- Howdy, I'm John Hart Asher.

This week on Central
Texas Gardener,

we'll take a look at the
invasive species dilemma.

Matt Turner explores
the questions

from his book with Robin
Doughty, "Unnatural Texas?"

On tour, Jennifer Edwards
restored a weedy lot

into artistic settings,
wildlife habitat,

and a backyard orchard.

Daphne answers your questions

and Molly Pikarsky has
your backyard basics tip.

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

- [Announcer] Central Texas
Gardener is made possible

by generous support
from Lisa & Desi Rhoden.

Thank you.

(upbeat music)

- Jennifer Edwards is
an artist at heart.

When she bought her
home in South Austin,

she stepped up its persona
with creative accents

among plants for wildlife
and a backyard orchard.

- My friends would say
that I'm not a minimalist.

I'm an artist at heart,
so I'm always creating.

- [Woman] So, when
Jennifer Edwards bought

her south Austin house, she
stepped up its garden persona.

- My front garden originally
was dead grass, dead tree,

broken cement sidewalk
straight out the door,

so the only time that I
ever really invested money

in having someone else do
something was bringing in

a crew to jackhammer
out the cement

and kind of lay me
out the flagstones.

I had the flagstones installed,

and then I just kind
of and digging the hole

for the stock tank.

And then, slowly, over time,
I've just built it up myself.

The crews built up the
stone wall, so originally,

along with dead grass
and the dead tree,

the whole front area by
the house was bricked

in red brick pavers.

It was a major flood problem
because that's the lowest part

in my yard, and it's
lower than the street,

so water would run
and pool right there.

We pulled all of that
out, put the stone up

just to match it, but then put
in a French drain and gravel

so that it diverts
the water around

to the plants
where they need it.

The round cement stones,
my friend Steve made.

He had molds, so two cement
halves and glue them together.

It just looks pretty
when it's raining

because it kind of
slows the water down.

I don't have gutters, so the
water comes pouring down,

hits those stones, and
softens it a little bit,

keeps this gravel
from washing away.

Rain chain on the other side,
but there's my little pyramid

of stones there to slow the
water down off the roof.

- [Woman] To ornament, she
upturned a turquoise vase.

At a flea market, she
found glass transformers

from old phone poles.

- And they come in all
shades of green to turquoise.

I'm always looking for
blue-colored glass objects

that are durable, that I can put

in the yard that won't break.

So again I have a
kind of have a green

and white and purple to
blue, I guess, color palette.

Mardi gras, purple door and
kind of cobalts and turquoises.

- [Woman] At the front
door, she raised up the view

by planting in a steel
saucer tripod container.

- Someone on
Craigslist, Westlake,

they were redoing their garden
and wanted to get rid of it,

150 bucks you have
to haul it away.

The base itself, the
bowl is very, very heavy.

It took two strong
guys to lift it.

The first thing I
realized pretty quickly

is I had to have it
on very firm soil

because the first
time I set it up,

over the course of an afternoon,

it slowly tipped and
tipped and tipped

and then crashed over.

It's sitting on the
flagstone pavers,

as opposed to in the gravel
because the gravel's too soft.

It's got a drainage hole in it,

so I filled it first with
a load of pea gravel,

then decomposed granite,
hilled it up a little bit

in the center.

It's all cacti and things
that want to be very dry,

drains out fast, really fast.

And, again, it takes a
lot of hot, blazing sun.

And then I put glass and
stones and interesting things

in there so that year-round
there's something nice

to look at.

The way it sits also,
from my living room,

it's a beautiful view.

My front garden did
start out native grasses,

little rosemary here and there.

It was supposed to be sparse.

And I just realized
that's not my style.

I think it's beautiful.

I enjoy it and admire it,

but I can't help but gild
the lily a little bit.

I always tuck in a
thing here and there,

and next thing I knew,
I had a lot going on.

- [Woman] She inherited native
spring-blooming spiderworts

that she divides
to spread around.

- I've always got
larkspurs and poppies.

As I moved around
when I was younger,

I'd just gather the seeds
and carry them with me.

