Tours
One of the delights of membership in the Grapevine Garden Club is the garden tours we take part in. As gardeners we love nothing better than to see what’s growing elsewhere, be it a local member’s salvia bed or an overnight trip to Austin to the Ladybird Wildflower Center. We’re up for it all! As our tour director says, “Join a tour...learn more and make friends.”
By-products of all our tours are planned and unplanned stops at nurseries along the way. Like children seeing an ice cream sign, we quickly stop when we see a nursery. Let no nursery go unvisited!
Descriptions and photos of tours taken during the past 12 months or so are shown below.
Gardeners on the Go
Tours either within the metroplex taking most of a day, or out-of-town trips when we travel in cars to far flung areas of Texas, such as the Azalea Trail in Houston and the Ladybird Wildflower Center in Austin
Gardens on View
Below are tours taken after general meetings in the fall of 2011.
September 2011 Gardens on View
After the September General Meeting, members were treated to a session in the Education Pavilion at the Grapevine Botanical Gardens held by Lisa Grove, the garden’s horticulturist. She demonstrated how to start our fall veggie gardens by planting containers with salad greens. The group also discussed plants that weathered our extra hot, dry summer and emerged victorious.
Afterward members walked to historic Nash Farms where a docent spoke about the aspects of running the farm dating back to the 1800s. This farm is one of the prime attractions of Grapevine, and festivals for children are often held there to demonstrate farm life of long ago.
More "Gardens on View" photos may be viewed online at our Flickr account.
Gardeners on the Go
October 2011 Members Tour UTA Sustainable Site Initiative
The last tour of the fall season was a trip to the University of Texas at Arlington where members studied the sustainable sites initiative through design, construction, maintenance practices, landscaping, and habitat. An outstanding presentation by Dr. David Hopman, the landscape architect who researched, designed, and manages the Green Roof, gave excellent insight into selecting sturdy plants for drought conditions.
UTA tour photos may be viewed online at our Flickr account.
October 2011 Seeing the beautiful Dallas Arboretum in the Fall
The Dallas Aboretum’s fall event highlighted 150,000 flowers and 40,000 decorated pumpkins. Members often tour there, but this fall was a real treat. Afterwards members stopped at Jackson Home & Garden, a one-of-a-kind home and garden center in Dallas with outdoor items, statuary, and dishware.
Arboretum tour photos may be viewed online at our Flickr account.
A Sanctuary Garden
In October 2011, members were fortunate to have Katie Sherrod, a writer, share the Fort Worth garden she and her husband, Gayland Pool, a retired Episcopal priest, created over the last 20 years. Starting from scratch, they salvaged existing trees and several structures on the property.
Architectural materials they found helped create a series of garden rooms. The result today is akin to an outdoor church with stones and plants for furnishings. Wind chimes, gentle breezes, moving water all combine to create a place of refuge. Katie says when they began their garden, she simply wanted “something pretty to look at through every window.” Every view in the garden is beautiful, inside or out.
More photos may be viewed online at our Flickr account, in the set titled "2011 Sherrod-Pool Tour".
In late September 2011, members met near Lake Lewisville at a 2,000-acre tract of land for an environmental tour. This area has been leased for environmental preservation, education, and research. The Lake Lewisville Environmental Learning Area (LLELA) Director Kenneth Steigman explained that only small islands of North Texas prairie remain, and his group has begun to restore the prairie ecosystem in that area. They have determined the impact of invasive plant species and identified the original grasses that thrived in North Texas. Reseeding the soil with tall grass is a way to return animals their natural environment and to what grew here 100 years ago.
In this same area, UNT Research Scientist Dian Smith of the Lewisville Aquatic Ecosystem Research Facility (LAERF) led us around her series of ponds where she grows exotic and invasive aquatic plant species that impact our water supplies and lakes. She described how non-indigenous plants such as hydrilla and giant salvinia are taking over Texas lakes such as Caddo Lake.
During the same tour members stopped at Steve’s Leaves, the commercial plant propagation business that Steve Rosenbaum runs in enormous greenhouses in Lewisville. Steve’s Leaves is primarily a wholesale grower of nursery stock, but soon his website will offer his beautiful plants for sale. Members were amazed at his huge inventory of perfectly grown and gorgeous tropicals. Nothing goes to waste there. Workers constantly trim rapidly growing plants and propagate them to make more. It was such a treat to see the many varieties of plants, both familiar and new.
More photos may be viewed online at our Flickr account, in the set titled "2011 Sept GOG Lewisville LLELA & LAERF".
Our last tour of the 2010-2011 year was in June when members were led on a guided tour of the new Fort Worth headquarters of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT). This $48M, 70,000 square-foot facility, next to the Fort Worth Botanical Garden, just opened in May and will house the 24-year-old nonprofit organization’s library, research center, and herbarium of more than a million dried plant specimens. It will also serve as an education center with science, nature, and conservation programs for children and adults. The campus was designed with innovative, efficient, and sustainable features. Even its roof supports a carpet of native plants to help insulate the building. Other features include a large cistern to capture rainwater, a rainwater retention pond, a prairie habitat, rooftop solar panels, and 166 geothermal wells to provide half of the building’s heating and cooling needs.
