One of the things I love about central Texas is the lushness of the landscapes. I grew up a desert rat in AZ, and I love my Sonoran landscapes fiercely.

But Texas has its own beauty-one that is too often endangered by urban centers expanding into formerly wilder habitats.

Even in my south Austin backyard, there's an amazing number of critters -I think I saw a couple of raccoons traipsing through not too long ago. Some folks, though, have worked very hard to make a hospitable habitat. Follow me on the flip for a great example found in the Statesman.

"I learned about the wildlife habitat certification while I was researching how to replant my property after oak wilt," Buchanan says. "I lost 40 percent of the trees on the property. So, I was starting from scratch.

"I was already wanting to work in more native plants, and then I just found that, at the end of all of the work, you could sort of validate some of the efforts that you put into the property through this certification, in addition to the many other ecological and lifestyle benefits."

The Best of Texas program is administered by Wildscapes, part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation.

To qualify to be a Best of Texas habitat, a yard must have at least 25 percent native plants, says Roxanne Paul, operations coordinator for the department's Habitat Education Programs. A property also must provide four basic elements that all wildlife requires to thrive: food, water, cover and places to raise young. The property owner must integrate sustainable gardening practices, as well.

The national federation is strict about having native plants, Buchanan says. "So they actually critique your nonnative plants and they are very concerned about invasive and spreading plants."

This is part of the legacy Lady Bird Johnson left us, though it builds on a strong Texas tradition of stewardship of the land.

Congratulations to the Buchanans, and may they find find ever renewing discoveries in their little pocket of eco-diversity.

I think I may need to plot out a trip to the garden center...

tags: gardening  wildlife habitat  austin  texas  

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