I mentioned on Twitter that more trees had failed to leaf out this spring, victims of the long drought which not only did not provide them enough water to survive, but prevented us from having any supplemental water to give them.\u00a0\u00a0 Someone suggested what seemed reasonable–why not plant trees from the next climate zone (or two) to the south of us.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I realized then that the traditional “planting zone\/climate zone” concept had taken hold to such an extent that the complexity of keeping anything alive through a rapid change of climate wasn’t being talked about.<\/p>\n
Let me go back 13 years, to our original plans for the 80 acres.\u00a0 Wildlife management, and prairie restoration on the overgrazed, juniper-invaded former grassland portion.\u00a0\u00a0 Retention and enrichment, by interplanting natives, of the two natural woodlands–the riparian near the creek (which then flowed, and had flowed, every year) and the rock-ridge “dry woods” of native brush and some trees, up on the rocky knoll.\u00a0\u00a0 The plan worked well for the first five or six years, including dry years.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Reintroduction of native grasses, forbs,\u00a0 shrubs and trees seemed to be working; ground cover increased, as did the number of species of wildlife.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We did include plantings leaning toward the land south and west of us by several hundred miles,\u00a0 knowing that it twas lkely to become dryer and hotter over time.<\/p>\n
But between years six and eight, we realized that climate change was overtaking us faster than anticipated–and by year ten, we were dealing with a regression in progress.\u00a0 Natives to this region, some of which had survived the years of bad management without any help…were dying.\u00a0\u00a0 The creek no longer flowed most of the year (it now does not flow at all…has not had normal flow (and only a couple of flash-flood pulses) for over two years.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Both native plants and native wildlife diminished–our joy in seeing increasing diversity in the first years of good management was gone, and the goals were no longer included\u00a0 “prairie restoration” since it became clear that the old natives could not survive.\u00a0 Our garden could not survive, as night-time temperatures climbed higher every summer (tomatoes, for example,\u00a0 will not set and mature when nighttime temps are too high.)\u00a0\u00a0 The small town we live in has wells, but the wells aren’t producing as they should; we’ve been on water restriction now for several years.\u00a0 Reservoirs in the area are dropping, many below 50% of capacity.\u00a0\u00a0 The population (and demand for water) continues to grow.<\/p>\n
“Climate zones\/planting zones” are based purely on the length of the frost-free growing season.\u00a0 That works for most (not all) garden plants, but it’s not the only determinant for native plant life.\u00a0\u00a0 Every plant has a preferred habitat:\u00a0 maximum and minimum temperatures,\u00a0 amount and distribution of precipitation,\u00a0 humidity (impacts plant’s water management), maximum tolerable wind,\u00a0 soil type (including both the structure, from tight clay to gravel,\u00a0 and the pH–whether acidic or basic),\u00a0 soil depth,\u00a0 soil temperature (some seeds germinate only in hot soil; others only in cool soil),\u00a0 the presence or absence of specific soil nutrients and microbiota,\u00a0 a specific day-length cycle (great difference in daylength through the season, or less to no daylength change.)<\/p>\n
Plants differ in how much leeway they can handle in each of these parameters.\u00a0\u00a0 I remember my Native Plants prof fulminating against those who planted azaleas (acid-loving) as landscape plants in Central Texas…which has a basic soil over limestone.\u00a0\u00a0 The university put them in raised beds and treated heavily with iron and soil acidifiers…but eventually the azaleas’ roots reached the limestone below….and they died, and had to be replaced.\u00a0 \u00a0 Some plants can handle moderately acidic soils to moderately alkaline, basic soils…they’re generalists.\u00a0 But not all.<\/p>\n
In a small garden or yard, creating a fairly neutral environment suited to all the generalists and some of the pickier plants may be possible.\u00a0 If the gardener has access to supplements, to ample water, to climate altering enclosures (a greenhouse for some,\u00a0 shade cover for others.)\u00a0\u00a0 We gardened very successfully in San Antonio (about 130 miles south of us)\u00a0 by digging out heavy black Houston Clay and making our own soil by mixing it with sharp sand,\u00a0 composted horse and chicken manure,\u00a0 bedding from horse stalls, leaves, etc.\u00a0\u00a0 It was intensive gardening, and we grew several dozen varieties of vegetables.<\/p>\n