And then later in the
season, a lot of cosmos,

particularly in the
front, white and pink.

I try to do a lot, along
with the blue theme,

a lot of white flowers,
white roses, white lantana,

white cosmos because,
looking out my bedroom window

at night, the white really
shows up in the dark.

I've never used pesticides
or insecticides,

anything like that.

It needed to be something
that would be tough because,

except in worst-case
scenarios, I'm not gonna water.

I think, at the heart of it
all, I'm a lazy gardener.

I want things that
are gonna last,

not take a lot of care, be
beautiful year after year.

I like my little pond, my
stock tank pond that I have,

which brings in a
lot of wildlife.

And I've got some
solar lights out there.

At night, the white
flowers glow in the dark.

The backyard, I call it the
farm, and the intention,

short of a rosebush or two,
is everything is edible.

That's my overarching theory.

My grandpa had a
large almond orchard

in northern California,

so I kind of grew up
spending summers surrounded

by an orchard,
which, for someone

that likes a lot
of organization,

an orchard is like
the perfect forest

'cause it's nice and neat.

At his funeral, I took a cutting

of the fig tree that
was out by the barn.

Took cuttings, carried them
home on the plane wrapped

in wet newspaper, along with
some grapevine cuttings.

And carried that little
fig tree around in a pot

for years until I
had my forever home,

and I felt I could
put it in the ground.

It's grown like gangbusters,
brings blue jays.

I sit in the window
every morning,

putting on my makeup and
getting ready for work,

and there's half a dozen blue
jays that'll be out there,

enjoying my fruit.

(chuckles)

We have an agreement.

They get the high stuff.

I'm supposed to
get the low stuff.

It shades the house.

It's lovely.

And it's a memory of him.

It's kind of been the
inspiration for my backyard.

Two peach trees, two
apple trees, two fujis,

two plums, my fig
tree, and a lemon tree.

I took grape cuttings also.

They turned out to
be Thompson seedless.

I didn't know that they would
do very well, but they have.

I plant them with blackberries,
which my intention was,

by planting them
with blackberries,

the thorns would kind of
keep birds off a little bit.

In retrospect, I don't know
if that was a good idea

because it also makes it very
hard for me to work in them.

- [Woman] Jennifer and son
Julian framed one section

with a picket fence
and rose-covered arbor.

- It's where I get my farm idea.

I knew I wanted to have some
raised beds for vegetables,

something that I could
keep a little more orderly,

instead of kind of
the wild kingdom look.

Over the course of a week, we
built it and put it together

and put down the
decomposed granite

and built the four
beds that I've got.

The idea was it was gonna be

kind of like a federalist style.

It was supposed to be kind of
organized and clean and neat,

but it's kind of gone
jungle-like, the rest of it.

This time of year anyway.

- [Woman] Jennifer
confirmed her philosophy

on hand-painted
lumber scraps mounted

on the bamboo that encloses
her outdoor shower.

An advocate of
community literacy,

she built a little
library on the front curb.

- I had saved like
a draw pull I'd got

at a garage sale.

Like a lot of us, I had a drawer

full of someday I'll do
something with this cool stuff.

I had little odds and
ends that I had saved

and put it together,
you know, painted it

to match my front door and
recycled a garden bench

to set it on.

Some neighborhoods have
issues with vandalism

and things like that,
so at first it was

just kind of an experiment of
not putting in too much money,

just see how it goes.

But it's been lovely.

People take care of it.

People look out for it.

It's been a lot of
fun and community,

people walking their dogs
stop, take a look at it.

Lots of people
stop, take pictures,

come back with their kids.

- Welcome today we've
got Matt Turner here

that we're gonna
be speaking with.

Matt with The Native
Plant Society of Texas.

And you've written
two books here

that we have the "Remarkable
Plants of Texas".

- Yeah
- Of which there are many.

- Yes.
- And then of course,

you have a new book out now
that's "Unnatural Texas?"

non invasive species.
- Yes.

- [John] And you wrote
this with Robin Doughty.

- Doughty, yes.
- Doughty.

