Press Release from the city:

SPI Butterfly Garden Nears Completion and Seeks Volunteers

South Padre Island, TX – March 22, 2007 – Join the Town of South Padre Island and its community with the North American Butterfly Association International Park’s educational awareness on butterflies and butterfly gardening in South Texas from 9 – 10 a.m. this Saturday, March 24, 2007 at Club Padre, 5800 Padre Blvd.

The installation and completion of the Town’s Butterfly Garden will follow immediately at 4312 Gulf Blvd., next to Suntide II.

The Town’s butterfly garden seeks volunteers to help garden different types of indigenous and native plants that will help sustain our ecosystem, both nectar and host plants.

Education Coordinator and Plant Nursery Assistant Carol Goolsby has become a key participant and brought tremendous knowledge and experience to this project.

“Over 50 species of Rio Grande Valley Native Plants will be incorporated in this design,” said Goolsby. “It’s important to have a great biodiversity of species and to equally serve all stages of the butterfly cycle.”

Goolsby’s design for the Garden, list of recommended plants, recommended Project Time-Line, and Schedule of Activities for this Saturday’s planting day will result in establishing one of the top 10 butterfly parks in the region.

The project will represent a major step towards the re-establishment of several native species of plants and will be a haven for a variety of butterflies.

See you there! The public is invited to attend.

For more information, contact Shane Wilson at (956) 238-9476.

Transplanting Yellow Saphora from the Ground

Linda and I each attempted to transplant some juvenile Saphora today (sophora tomentosa) and it was quite an ordeal. These plants were a little over 2 feet tall ... but as we found out, their main taproots went down equally as much, not unlike a pecan tree.

You'd be proud of us digging away trenches around the plants, about a foot away from the main stem. We went down at least 20 inches by using water and three kinds of shovels. The idea was to lift out the a cylinder of plant and soil and put it into an awaiting hole in the ground.

Being a he-man, I was first to grab the Yellow Sophora by plant base and under the roots ... and discover that the entire mess caved away and I was left with some twigs and some bare golden roots, not good, and I hope it lives in its new hole.

Feeling bad, we redoubled efforts on Linda's plant. More water, and down another 8 inches we went. It was rather like a reverse sand sculture. We even trimmed the roots and wrapped the sandy soil in a piece of tarp. Then disaster struck and she headed home with some bare roots with some mud on them, just like me. The sand just blew up, sorta.

Anyway, few people know that the roots on a sophora tomentosa are a rich golden brown and they are vertically positioned about as deep as the plant is high when in sandy coastal soil. Regards, Sam