New Braunfels Native Plant Sale Saturday: Turk's Cap, Beautyberry, Cenizo and More
The Native Plant Society of Texas New Braunfels chapter holds its fall sale Saturday at Headwaters at the Comal. Here is what will be on the tables and how a few favorites grow.
Gardeners in New Braunfels can buy plants grown for this ground on Saturday.
The sale
The New Braunfels chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas holds its fall plant sale on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 9 a.m. to noon at Headwaters at the Comal, 333 E. Klingemann St. The sale falls at the end of Texas Native Plant Week, which the Texas Legislature set in 2009 as the third full week of October. This year that is Oct. 18-24.
The chapter has posted its list of available plants, sorted by type. The list runs from cactus and grasses to groundcovers, perennials, shrubs and trees. Among them:
Grasses: Inland sea oats, Gulf muhly, switchgrass, blue grama and Texas sedge.
Perennials: Mealy blue sage, cedar sage, scarlet sage, Gregg's mistflower, Maximilian sunflower, gayfeather, pigeonberry and wild foxglove.
Shrubs: Turk's cap, American beautyberry, cenizo, Texas mountain laurel, flame acanthus, esperanza and autumn sage.
Trees: Texas redbud, Mexican plum, Texas persimmon, cedar elm and Anacacho orchid tree.
Four to know
Turk's cap. The society's plant profile says it is drought tolerant and grows in dry or moist soil, in sun or shade. Its red flowers never fully open and bloom from June to November. It spreads into colonies, but extra plants are easy to pull.
American beautyberry. This understory shrub is grown for its iridescent purple fruit in fall and winter. It needs moisture, deep soil and room for its long, arching stems. Prune only stray branches. Deer love the leaves, so plan accordingly.
Cenizo. The silver-leaved shrub blooms on and off after rains. It wants well-drained soil, no fertilizer and little water. Kept too wet, it can get cotton root rot. The society suggests it in place of Japanese ligustrum.
Mexican plum. This small tree covers itself in fragrant white to pale pink flowers in early spring, before the leaves come out, and turns yellow in fall. Don't prune it late in winter, because the blooms form on old wood. Keep it away from pavement, where the dropping fruit makes a mess.
Why buy native
The chapter calls these native plants that grow well in the New Braunfels area. The profiles above show why: several need little water or fertilizer once they are established. For plant questions, the society runs a hotline at [email protected].
More from the chapter
The chapter meets on the fourth Monday of most months at Headwaters at the Comal, and meetings are free and open to the public. Its Oct. 26 meeting covers the Geronimo and Alligator Creeks watershed protection plan, and it holds a seed swap on Nov. 14. Native plants are a small, practical way to care for the land, and a sale like this one makes that easy to start.
Related on Dock Line: Boerne's Fall Native Plant Sale Is Saturday at Historic Herff Farm; Native Plant Volunteers Set Up at Stephenville's H-E-B This Weekend