- Okay Professor Emeritus in
geography here at UT, yeah.

- What's an invasive species?

- So invasive species
has to be two things:

one, it has to be non-native.

Which means a human

had to have brought it in.

Sorry it cannot have
existed naturally

or historically and
they given ecosystem.

And then secondly,

it has to cause
some kind of harm.

The major ones being
to the environment

or to human health
or to economy.

- Okay, and what about
ecosystem health is there?

- Yeah, I think that's
the one that's the hardest

to quantify and gets the least.

- [John] It's not tension
in the official definition.

- [Matt] Okay, yeah.
(Matt laughs)

- And as an example,

some that people that
might really be familiar

with the house sparrows
and European starlings.

- Yeah, I don't know how many
people are familiar with that.

But those are not native birds.

They were brought
in intentionally.

Partly, sparrows were at the
very beginning in the 1850s.

Because the native bird
life in the US city,

especially industrializing
cities were vanishing.

They didn't like all
the noise and hubbub.

So the cities were rather
kind of devoid of bird live,

and there were these
inchworms that the birds

were not eating.

And so there was
this bright idea.

Let's bring in sparrows.

We all love sparrows.

Let's bring them in.

They'll eat the inchworms,

everyone will be happy.

But there is this notion that
we're British for English.

And we like Shakespeare,

and Shakespeare mentions
all these birds.

So let's bring in all the
birds mentioned in Shakespeare.

It's hard to imagine that now,

but that was a very common idea.

So both sparrows and
starlings were brought

over partly just because
we were culturally familiar

with them, and we
wanted them around us.

- So what brought them
over, but what happened?

- So they don't
eat the inchworms.

(John laughs)

And they proliferated too much.

And they started taking over.

Well, for a while we love them.

- Right.
- And we protected them.

And in fact, Texas made it
law not to destroy a sparrow.

It was added to the Penal Code.

But then they went crazy,

and there was too many of them

and they were fornicating
and making too much noise

in the streets and
people didn't like this.

And they became

to be called British Boulders.

Until there became this
sort of Sparrow War

between those who love the
sparrows and one of them here,

and those who would just
assume make a sparrow pie

out of the them.

They were making pies
out of them in New York.

So there was a big controversy.

And so basically, more and
more people began to see

for the first time, that
maybe we shouldn't be bringing

things all around the world
to different countries

without thinking about
their repercussions.

- Sure.
- And that's what eventually

gave rise to the
Lacey Act of 1900,

where, for the first time,

four different
species of our likes,

including starlings
and sparrows,

were to be forbidden
to be brought in

and to be transported
between states.

That list has subsequently
been amended many times

and includes hundreds
of animals now.

So the Lacey Act of 1900

was kind of a sea change

when people realized,
wait a minute.

Maybe people shouldn't
bring everything,

everywhere all the time,

because the attitude before
was it's very anthropocentric,

humans are in charge,

and we can bring whatever
we want, wherever we want.

- Sure.
- New Zealand

should look like England.
- Right.

- America should
look like England.

- Right.

- So let's make it
look more like that.

'cause we were familiar with it.

- Well, I was reading a little
bit about this prepare too

and I noted that,

the starlings have an
impact ecologically as well,

they've actually harmed
their nest robbers

and they'll actually
kill bluebird babies

and pull them out of the net.

- Right.

- The nest and
then take that nest

for their own and--
- Right both species

take bluebird babies
out of their nest

and so purple Martin defenders
are really big about keeping

them out of the nest.

They they're big boulders,

they have big beaks and
they kinda just bully

other birds and take over.

Starlings take a
grain off the fields,

and they cause some aero
plane accidents as well,

'cause they're flock and
he's enormous flocks.

- [John] What's
the big the dilemma

or the challenge here so
to speak into high risk

with your title.

So dilemma, is
you have to choose

between two unacceptable
alternatives

or undesirable alternatives.

So there's actually
several here but one is,

as humans, we're bringing
things all over the planet

all the time and the pace
of that is getting faster

and faster, and there's nothing
we can do to really stop it.

