda grass to restore soil health and wildlife diversity.

Give our birds a helping hand with Rufus Stephens, co-author of "Land Stewardship for Birds."

Daphne Richards highlights viewer gardens and Leslie Uppinghouse from the Wildflower Center demonstrates pruning.

So, let's get growing, right here, right now.

Central Texas Gardener is made possible by generous support from Lisa and Desi Rhoden.

and by Diane Land and Steve Adler.

(bright music) (bright music continues) In summer 2023's extreme heat, Chris Garza sheet mulched his small front yard to kill weedy Bermuda grass to restore soil health and wildlife diversity.

- I think a lot of my choices are just based almost exclusively on diversity.

If you think about increasing your diversity in general in your landscape, you're gonna have seasonal interest no matter what, right?

My name's Chris Garza.

I am an ecologist and environmental scientist.

I work for an environmental consulting firm and have worked for nonprofits in the past.

Been really interested in ecosystem restoration for a long time.

I try to take what I've learned and apply it at home to get as much diversity and wildlife in my yard as I can.

We bought this house in April of 2023, and right away, there were a couple things that I knew that I had to do.

There's a ligustrum, glossy privet, that I knew had to come out and a chinaberry in the back, a big chinaberry that had to come out, because I was working a job where I was literally cutting these invasives out day after day.

And then I knew that I couldn't come home to a place that had two of these plants that were just producing seeds and contributing to that.

So, literally the day I was moving in, I was cutting down the ligustrum the same day.

I had to hire somebody to take out the chinaberry because of its size.

I left snags that are, you know, not tall enough that if they were to fall over, they would hurt anything.

But I wanted to be able to inoculate them with fungi.

Actually, we had a housewarming party and I made a little inoculation station at the housewarming party where people could write down something that they wanted to decompose in their life, something that they wanted to get rid of.

And so they wrote it down on a little piece of paper, wadded it up, drilled a hole into the chinaberry.

They soaked the little paper in some water, pushed it into the hole, and then they put an inoculated dowel of oyster mushrooms into the hole as well.

And so they could decompose that negative thought or negative feeling that they wanted to.

So, now this chinaberry's getting all soft and decomposed with everybody's, you know, negative intentions or whatever it was that they're trying to get rid of.

It's all being decomposed.

Another thing that happened at that same housewarming party, these storm clouds started to roll in and everybody headed inside and it just started absolutely dumping rain.

We have a flat roof on this house.

All the water sheds to one side of the house and it was getting dropped right next to the side of the house, and the water was just trying to go any direction it could, but that also meant that some of it was going towards the house.

And so we had flooding during our housewarming party, and I was running around like crazy trying to soak up all this water that was coming into the house.

And so a lot of what I've done with the yard is not because I thought it was just something fun to do, but more so something that I felt like I had to do to prevent future flooding issues.

We're standing on kind of this excess soil that I've been excavating out by the side of my house, just trying to dig a swale to direct water away from the side of the house.

But I needed somewhere to put all this soil, so I've built up a little pathway.

I've done other things.

I've extended these gutters so that the water gets dumped further from the house.

Yeah, a little bit of a nightmare for a housewarming party, but it's led to some interesting changes in our yard.

I really wanted to get rid of all these invasive species that I had, and one of the worst on my list is Bermuda grass.

I ran through all these different options in my head of solarization with plastic or herbicide or something else, some kind of disturbance like tilling the soil or something like that.

The option that I came up with, or the option that I chose, I chose because I thought that it would do the least damage to the soil and the soil life, like fungi and other microbes and macroinvertebrates in the soil.

So, I chose to basically bury my yard in mulch for six months to smother the Bermuda grass and all the other weedy plants.

First I did a layer of cardboard and then I did six to eight inches of mulch.

I'm slowly decomposing that mulch using Central Texas Mycological Society's recycled mushroom block program.

So, they have multiple spots around town where you can pick up mushroom blocks.

You can break it up into your mulch and it'll help turn that mulch into healthy soil.

But also, for me, what it did is it helped smother my Bermuda grass.

After six months of leaving mulch here and my girlfriend being very annoyed with how ugly our lawn looked because it was no longer a lawn, it was just brown mulch, I was finally able to scoop it all away.

I still have it, you know, in various places throughout the yard, piled in different ways to utilize it as protection from the neighbor's Bermuda grass or things like that.

But then I had all this exposed soil.

I hand collected a lot of seeds from various friends of mine that have land or other, you know, private properties where I could collect seed, but I've also supplemented it with plugs and plants that I've bought elsewhere.

What you see in my garden is a total mix of stuff from seeds, stuff from pots.

A lot of stuff I'll sow in four-inch trays and grow myself in trays initially, and then once they're big enough, I'll plant them in the garden just because some of the plants get outcompeted if you were just to seed them in the lawn first.

