Don’t mess with Texas yards

I’m Stephanie Long and I’m going to get central Texas homeowners to ditch water guzzling, invasive non-native plants in favor of native wildflowers, grasses, and trees.

Home to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, it’s no secret Austin is the place to be for people who value nature. Central Texas boasts large tracts of native prairie grasslands, one of which runs along the east side of I35. The soil of the Blackland Prairie is rich, fertile clay that supports many beloved species of wildflowers and grasses, which in turn provide homes to birds, butterflies, and bees. (Blackland Prairie — Texas — Partners For Conservation)

The Problem

But there’s a problem: Sadly “less than 1% of the original vegetation of the Blackland Prairie remains” due to decades of agricultural plowing, and, most recently, housing developments. (Eidson, and Smeins) According to senior demographer at the Texas Demographic Center, Lila Valencia, areas around Austin are booming. In 2000 there were 5,000 people in Kyle; now, there are 47,000 plus! (Torre) All these people have to live somewhere, but unfortunately, all these housing developments are “fragmenting many of the remaining grasslands” as builders replace native plants with invasive species like Bermuda grass, holly, and others. (“Blackland Prairie — Texas — Partners For Conservation”)

Proving Assumptions

I had a hunch that the loss of the Blackland Prairie might be helped if homeowners utilized more native plants in their yards. But first, I had to prove some assumptions I had about homeowners. I interviewed 7 homeowners from 4 different neighborhoods between Kyle and South Austin. And here’s what they had to say:

Bermuda grass is evil

• the grass keeps growing under the bushes even though you’ve lined them with landscaping paper 3 or 4 times.
• And I think the weeds is another thing that’s probably really frustrating because even though we have cloth that we put down, it still comes through the cloth,
• we got an HOA thing. They got mad at us because one of the mulch rings around the trees had grass growing in it and they sent us a notice that we had to pull our grass out of the mulch ring.

Excessive Watering and Fertilizing

• it requires a lot of water on the grass
• We have this year, planted a ton of grass seed and fertilized like crazy. And we got the weeds a little bit better under control, but not totally,
• trying to keep it, in this weather, trying to keep it watered so the grass doesn’t die. That is a challenge,

Badly designed flower beds

• The bushes they put in were in my way.
• Maintaining mulch is frustrating,
• we had to research the plants we had because they didn’t tell us what was put in our front flower bed
• We ended up pulling some plants out of our front landscaping because you couldn’t read our address anymore.
• They planted too much, so when the plants were small and newly planted, it looked nice, but within a year they all overgrew each other. Like, it was obviously planted without thinking about the future.
• The landscaping they did for us, in the front of the house, everything died within four months.

Lack of customization

• I would have preferred something more evergreen, as far as the landscaping and I like a turf that has wider blades of grass.
• they provided the bushes, they chose them and not us.
• We got those shrubs, I don’t really like them they’re not pretty

Limited Knowledge of Native Plants

When I asked homeowners if they have ever looked for native plants for their yard, a couple said “No, not really.” But the majority answered yes, and had a basic knowledge about the benefits of native plants (even if they could not name any plants in particular):

• They require less water, and the heat here, it tends to be a little tough on a lot of plants that aren’t native here.
• Well, yes, me and my wife have looked for them [native plants], just because, make it, just because, us not able to water too often. Not because it’s too hot, but because lot less time.
• So mostly, it’s just getting something that we don’t have to spend extra time maintaining and keeping alive.
• Because I don’t want them to freeze, and I don’t want them to burn in the heat. It’s better not to have to water and build little shades and change the soil and all that.
• why would we waster the time and money to plant something that won’t grow here.
• Just so they’ll grow and be pretty and be easy maintenance for me, personally, and just be pretty for the neighborhood

From the Experts

I also talked to several members of the Austin and Williamson County chapters of the Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT). They echoed homeowners’ concerns:

• Plants dying due to wrong plant, wrong place, wrong care. Tired of wasting money or trying to keep a non-native plant alive.
• selecting plants not suited to Austin weather and soils and planting in the wrong season
• Making decisions based on price or aesthetics, not natural science.
• They select new/replacement plants only based on appearance of optimally-raised plants.
• The plants they have chosen are not suitable for Texas weather and soils and thus do not thrive here. Also many do not understand that everything is connected: the soil, the microbes in the soil, the fungi, the plants, and all the wildlife, etc., as well as the weather, the soil pH, and likely other factors we humans do not yet know about.

Identifying a Target Audience

These interviews confirmed some assumptions I had and helped me start forming a target audience:

• My audience of new homeowners frustrated with their landscaping really does exist.
• My audience is frustrated with plants and grasses provided by the builders/developers.
• My audience knows native plants are better for their yard and are willing to do a little research, but they cannot name any native plants if asked.
• My audience is a do-it-yourself crowd because they cannot afford, or have had bad experiences, with landscapers.
• My audience has precious little time to spend maintaining their yards.

Job to be done

My research helped me narrow the problem to a single “Job to be done” statement: “As a homeowner, I want to grow native plants so my yard looks great with little effort (and as a bonus, I feel good about restoring the Blackland Prairie).”