But the repercussions some
of these are gonna take off.

And so how do we control

and manage these things
that we unavoidable,

are unavoidable to bring in?

And then the choices we
make on how to manage them,

each one of them has
strong negatives,

do you poison it?

And then maybe
poison environment?

Do you burn it?
- Sure.

- It's problems with burning?

Or do you bring
in another animal

or bio control another animal

to devour the thing
you brought in,

but then that has to be in a
non native creature as well.

- Right.
- Specifically designed

to go after that.

There's all sorts of
examples from history

of does going awry as well.
- Sure.

- So you have this sort
of intractable problem

that we doesn't
have easy solutions.

- Right.
- So that's sort of the heart

of the dilemma.

- To play devil's advocate here.

There's a lot of people
are that take the camp

and there's an author MMAs,

who wrote a book
Rambo Scarn who says,

nature is everywhere,

but they're the one thing
that's consistent where it is.

That it's not pristine.

We've already messed it up.

So at this point in time,

why are we concerned so
much about invasives?

- All right.

Well, yeah, that's,
(laughing)

that's sort of the complete
defeatist position.

I think the answer is
always more nuanced

and somewhere in between.

So part of it is,

many in true invasives
do a lot of damage.

They take over huge areas
think of kudzu vine.

And they cause a
lot of problems.

So, turning a blind eye

to those problems seems silly
for for multiple accounts.

Also, I think people
want their places to look

like their places that'd be
that's been a recent trend.

We went Texans, went
Texans to like Texas,

and not like New England.
- Absolutely.

- Not like Brazil
and not like Asia.

- Right.

We are part of nature.

And we are part of that system.

If that system isn't thriving,

that translates and to us
really not thriving, as well.

- Yes, that's true.

- [John] Let's go over
a few of these species

that I think you
cover in the book.

One of them is the
Chinese tallow tree.

- Right.

The Chinese tells
you it's from China.

But yes, it was brought in

by none other than
Benjamin Franklin,

who was on the outlook
for, on the lookout

I should say for plants that
would help the colonies.

- [John] right.

- And these, the fruits of
Chinese tallow or tallow,

it's very waxy that
the outer surface

has a saturated fat and can
be used like in Campbell's,

and that the inside the
kernel is a linseed type oil

and unsaturated fatty acid.

That's way more critical

'cause it's more it's
used in bio diesel.

So it's, it is
still to this day,

one of the world's most
oil productive trees,

richest in oils of all trees.

And so he was not stupid
and bringing it in.

- Right.
- And in fact,

he didn't cause
really the invasion.

It just took off a little bit
on the South Carolina Coast,

but then US
government officials,

were spreading it all over
and a lot of other people too.

We're trying to
constantly make a viable

industry out of this.
- Right.

- And to this day,

200 years later, we
still haven't got one.

So that's the problem.

You bring something in
it looks good on paper

and China was working,

and then it for a number
of reasons too hard

to go into here.

It doesn't quite work here.

In the meantime,
you have an invasion

and now it's everywhere.

- Okay, another one that's
gonna have a huge impact

coming to pretty much all
the US is emerald ash borer,

- [Matt] A beautiful
little jewel beetle.

We've known it's coming,
it was brought in

through packing crates into
Michigan in like 2006 or eight.

And it was hidden trees
for no one noticed it

until already 1000
trees were dying.

By then it was already spreading
throughout the Midwest.

And so Texans have been
knowing it's coming

and we've been waiting
for it to come.

It goes after ash trees

and there was about eight
species of ash in Texas

and unfortunately, there's
really no solution.

- Right.
- We're probably gonna lose

most of our attributes in Texas.

They were waiting
for an East Texas.

And then suddenly it
appeared in Fort Worth

on a 10-year olds
iNaturalist application.

So that's a little that's a
little plug for Inaturalist.

Anyone can put
that on their phone

and go start taking pictures

and experts will come in

and identify things
that are on there.

- Well, that's a great segue

'cause I'm sure everybody's
interested in this.

How, What can we do?
- What can we do?

Be alert, be vigilant.

