Bees Get Lucky in South Texas with Official, Certified, Texas Bee Garden #13

 

Edwin J. Cook from McAllen, Texas (78504) emailed me and said he thought his wildscape had what it takes to be be an Official Certified Texas Bee Garden.

 And, by golly, he was right. 

In 2008, Ed started restoring his yard. Ed told me that 

 “until three years ago, my yard had only the nonnative trees and shrubs . . . Since 2008, I have added only native shrubs and trees (except the rosemary), and last year, I removed two nonnative trees to make room for a Texas Ebony and a Texas Persimmon (both of which are native flowering trees). We also added a small pond a year ago.  In the last three years, my primary criteria for adding any plant to my wildscape are (1) whether or not the plant is native to South Texas, and (2) its value to wildlife.”

Here’s the list of plants Ed sent me. Pay particular attention to the common and A/K/A names of these plants. Many of them may be unfamiliar to you if you live in different parts of Texas. I want to thank Ed for providing such a complete list.

 Back-yard Plants

Common Name	A/K/A	Scientific Name
Barbados Cherry	Manzanita	Malpighia glabra
Blackbrush	Chaparro Prieto	Acacia rigidula
Brasil	Bluewood	Condalia hookeri
Brush-Holly	Coronillo	Xylosma flexuosa
Cenizo.(2)	Purple Sage	Leucophyllum frutescens
Chilipiquin (2)	Bird Pepper	Capsicum annum
Crucita	Irresistible Mistflower	Chromolaena odorata
Drummond Turk’s Cap (4)	Manzanilla	Malvaviscus drummondii
Elbowbush	Narrow-Leaf Forestiera	Forestiera angustifolia
Granjeno	Spiny Hackberry	Celtis pallida
Hachinal	WillowLeafed Heimia	Heimia salicifolia
Lime Prickly-Ash	Colima	Zanthoxylum fagara
Mexican Olive	Anacahuita	Cordia boissieri
Oregano Cimarron	Redbrush Lippia	Lippia graveolens
Pigeonberry (2)	Coralito	Rivina humilis
Potato Tree (3)	Salvadora	Solanum erianthum
Shrubby Blue Sage (2)	Mejorana	Salvia ballotiflora
Skeletonbush (5)	Goldeneye Daisy	Viguiera stenoloba
Snake-eyes	Putia	Phaulothamnus spinescens
S. Padre Isl. Mistflower (2)	Betony Leaf Mistflower	Conoclinium betonicifolium
Tamaulipan Fiddlewood (2)	Negrito	Citherexylum berlandieri
Texas Ebony	Ebano	Pithecellobium ebano
Texas Mountain Laurel (2)	Mescal Bean	Sophora secundiflora
Texas Persimmon (2)	Chapote	Diospyros texana
Tropical Sage (60+)	Scarlet Sage	Salvia coccinea
Vasey’s Adelia		Adelia vaseyi
Whitebrush	Beebrush	Aloysia gratissima
Yellow Sophora	Tambalisa	Sophora tomentosa
Esperanza		Tecoma stans
Nonnatives
Blue Plumbago (2)
Cape Honeysuckle (2)
Hibiscus, variegated
Kumquat
Mexican Lime
Rosemary
Vitex		Vitex agnus-castus.

 Front-Yard Plants 

Common Name	A/K/A	Scientific Name
Barbados Cherry	Manzanita	Malpighia glabra
Blackbrush	Chaparro Prieto	Acacia rigidula
Brush-Holly	Coronillo	Xylosma flexuosa
Cenizo	Purple Sage	Leucophyllum frutescens
Crucita	Irresistible Mistflower	Chromolaena odorata
Desert Yaupon	Capul	Schaefferia cuneifolia
Drummond Turk’s Cap (2)	Manzanilla	Malvaviscus drummondii
Heartleaf Hibiscus		Hibiscus martianus
Hog Plum	Texas Snakewood	Colubrina texensis
Mexican Trixis	Hierba del Aire	Trixis inula
Oregano Cimarron	Redbrush Lippia	Lippia graveolens
Pigeonberry (5)	Coralito	Rivina humilis
Potato Tree	Salvadora	Solanum erianthum
Sierra Madre Torchwood		Amyris madrensis
Skeletonbush	Goldeneye Daisy	Viguiera stenoloba
Snake-eyes	Putia	Phaulothamnus spinescens
Texas Kidneywood	Vara Dulce	Eysenhardtia texana
Texas :Lantana		Lantana horrida
Texas Persimmon	Chapote	Diospyros texana
Texas Torchwood		Amyris texana
Tropical Sage (5)		Salvia coccinea
Twisted Acacia	Huisachillo	Acacia schaffneri
Vasey’s Adelia		Adelia vaseyi
Velvet Lantana		Lantana velutina
Esperanza		Tecoma stans
Oak		Quercus
Nonnatives
Duranta

Just in case you don’t know where McAllen is (and you should!) it’s waaay down in South Texas.  It’s a stone’s throw from the Rio Grande River and Mexico. According to the city’s website, the average minimum temperature is 70º and the average minimum is 90º. Ed said he had some damage from the severe freezes this winter, but I'm hoping (along with Ed) that everything comes back this spring.

McAllen, and the surrounding area, offers several hot spots for people who like nature: the World Birding Center, the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, the National Butterfly Center, Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, and now, Ed Cook’s Front and Back Yards.

Birds, butterflies, and bees are the three B’s of nature. Ed has provided a great habitat for the native bees of South Texas. He’s got great plants that provide forage (nectar and pollen) for bees all year-round. He’s got plenty of nesting areas for a variety of bees. He’s got water, a nice diversity of plants, and nice masses of those flowering plants.

 

Thanks, Ed, for providing a home for the native bees of South Texas. And welcome to the 52 Official Certified Texas Bee Garden club!  You are our first Official Bee Watcher in South Texas, too. Now, get out there and watch those bees, please!