,
In early May of 2011, club members were treated to a tour of the Oak Grove Ballfield Complex in Grapevine. Kevin Mitchell, Assistant Director of Parks, spoke to us about the many conservation endeavors at Oak Grove Park. Since he oversaw the design and development of this incredible facility, he was the perfect tour guide. Without a doubt, Grapevine is lucky to have one of the most state-of-the-art sports complexes of its kind in North Texas. The original ballfield was laid out in the 1960s, and it failed to meet current safety guidelines and was difficult to maintain. The renovation and rehabilitation of nine ballfields for both baseball and softball was completed in 2009.
Of particular interest to GGC members were the efforts to incorporate environment-friendly features in the $13M renovation project. The complex headquarters building adheres to all green standards for fixtures, water usage, and construction features.
Since Grapevine is a member of Tree City USA, a plan was created for replacing the more than 100 trees that were bulldozed during the renovation. As many trees as possible were dug up and moved, but many large trees could not survive that upheaval. The trees that were able to be saved included live oak, cedar elm, Chinese pastiche, and post oak.
“Grapevine has a long and proud history of tree preservation. Saving the trees at our Oak Grove Ballfield Complex showcases the creativity and foresight of our city staff, and is another example of why Grapevine is recognized as a leader in horticultural and ecological efforts,” said Sharon Spencer, City Council and GGC member.
Conservation efforts continued with the construction of a 2.7 acre irrigation pond which is used to irrigate the baseball, softball, and soccer fields at Oak Grove Park using raw water from Lake Grapevine versus treated water. The cost savings from the use of raw water will pay for the construction of the pond, pump house, and pumping system in approximately 12 years.
Additional significant renovations included a green light system for the ballfields to use less electricity power, native plants that use less water, and recycled concrete for the sub-base under play equipment. Outdated chain link fencing, bleachers, and shade structures were replaced. Everything that could be of further use was recycled.
Boasting many green features, the complex earned the Texas Recreation and Parks’ Design Excellence Award and is one of the most state-of-the-art sports complexes of its kind in North Texas.
More photos may be viewed online at our Flickr account, in the set titled "2011 Oak Grove Ballfield".
In April 2011, club members took a naturalist-guided tour of a hidden jewel, the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge, an area of 3,621 acres that curves around the shoreline of Lake Worth northwest of Fort Worth. This is a true wilderness comprised of forests, prairies, and wetlands, reminiscent of how the land around Fort Worth once looked. This refuge is one of the largest city-owned nature centers in the USA. Members observed seldom-seen shrubs, wildflowers, and trees. In the photos below, members walk on trails and listen to a naturalist. They viewed the beautiful Painted Bunting feeding at a bird feeder through a window in the Center.
More photos may be viewed online at our Flickr account, in the set titled "2011 Ft. Worth Nature Center and Refuge".
In March 2011, club members toured the Milner ranch in Southlake and the Cowgirl Museum in Fort Worth. The ranch, a 130-acre spread, is home to Mary Jo and Jim Milner and other family members. They raise horses and are currently National Cutting Horse Association’s (NCHA) second all-time leading non-pro money winners and members of the NCHA Non-Professional Hall of Fame. Members were treated to a cutting horse demo by Mary Jo. She showed off her horse’s ability in cutting a cow from a small herd. Her father taught her to respect and work with a horse, and Mary Jo has passed on her love of nature and animals to her children and grandchildren.
The Milner family has been involved in the development of the NCHA Charities Foundation since its inception in 1982. Joey Milner, son of Jim and Mary Jo, serves as the President of the Foundation which provided over $2 million in scholarship funding for over 500 different youth involved with the sport of cutting and helps NCHA members in times of need.
Inspired by our ranch visit and learning of Mary Jo’s induction into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2004, members journeyed to Fort Worth for a docent guided tour of the Museum followed by lunch in the Cultural District. The NCHA World Championship Futurity scheduled for November-December in Fort Worth may find GGC members rooting for our fellow garden clubber.
More photos may be viewed online at our Flickr account, in the set titled "2011 Milner Ranch tour and Cowgirl Museum".
In November 2010, 28 club members and guests took an overnight jaunt to Austin and the Hill Country. In Austin, we took a guided tour of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, a Texas treasure founded in 1982 to protect and preserve North America’s native plants and natural landscapes. Members also visited several excellent nurseries and dined at various area restaurants.
The next day we drove to the Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve, a 5,500 acre spread turned into a conservation showcase, the largest habitat restoration project on private land in Texas. J. David Bamberger purchased the land in 1969 with the specific purpose of restoring habitat. His goal was to find "the worst ranch in Texas" and turn it into a place where rock and eroded pastures become lush and green and dry creek springs began to flow again after 37 years of habitat restoration. On the ranch tour, club members saw dinosaur tracks, fossil beds, a herd of endangered Scimitar-horned Oryx and a man-made bat cave designed to hold a million Mexican free-tailed bats.
In November, six past GGC presidents toured the Selah-Bamberger Ranch Preserve in the Hill Country.
Farmers Branch beckoned members in October 2010 with its impressive Rose Gardens and charming Historical Park. With more than 200 different roses planted in one area, the National Earth-Kind® Trial Rose Garden there features over 100 rose cultivars in the study of environmental horticultural research. All club members interested in roses found much to study at the display. The Historical Park has a number of authentic old buildings including a church, log cabins, railroad depot, M-K-T caboose, and the Gilbert House, the oldest home still on its original foundation in Dallas County, built in 1856.
More Grapevine Garden Club photos may be viewed online at our Flickr account.