Steps in Job to be done

To accomplish this Job, a homeowner, we’ll say Brianna, must take several steps. Based on homeowners’ answers to where they shop for native plants, I came up with the following scenario:

1. One of Brianna’s plants dies or she wants to add something to her yard for shade or color.

2. Brianna, does a little online research. Maybe she finds a website with a list of plants native to Texas. Maybe she reads further to find plants native to central Texas, specifically to her side of I35 (most people don’t get this far and stop at plants native to Texas).

3. Brianna feels like she knows a few plants she wants to buy.

From here, the people I interviewed did one of two things: they went to a local nursery or went to a big box garden center at Lowe’s, Home Depot, Walmart, or HEB.

For those who go to a local nursery:

4. Brianna goes to a local nursery.

5. She enters the nursery and begins looking.

6. Brianna asks an employee to help her.

7. The employee is knowledgeable and passionate about native plants and ask her about her soil, light, HOA lawn requirements, etc.

8. Brianna listens intently and picks a few plants based on the employee’s recommendations.

9. Brianna takes her plant home and tries her best to plant and grow it.

10. The plant gets a fungus or looks droopy.

11. Brianna posts to social media or asks an outdoorsy friend of hers how to take care of her sick plant.

12. She continues to learn about her plant and it successfully grows.

13. Now she is hooked and wants more plants!

(NOTE: For those who go to a big box store: the steps are the same except Brianna doesn’t have a friendly, knowledgeable employee to assist her.)

Proposing a Solution

It takes several steps to even get one native plant! There are multiple points at which I could try to address the problem of getting homeowners to plant native plants: I could open a nursery in Kyle, I could engage with stores like Walmart, or I could educate homeowners. I decided to go with the latter so that no matter how a homeowner shops for plants, she can identify and select native plants with confidence!

Competition

Now there are already resources, workshops, and gatherings where people can learn about native plants. For example, NPSOT chapters meet monthly and offer great classes, but they are inaccessible to Kyle/Buda homeowners who cannot make the drive up 35 at the end of a long day of work.

What do people say they want?

So, I surveyed 14 homeowners about how they want to learn about plants. I gave the options of one-on-one training with a master gardener, workshops located in one’s own neighborhood, and hosting a garden party.

Here’s what they had to say.

• 11/14 said “I would like to attend a workshop right in my neighborhood where I don’t have to bear the brunt of the cost.”
• 8/11 said “I would want the workshop to last 1–2 hours.”
• 7/11 said “I would like to meet monthly.”
• 7/11 said they were willing to pay in the $20-$30 range for monthly workshops

When asked what they expected from the workshop, most everyone expected the following:

• I want to see and be able to buy plants. I want to learn more about how to care for them. I want to know more about which ones will exist best in different areas of my yard.
• Tips to allow me to better understand the specific needs of my soil, the plants that will thrive in the micro-environment of my yard, and how to care for those plants as they grow.

I also asked NPSOT members about their most successful educational resources, and monthly meetings and plant sales topped their answers, so I was confident monthly activities where people can get their hands on some plants was a good way to go.

The Workshop Solution

Homeowner:

Pains: I have very little time, I want to water less, I want to feel good about my yard

Opportunities: I don’t have to put in too much time, I hardly have to water, I am proud of my yard

Our Workshops

We will take up very little of your time, we will teach you to find plants that you water less, we will help you feel good about how your yard looks.

We save you time, we help you not have to water, we help you feel proud of your yard.

Unlike other workshops, we come right to your neighborhood to teach you about plants that will work in your soil and environment specifically.

Prototyping

It was time to host a prototype workshop! I recruited some NPSOT members to come down to Kyle to speak to my neighbors. I spent a week advertising the event on Facebook, and I emailed several who had participated in surveys and interviews.

Sue Wiseman, Gary Bowers, and Randy Pensabene of the Williamson County NPSOT chapter brought plants to hand out and prepared materials and handouts.

The prototype was wildly successful and launched my new career!

Or not. :)

No one attended, except my parents, who did find the workshop quite useful and asked a lot of questions.

Results thus far are that people are quite busy this time of year and not exactly thinking about gardening. People who took the time to let me know they could not attend had the following reasons:

• Work
• Didn’t know about it in time
• Caring for sick family members

Next steps

I hope I can try again, with a longer advertising campaign period and during a better time of year.

Lessons learned

Ultimately, we cannot stop the fragmentation of the Blackland Prairie entirely. People have to live somewhere, so housing developments will continue to grow. However, if all these homeowners start replacing invasive species with native plants, we can restore the beautiful landscape that makes central Texas unique for generations to come.

There are no mistakes in gardening, just compost — Sue

Resources:
“Blackland Prairie — Texas — Partners For Conservation”. Partnersforconservation.Org, 2019, https://www.partnersforconservation.org/our-landscapes/blackland-prairie-texas/. Accessed 12 Nov 2019.

Eidson, J., and F.E. Smeins. “Texas Blackland Prairies | Ecoregions | WWF”. World Wildlife Fund, 2019, https://www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/na0814.

“Native American Seed — History Of The Prairie(3)”. Seedsource.Com, 2019, https://www.seedsource.com/medicine/history3.asp. Accessed 12 Nov 2019.

Torre, Melanie. “Austin Growing By 35 People A Day, Hays And Wilco Growing By 120”. KEYE, 2019, https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/austin-growing-by-35-people-a-day-hays-and-wilco-growing-by-120. Accessed 15 Nov 2019.