That side of the house where it's shadiest is also the best place I have the fireflies.

I also have a ton of snails and the firefly larvae tend to eat things like worms and snails and slugs.

So, I think all those snails are probably contributing to the firefly population in the neighborhood.

A lot of people would think of the snails as a pest, and in some ways, they kind of are.

They chew on my plants.

But they're part of the ecosystem.

And I think about that with all the pests that, you know, are on my plants, any aphids or scale insects, things like that.

I've got other things that are eating them too.

So, I want to support not just, you know, the pollinators and the pretty butterflies and bees.

I wanna support the aphids because they support ladybugs or, you know, praying mantises and other insects like that.

One of the great things about using mulch was seeing all the different fungi that utilize mulch.

Not only fungi, but slime molds too.

I see tons of inkcaps in my yard.

I've seen the spring polypores, Xylaria, the candlesnuff fungus, or some people call it a dead man's fingers.

There's all types of fungi, and most of them really aren't edible, but they're still super fun to see.

There's a good chance that they're decomposing that mulch and, basically, in doing that, they're making the mulch more bioavailable for the plants to take up.

So, if you think about, you know, a rough-cut mulch, these are pieces of wood that are too hard for another plant to take up nutrients from.

But if something else could come in there and break down that wood into something smaller and more, you know, bioavailable, all of a sudden these plants can take up nutrients, they can take up minerals that were locked in that mulch.

I've been interested in fungi for, I guess, 15 years or so now.

I used to work at the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, and when I was there, I used to walk the trails and I'd see different fungi every time I took a walk.

And I got really interested in what those fungi were and the roles they played in the ecosystem.

And so I'd research that when I'd get back to the office.

And then I found a group of like-minded people with Central Texas Mycological Society and I've been involved with them ever since.

And we go out and teach people about fungi and all different aspects of fungi.

When I take my dogs for a walk, I think about what am I not seeing in my neighborhood that's still native and it's not common in the neighborhood?

When I first moved in, before I covered my yard with mulch and everything, I did an inventory of all the plants that I could find on my property.

Now my goal every spring is to do another inventory and see what's changed.

I've classified things into whether or not they're native, invasive, or naturalized, or whether they were planted or whether they just showed up on their own.

It's been really fun to track the changes in my yard.

Even though it's only been, you know, one season, it feels like there's been a lot of changes.

I want to contribute not just to the diversity of my yard, but to the diversity of the neighborhood.

- Bird populations in the United States have declined dramatically in recent years, but we can help restore populations on our own land and in our very own backyards.

To explore how we can collaborate with nature, today we're thrilled to meet with wildlife biologist Rufus Stephens, co-author of one of my favorite books, "Land Stewardship for Birds" with Jan Wrede.

How are you doing today, Rufus?

- Doing great.

Thanks for having me.

We wanted to write something that provided landowners with a guide to how to be better caretakers, stewards of the property that they had entrusted to them, whether that's a backyard or a 10,000-acre ranch.

Jan and I, Jan was the education director at Cibolo Nature Center for years, and I as a wildlife biologist worked on landowner workshops for years.

And the landowners came to us, you know, we would teach 'em about how to better manage habitat and they would come to us wanting details.

They wanted nuts and bolts of how to do that.

And this is really what that grew out of it.

- I love the very first sentence of your very first paragraph is, "What you do is important."

And I just love that because, again, so many people think about restoration and management or landscape management, they're thinking over large scale.

But, again, for the person that has a little bit, a slice of heaven in their backyard, they can have a major impact.

Correct?

- That's right.

And we like to think about it as from a biodiversity standpoint, that what you do, even if it's a little bit of biodiversity in your backyard, that's really important.

But Texas is a privately-owned state, and so most of the land is managed by private landowners, whether that's backyards or whether that's, you know, large acreage.

And so what they do matters.

Even if it's on a small scale, that all matters.

And especially when we talk about the decline that's happened to birds across North America.

- Why has there been this decline that we're seeing in birds?

- The major driver, and wildlife biologists say it over and over, that it's about habitat loss.

That's the primary reason.

But it's also habitat, how it's changed over time.

Whether that's the type of management that's done on those, whether it's range practices or, but it can also be the introduction of exotic species and decreasing diversity from that standpoint.

Even climate change and how that affects insect populations or bird migrations and timing can get out of whack.

Those things are what impact, you know, on a large scale bird populations across North America.

Birds are very diverse and they use diverse pieces of the habitat.

And because of that, they basically can represent the diversity that occurs in the habitat.

And when you manage for birds, diversity of birds, you're also managing for the diversity in the habitat and therefore you're benefiting all kinds of wildlife.

So, it's that they are, because they're so diverse, it's not one single bird.

