Nature in the City - Austin Blog

On April 1, 2010, eleven 7-9 year-old Brownie Girl Scouts planted a landscape near the public right of way at 2701 South Lamar in Austin, Texas which was designed to soak up carbon dioxide and urban heat. The girls learned about planting trees and caring for the environment.

The Urban Forest Grant supplied funding to purchase trees, mulch, compost and a small irrigation system for the landscape project. Other funding for the project came from cookie sales and parent donations. 

Healthy red oaks change leaf color in autumn in Central Texas. Image Credit: Bill Oriani, Flickr

Oak wilt is one of the most destructive tree diseases in the United States, and it is killing oak trees in central Texas at epidemic proportions. We’ve covered an introduction to oak wilt in our Oak Wilt 101 article. Now we take a deeper dive into the topic of red oaks and oak wilt.

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In the summer, bugs become pests when they start to attack our plants. Unfortunately for our friendly bugs, it's common practice to indiscriminately kill all bugs, even when they're actually beneficial. Sorry pollinators, fireflies, and lady bugs! So when a bug does cause a problem, using the lowest impact way to try to manage it makes sense for our friendly bugs, the ecological health of our landscapes, and our water quality. 

Prevention

• Plant a diversity of species marking it harder f…

Urban Patchwork, an Austin non-profit helping communities grow food where we live, has recently planted 200 fruit and nut producing trees in East Austin. The Neighborhood Orchard project is supported by American Forests’ nationwide Community ReLeaf initiative—dedicated to the assessment, restoration and monitoring of urban forests. American Forests recently identified Austin as one of the 10 best cities for Urban Forests and selected Urban Patchwork to help re…

_{Austin's Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) is dispersed throughout the city.}

Attracting wildlife to residential backyards can be a rewarding experience. Since the City of Austin is a Certified Wildlife Habitat with the National Wildlife Federation, Austinines are passionate about creating habitat in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). As Austin grows, creating and preserving wildlife habitat is critical, but as the city expand…

Oak wilt is one of the most destructive tree diseases in the United States, and it is killing oak trees in central Texas at epidemic proportions. Whether you're new to Austin or just getting to know your trees it's important to know the basics, and to know when to call in the professionals to protect your trees. 

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What is ball moss?

Ball moss is a small epiphyte commonly found clinging to limbs of live oaks and other trees in southwest Texas. Ball moss is not a moss, but a true plant with flowers and seeds. It is a member of the bromeliad family, which also contains Spanish moss and pineapple. Epiphytes are plants that attach themselves to limbs, tree trunks, power lines, fences, and many other structures with pseudo-roots. Unlike true roots, they do not absorb water and minerals; they merely attach the plant to an aerial structure. S…

One of the simplest, most effective ways to help trees and plants survive in tough Austin conditions is mulch. Mulch is a material used to cover soil around landscape plants. Good mulches include wood chips, leaves, grass clippings, and compost. Mulch helps plants in lots of ways.

 Coarse wood chips are the best mulch for tree health

Benefits of Mulch

Plants send roots into the soil to collect the resources they need to grow. Adding mulch pro…

How Tree Roots Work Part II: Digging Deeper  |  How Tree Roots Work Part III: Mycorrhizae

When we see a tree in the landscape, we rarely think about what’s happening below ground. We know those tree roots are there, but we can’t see them beneath the soil surface. Tree roots tend to grow in the top 2-3’ of soil, and the smallest roots grow in only the top 6” of soil. Those small roots are the ones that take up water, nutrients, and oxygen. How do they manage to grow so close to the soil surface? Well, these small, fine roots grow we…