Building a Tree out of Students and Other Educational Excitement

This crew means business. Weeds beware!

Could you name the layers of a tree?

Maybe if you spent time as a tree you would never forget them.

Start with the heartwood to provide strength and structure.

Add a taproot (optional) and lateral roots for support, water, and nutrients.

Add sapwood (xylem) to move water and nutrients to the leaves and cambium to generate new cells.

Then you'll need the phloem (inner bark) to transport food produced in leaves.

Cut into this layer with a string trimmer, and you will most likely kill your tree.

And finally, add the outer bark for protection.

Cool snake encounter- while working near the silo stairs flower bed, Allie saw a snake and alerted me (okay, she screamed like a girl). This snake was tenacious and almost got away.

We consulted two Texas snake guides and checked the Internet. Our best guess is that it is an eastern blacknecked garter (Thamnophis cyrtopsis). If you positively know otherwise, please leave a comment on this blog.

After spending a couple of days in our classroom snake enclosure, we released him.

Boy, was he feisty!

We are still cleaning up the gardens around campus. Two crews maintainn Mrs. Fillman's Memorial Garden. It is divided into four sectios: evergreen, desert, wildflower, and purple (her favorite color).

Most of the purple bed is in full bloom. Here is a native variety of morning glory with a very large bloom. Most of the plants in this section were donated by the folks at Medina Garden Nursery (see previous blog). Also blooming prairie verbena ( Glandularia bipinnatifida) and black dalea (Dalea frutescens).

This crew is removing a giant pampas grass. It's starting to crowd out some neighboring natives.

This'll keep 'em busy for a while.