It's that group of birds that they eat insects, they eat fruit, they eat seeds.

So, all that diversity really represents the diversity that's in the habitat.

- So, their presence essentially is showing you that the structure is sound and that things are functioning on a greater scale.

- Exactly.

- Okay.

- So, the book is structured on habitat.

So, the first six chapters are all about different types of habitat types, but they're also what we call bird summaries and those provide the basic information about biology for birds.

What do they eat?

What type of habitat do they use?

Where do they nest?

And so there's multiple entry points for people to come into, whether that's from a habitat perspective or from a bird perspective.

- I think it has something for everyone 'cause it goes everything from savannas or grasslands or woodlands or riparian areas to a lake or a backyard.

So, why did y'all decide to organize it like that as well?

- I know that there are lots of people that have just backyards, and they go, "Well, why does it matter that I know anything about a live oak savanna?"

Well, their yard may be mimicking or was historically a live oak savanna.

And by knowing that and using that as a model, it can really help them better manage their yard and look at it from a structural standpoint to see what they can do that could improve it, just even their backyard, as wildlife habitat.

So, that's something, so, using that as a model, you know, there are other points, there is a backyard chapter, but there are other chapters that can really help people understand a little bit more about using native habitat as a model.

- How can we start to help birds in our backyards?

What are some sort of boiled-down facts?

I know it's not simple, but.

- Sure.

One of the things, again, as a wildlife biologist, what I tend to look at is I look at it and using that, you know, native habitat as a model.

And one of the big things that we're short on in backyards is structure between perennials and tall trees.

So, how do you add more shrubs and more evergreen shrubs in your yard?

So, creating layers of habitat structure in your backyard habitat is really important.

There are also simple things like adding water.

A continuous, safe water source is really important.

You know, we seem to always be in drought and it does, and so that's really important to birds.

But you can use a variety of feeders as well is another way to do it.

But really, as a biologist, I look at that structure as really being something for homeowners to focus on.

- But with the water, I wanna hit on this point because there's water conservation 'cause of drought.

- Sure.

- Doesn't mean you have to have a huge, big old tank of water.

It can be something as small as drops, right?

- That's right.

That's right.

Actually, a couple flushes of the toilet is about how much water you would use in a typical bird bath per week.

And the other thing that can really help are things like drippers, which make that sound of water like flowing water without it being flowing, or without it utilizing more water.

- [John] What are some of the birds that we can be expecting to see?

- Actually, we're on the pathway for migration down to Central and South America.

So, we get most of the birds in North America come through, or eastern North America, come through Texas.

So, we really have an opportunity, even in our backyards, to see some pretty amazing bird life.

But one of the other things also in trying to increase that diversity is also thinking about insect diversity, right?

And so pollinators are very popular right now.

And that's something, when we make a good pollinator habitat, we're also making good bird habitat as well because so many of our birds are insect eaters.

- Well, Rufus, thank you so much for coming today.

Your book with Jan, the "Land Stewardship for Birds," and then also Jan's book, "Trees, Shrubs, and Vines of the Texas Hill Country," are two wonderful texts that I refer to a lot and I just can't overstate how much wonderful information's in there.

So, thank you so much for coming by and sharing some time today and some ideas.

- Well, I appreciate you having me.

It's been a lot of fun.

- Absolutely.

Well, now let's check in with Daphne Richards.

(bright music) - We always love hearing from you and what's going on in your gardens.

Here's a beautiful makeover in Cathy Ford's front yard.

She wrote, "We live in the Dallas area, but have been watching 'Central Texas Gardener' on PBS for years.

Our Bermuda grass was killed off by nature when our two builder-planted Bradford pear trees started shading our front yard.

Inspired by what we've seen on the show, when we lost one of the trees, we decided to create a Texas version of the English garden and planted waterwise native and native-adjacent plants.

As is true for all gardens, it's a work in progress, but we love how it's going.

Truly, 'CTG' has been our inspiration, as well as giving us the confidence that we could do it."

From west Austin, Lincoln Kauffman sent this lovely picture and said, "I'm a big fan of 'Central Texas Gardener,' and recently snapped a very cute picture of a rock squirrel in my backyard.

Interestingly enough, I got the picture of them looking like they're being embraced by Francis of Assisi," the patron saint of animals.

From Bishop Texas, in Nueces County, Ron and Zita Johnson spotted various stages of giant swallowtail caterpillar on their lemon tree.

Citrus, including lemons, oranges, and grapefruits, are the host plants for these gorgeous butterflies.

And, these are the famous bird poop larvae, disguised to discourage predators like birds.

Ron wrote, "Zita watches your show every weekend here in Bishop."

And in Boerne, John and Yolanda Davis recently watched their night-blooming dragon fruit cactus bloom for the first time.

