Wildscape Spotlight

The Wildscape is 11 years old!

This is a great time to review the history of the Wildscape...especially since the Hunt Garden Club has grown and had membership changes over time…

At its inception in 2012, the Hunt Garden Club (HGC) Wildscape was started at the Hunt Texas Independent School District Elementary School (HISD) as a memorial project. Funding for the approximate 2,900 square foot area (divided into seven sections) was from the sponsor for the memorial and a Hunt Garden Club quilt raffle. The initial design for the Wildscape existing topography, large trees, artwork, flagpole, amount of sun and shade, etc. was taken into account when selecting the type of and location of native nectar and larval plants. A variety were chosen to attract different pollinators throughout the different seasons of the year. Additionally, a bench and a bird bath were placed under a shade tree. In approximately 2014, the Wildscape site was designated as a Monarch Waystation.

Over the years, a number of HGC ladies have volunteered in the Wildscape. Currently, there are about a dozen who are regular volunteers. Some ladies start volunteering at the Wildscape because they don’t know very much about plants, flowers, grasses, and trees of the hill country. After a cycle or two of seeing how the native plants, grasses and trees behave the ladies become much more comfortable with what they’ve learned.

While the Wildscape does have a line item in the budget, it has benefitted from ear-marked donations and a winning a “Bring Back the Monarchs” grant through the Native Plant Society of Texas. Over the past several years, the Wildscape has been recognized for several awards at the District, State, and National level. In 2022, the Wildscape was awarded the “Overall Winner” from the National Garden Clubs, Inc., for Native Plants & Wildflower Venue category. Part of this recognition was an $800 award.

What do the ladies of the Wildscape do actually???? Well….our usual activities are seasonal, of course.

Once the threat of frost is likely past in the spring, we get together on a couple of late mornings and tidy up the Wildscape. The native plants are pruned and mulch is refreshed, as needed, for esthetics and as a technique to retain soil moisture in anticipation of the Texas heat.

It’s always amazing to watch how the Wildscape comes back to life each year. We cut the plants back and miraculously the plants grow and flower and provide sustenance to us gardeners as well as the butterflies, humming birds, bees, and other critters.

Spring and fall are times for us to evaluate our native plants and see what might need to be replaced, moved, or divided. Extreme cold or heat do occasionally take a toll, even native plants, requiring us to consider replacing them. We pay particular attention to sun and shade exposures in the Wildscape when we plant new plants and we sometimes have to move plants accordingly.

The reassuring thing about using native plants is that we know they don’t require as much (or much) TLC like many of the non-native or adaptive plants. It’s beneficial to use native plants also to minimize the need for supplemental watering. We want to be good stewards of our land!