Try to realize when new things
are started springing up

everywhere ask what they are,
find out what's going on.

Try not to plant
too many non-natives

in your yard or at least ones

that you know are gonna say put.

Talk to your nurseries and HOAs

about why they're selling things

that are arguably
dangerous like Nan Dena

and ligustrum.
- Yeah.

- Even though they're
technically not invasive

by state standards,
they're acting invasive.

Just be aware that as a human,

you're a vector all the time
you're bringing stuff in.

So don't dump your
aquarium in any lake.

Don't let your cats
roam out at night.

Wipe your shoes when
you go from one hiking

spot to another.

Something like 80%
of non-native plants

in Enchanted Rock have
to ride along the trails.

Why?

Because that's for people
who have been walking

somewhere else and
brought them in.

Empty your boat and
clean it really well

before you go between legs.

The zebra mussels
are everywhere now.

- [John] Right.

- So pay attention to
what you're bringing in

to your garden in your
life and your yard

and what you're carrying
around with you.

- Well, Matt, thank you so much
for speaking with us today.

This is a very complex issue,

and I think you
addressed it quite well.

Can't wait to read the book.

Thank you for coming
with us today.

- Thanks, thanks
for inviting me.

- And next Daphne will be up
to answer all your questions.

(light playful music)

- In San Antonio, Mark Harris
spotted this beach-ball sized,

papery-looking nest
near the top of a tree,

home to hundreds
of flying insects.

Should he be
concerned about them?

It's hard to see
individual insects here,

but from their behavior,

my entomology colleague
Wizzie Brown suspects

Mexican honey wasps.

Wizzie tells us that these
wasps are not very aggressive

and often ignore human activity.

They're also
beneficial pollinators

and can feed on harmful insects.

You'll most often
notice the nests

when deciduous trees
lose their leaves.

Writer and Texas Master
Naturalist Sheryl Smith-Rodgers

documented the relocation
of one beneficial colony

to her Texas Wildscape
habitat garden.

If you're looking to add
more native plants this year,

it's the perfect time to
plant American beautyberry,

a native understory small
shrub for part shade.

Deciduous in winter, its late
spring flowers attract bees,

butterflies and
other pollinators.

And in fall,
American beautyberry

provides a plethora of
purple or white berries

to feed birds and small
mammals, like this one,

shared with us from Agnes
Fajkus, in Fayette County.

As we prepare our planting
beds for a new season,

should we do a soil test?

Soil tests determine
nutrient levels,

so you only need
one if you're trying

to decide how to fertilize.

If you have natives or
well adapted plants,

you may never need
to fertilize them,

in which case, a soil
test isn't necessary.

One important note: it's
not just soil fertility

but soil type that determines

what will grow
successfully for you.

Some plants prefer well-drained,

even rocky locations,

while others need
deeper or heavier soil,

for more water-holding capacity.

Be sure you know
what type of soil

you have in your landscape
before you plant.

Another question we often get.

What's the difference
between compost and mulch?

The answer is, mostly time.

Mulch is relatively large
aggregate organic matter,

used to protect the
soil from evaporation.

Compost is much smaller
aggregate organic matter

that has broken down over time,

due to the activity of microbes.

Compost can be used as mulch,

but those smaller
particles break down

even further rather quickly,

while mulch will break
down more slowly.

It's best to incorporate compost
to the soil when planting,

where it assists with water
and nutrient-holding capacity.

Or, you can add a thin layer
on top of soil each season

underneath any new
mulch that you apply.

Many people often wonder
about just exactly what I do,

as an Extension horticulturist.

The Extension Service exists

to help educate community
residents on various topics,

encouraging the adoption of
best management practices.

As a horticulturist,

my focus is to help people with
issues surrounding landscape

practices and gardening.

My favorite place to do my
job is right here on CTG,

but I also give presentations
at various events

and conferences, and organize
lectures and workshops.

We also have many
online resources,

and we announce all of
our upcoming programs

on our various websites.

One of my most
intensive programs

is the Master Gardener training,

which I offer at
most once a year.