Truly spectacular.

We'd like to express our sincere gratitude to all of you for your heartwarming messages and all the amazing photos from your lovely gardens.

Hearing from viewers means so much to all of us at "Central Texas Gardener."

And on a personal note, thank you to everyone who took the time to reach out to me with heartfelt messages after Augie's passing.

It brings me such joy to know that his memory lives on with so many of "CTG's" dedicated fans.

This wraps up our fall programs, but we'd love to hear from you as we prep for our Spring 2025 episodes.

Click on centraltexasgardener.org to send us your questions, pictures, and videos.

Next, Leslie Uppinghouse from the Wildflower Center demonstrates how to prune Salvia greggii in late winter.

(bright music) - Hi, I'm Leslie Uppinghouse.

We're here at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and today we're talking about pruning woody perennials.

So, the plant that I have in front of me is the Autumn sage, Salvia greggii.

This is a long-living woody perennial.

Some people would call it a subshrub.

The wood on this plant can be particularly brittle as it grows older.

Utilize the plant to tell you where you're gonna cut.

So, I've done a little bit of pruning already and you can see inside the plant that I haven't pruned the bright green leaves at the base.

And if you look at all of the plants in this bedding, you can see that they are all about the same height.

So, that is gonna give you the visual indication of where you're gonna cut.

The other thing that I'm going to do is I'm gonna make sure that I'm nice and comfortable.

So, I'm on a stool.

I am pretty much at eye level, so I can see clearly where I'm gonna cut, and I'm also gonna have a variety of very sharp tools, so I can make sure to make a nice clean cut above the node, right where that nice bright green new growth is coming.

So, this is new growth that is coming for the next season.

So, this old growth that is green is still kind of fresh, but we're gonna go for the new green at the very base.

So, I'm gonna start with the smallest clippers I have.

When you're doing something brittle, you wanna make sure to not overstress the tissue of that branch.

So, I'm not gonna use loppers, I'm not gonna use shears, and I'm not gonna use big clippers.

I do have the big clippers here in case I need to cut some of that woody older growth that is holding the plant's form kind of together.

But I'll show you what I mean.

So, with my little tiny snips, I'm gonna go right above the node at a nice bright green, and I'm just gonna make a quick clean cut.

There's a little bit of resistance on the clippers, but I feel pretty good about it.

Salvia greggiis can have wood, old wood, but you wanna be careful that it doesn't get too woody because a dog can rub up against it and snap that branch.

Some of the blooms are gonna really be a little bit showier on that bright green growth, which makes sense if you think about it.

The new growth is gonna be fleshier.

And I'm gonna show you a couple of examples.

I'll cut one.

So, just trimming a little bit.

This is a very small diameter plant.

It's got a lot of green growth, but you can see here, and here I'm gonna switch to my bigger pruners 'cause I'm talking about more wood.

Just a little bit.

I'll call it my mediums.

But I'm gonna cut this one really at the base just to show the example.

So, look at the diameter difference between these two branches.

So, they're quite a bit bigger the older they get.

And you'll wanna look for your oldest branches and make sure that they're still viable, that they're still showing a lot of fresh green growth.

And if they're not, don't hesitate to cut it to the ground and have some of that new growth come.

But I wouldn't recommend removing all of your old growth.

I treat Autumn sage kind of like a rose, a very old tea rose.

About every three years, I take out my oldest stalks, and I let some of those new ones sort of take their place.

And so that's sort of the general rule I make with all the subshrubs or the woody shrubs, and that's not a hard-fast rule, it's just my preference.

So, you can see, now I'm kind of keeping with my mediums, it's not squishing any of that tissue.

I'm gonna work a little bit faster.

Autumn sage, depending on where you are and what type of irrigation or if you're irrigating at all, can be a little bit susceptible to rot if it is too moist.

So, this is a good time of year while I'm trimming to really check out the base of the plant, make sure my mulch isn't too high.

So, this is an example of winter pruning, but I would almost call it shaping versus cutback.

You can shape this plant, Salvia greggii, multiple times a year.

I like to do it in the winter.

We're in January right now, but I like to wait until after a freeze.

And this plant can bloom as early as February.

Typically it will be around March or April.

After a big bloom, I like to go back and I'll tip it.

I'll tip off those blooms.

Maybe about not even a 1/3 of the plant, I'll tip back to some nice green growth.

And then I do it again in the summertime.

I do not prune it if we are in a drought year in the late summer.

It tends to be a little stressful on that plant.

For Backyard Basics, this is Leslie Uppinghouse.

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As always, adopt the pace of nature.

Her secret is patience.

(bright music) (bright music continues) Central Texas Gardener is made possible by generous support from Lisa and Desi Rhoden.

and by Diane Land and Steve Adler.

(bright music)