But when dealing with open land,\u00a0 that’s not possible, especially in drought conditions.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What, then, can we do, when the predictions for change outpace the possible interventions?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When the change seems to be outpacing the predictions?\u00a0 Just picking plants from straight south of us won’t work, because of the soil differences.\u00a0 I grew up 400 miles south of where I live now; I know the original botany of that area well.\u00a0\u00a0 The soil was a light sandy loam, very deep, alluvial in origin, from repeated floods of the\u00a0 Rio Grande.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Native vegetation had two basic forms: along the resacas and the river itself,\u00a0 taller riparian woods; away from the permanent water,\u00a0 “brush” and grassy openings.\u00a0 The brush consisted of low woody trees, woody understory, cactus,\u00a0 and almost everything had thorns.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As you moved away from water and onto higher ground, the brush lowered–sometimes less than waist high.\u00a0 It’s notable that it’s closer to the Gulf, and thus more likely to pick up both humid air and hurricane rains when hurricanes occur than here–several hundred miles inland.\u00a0\u00a0 In northern Mexico, the same kind of semi-desert brush country (modified by ag, but that’s its nature) exists, with more forest (where it hasn’t been logged)\u00a0 at higher elevations in the mountains that start about there.<\/p>\n
Here, the soil is thinner, with a higher pH (more alkaline) and was formed under prairie and over limestone: it’s a dense dark clay, where there is soil left.\u00a0 It’s a completely different soil from that 400-500 miles south.\u00a0 Its soil microbiota are different.\u00a0\u00a0 Generalist brush plants (mesquite for instance, and huisache) will grow here, but neither is a shade tree in the usual sense, and both support a different kind of wildlife from the local live oak, cedar elm, ash, pecan trees, with the understory of viburnum, roughleaf dogwood, and other plants, all with a lot of berries both migratory and resident birds enjoy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Our upland brush is different too: Ashe juniper, cedar elm, occasional live oak, with\u00a0 elbowbush, Mexican buckeye, for understory woody plants.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wildlife here depends on these familiar plants for food and habitat.<\/p>\n
Loss of frequent standing and running water on the land has already meant the loss of species that were previously increasing under our management of water conservation and relief from livestock grazing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This included fish, most amphibians (some still live in the large backyard water garden),\u00a0 and invertebrates such as crayfish.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We had been increasing the number of species of odonates…now they’ve reduced, as the breeding habitat has disappeared.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Despite having four wildlife watering stations, we have fewer birds (both in numbers and species)\u00a0 as habitat degrades with the death of favorite nest trees, and the gradual loss of species of food plants in every category, from lichens to trees.<\/p>\n
We did attempt to bring in natives from a similar soil type but 100+ miles to the SW (southern part of the Edwards Plateau) but\u00a0 those trees, despite supplementing water as long as we could, finally died.\u00a0\u00a0 Young trees are not as drought tolerant as older ones, up to a point.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 South of there…are no trees that will live here without adequate water we don’t have, or altitude and rainfall we don’t have.<\/p>\n
We have quit planting trees.\u00a0\u00a0 We are still seeding grass, but not planting root divisions of the taller grasses (in part because the “grass garden” in which we nurtured and propagated tall grasses native to this area and scavenged from construction sites is no longer producing enough; in part because the ones that had taken hold and seemed thriving are now dying back.\u00a0\u00a0 Instead, we’re seeding only short-grass varieties and will be adding more.\u00a0\u00a0 We’re looking at adding forbs from more western, dryer areas as well.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We’ve increased the storage capacity at the rain barns for wildlife water–but there’s no way to collect enough rainwater to water everything.\u00a0\u00a0 We hope to save a few of the household trees, simply for the cooling effect of the shade–but water restrictions are making that a very slim possibility.<\/p>\n
It’s\u00a0 a brown spring around here.\u00a0\u00a0 Looking out at the land, it might be winter,\u00a0 all grays and browns, but for a few trees leafing out, some grass in ditches where the soil stayed damp longer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And we’re fighting to keep anything<\/em> alive, and water available for the spring migrant birds….and expecting the worst again this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I mentioned on Twitter that more trees had failed to leaf out this spring, victims of the long drought which not only did not provide them enough water to survive, but prevented us from having any supplemental water to give them.\u00a0\u00a0 Someone suggested what seemed reasonable–why not plant trees from the next climate zone (or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,7,6],"tags":[9,32,53],"class_list":["post-1268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change","category-plantlife","category-water","tag-drought","tag-native-plants","tag-natural-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1269,"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268\/revisions\/1269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}