After completion of
this eight-week course,

participants spend a year

as Master Gardener
Intern volunteers.

And after successful
completion of the internship,

participants earn the title

of Travis County
Master Gardener,

where they continue to
assist me with implementing

my educational programs.

The easiest way to find out
more about all of our programs

is to do an internet search

for Travis County
Extension Horticulture,

or call our office.

We'd love to hear from you!

Check out
centraltexasgardener.org.

to send us your questions,
stories and videos.

- Now let's check in
with Molly Pikarsky

(upbeat music)

- I'm Molly, flora
and fauna manager

at Lake Austin Spa Resort,
your rebel horticulturist.

And I'm really happy
to introduce the guy

who keeps me out of trouble,

my son Max Pikarsky.

- Hi.

- Today we're gonna talk
about using our late winter

and early spring garden
goodies to make an easy

and delicious salad that
is beautifully colored

and has a spicy crunch.

The whole team at
Lake Austin Spa Resort

is so excited about
our gardens right now.

Richard, Dustin,
and the grounds team

have been wowing everyone
with their abundant vegetables

and herbs, and Chef Stefan
and sous-chef Anthony

have been using
these ingredients

to make some spectacular
culinary creations.

We've brought spinach,
arugula, rumex, carrots,

and both red and green lettuce.

- Mom, you forgot the radishes.

- Oh yes, we also brought
some beautiful red

and purple radishes.

We started these
crops in late fall,

but you can take advantage

of this mild winter
and plant these now.

I like to plant the
greens from transplants

and the radish and carrots
work beautifully from seed.

They will continue to grow
until it starts to get hot.

If you want to keep them
growing, try indoors.

They are great
candidates for hydro

or aquaponic systems too.

- And don't forget to add
some organic fertilizer

with microbiology in
it when you plant.

It makes the plants grow best.

- Absolutely.

Even in this colder weather,

you wanna make sure your garden

is getting organic fertilizer
and water that it needs.

Also, it isn't a bad idea to
keep some frost blanket handy

just in case we get a central
Texas surprise, cold snap.

- We are also going
to use pecans,

Parmesan cheese and balsamic
reduction that I made myself.

- Max makes a wonderful
simple balsamic reduction

using inexpensive
balsamic vinegar, sugar
or honey and salt.

When making your own balsamic
reduction over medium heat,

add the sugar or honey
to taste to the vinegar.

Let the mixture simmer
until it reduces

to your desired thickness.

As a rebel,

I'm not always a
recipe follower.

In fact, really never.

So I encourage you to to
add a little sweet element

at a time to the acidic
flavor of the vinegar

until you find your
perfect balance.

Then salt to taste all
things in balance, right Max?

- Yep.

Like how I'm sweet and you're
sour and sassy, right, mom.

- Exactly. (chuckles)

Thank you.

So moving along.

After harvesting
these wonderful winter

and early spring greens,

we washed them and tore
them into bite sized pieces.

Then combine them
in the salad bowl.

- Next we will add our
pecans for some crunch.

The Parmesan cheese,

and we will also
add our carrots.

Carrots, and radishes

that my mom forgot
for color and spice.

- Okay.

Once we toss all of these
gorgeous ingredients together,

we can add our
balsamic reduction.

In this recipe, we're
not using any extra oil.

You could certainly add
olive oil if you wished.

- You could add
chicken or salmon too.

We also had this
with some tortellini

with tomato sauce that
I made the other night.

- Oh, that was an
amazing meal Max.

I like to add a little
bit of cracked pepper

and maybe a pinch of sea salt

and you're ready to enjoy
this wonderful salad.

For the recipes on
growing the vegetables

we have used today,
please check out my blog.

This has been Molly, your
rebel horticulturist.

- And Max.

- Reminding you
to know the rules

so you can break them well.

- Maybe not all of them Mom.

- Bye.

- Find out more and watch online

at centraltexasgardener.org.

Until next time, adopt
the pace of nature,

her secret is patience.

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] Central Texas
Gardener is made possible

by generous support from
Lisa and Desi Rhoden.

Thank you.