Gardening for Wildlife
Below are resources to help you enhance spaces with native plants to attract local wildlife.
Overview
Pocket prairies. Butterfly gardens. Planter pots with a spot of color. Anyone can help pollinators by planting natives in their schoolyard. Let the children scatter the seeds, pick and dissect flowers in the Spring, harvest seed heads for the next generation, listen to the grasses sway, journal about what they see, hear and smell, and catch insects for observation.
Local Resources
The goal is to use NATIVE plants in any area. Start with the Nine Natives Planting Guide (PDF) or (WORD DOC) of Nine Natives Planting Guide when making your selections, or the Texas Top 20 Wildflowers according to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Use the Building a Pocket Prairie (website) from the Katy Prairie Conservancy for a step-by-step guide to building a small wildlife garden.
Contact one of the three Native Plant Society chapters in the area: Houston or Pines & Prairies or Clear Lake. They provide guest speakers, GRANTS & scholarships, articles on Milkweeds & Monarchs, plant sales and the Native Landscape Certification Program.
Native Prairie Association of Texas is a source for student programs on building pocket prairies. Contact NPAT for resources, or to organize a trip to the prairie to collect your own native seeds.
If you’d like a more in-depth look at prairies, visit the Coastal Prairies page.
Texas Top 20 Wildflowers (according to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)
Add bird and bat houses! Call Ken Briden with The Warriors Refuge/Warrior Empowerment Project in West Columbia.
Pocket prairies can be small or large, and they’re full of color and pollinators during all seasons. Use natives, and they are easy to maintain. Photo by Jaime Gonzalez.
Local places to buy native plants:
Buchanan’s (Inner Loop)
Maas Nursery (Seabrook)
Arbor Gate (Tomball)
Caldwell Nursery (Rosenburg)
Cornelius Nursery (Tanglewood),
Enchanted Gardens (Richmond)
Joshua’s (Heights)
Wabash Feed & Garden Store (43rd & Shepherd)
Morning Star Prairie Plants (Ft. Bend County)
Green Star Wetland Plant Farm (Alvin)
Nature Way Resources (Conroe)
Treesearch Farms (NW Houston)
Annual NatureFest plant sale at Jesse H. Jones Park & Nature Center
Order native wildflower seeds: Wildseed Farm (Fredericksburg) or Native American Seed Company (Junction)
Borrow tools: Connect with the Houston Tool Bank to borrow equipment and expertise.
It’s easy, and fun, to raise butterflies.
GRANTS
Contact The Garden Club of Houston for grants for your school garden.
Save our Monarchs - Every school, scout troop and 4H club is invited to participate in the Save Our Monarchs Pollinator Garden Program.
Monarch Watch - Everything you needed to know about Monarch butterflies, including applications for free milkweed. Register your Monarch garden in their Waystation Program.
Join “Pocket Prairie Teachers” group on Facebook to located local seed banks.
Reach out to Native Plant Society chapters for local seed banks and project adoption options.
Virtual Field Trips
Part of a series on Green Jobs in Houston. Laura is an arborist with Harris County Precinct 4 and the Legacy Tree Project.
See a butterfly lay eggs on its host plant at Mercer Botanic Gardens with host Jennifer.
Download corresponding, TEKS-aligned activities for K-9 for plant anatomy, germination and butterfly host plants.
Activities/Lessons
Elementary School
Schoolyard audits from the National Wildlife Federation:
K-2 Conducting a Schoolyard Habitats Audit PDF Version, or Word Version | K-2 Baseline Audit PDF Version, or Word Version | K-2 Post-Action Audit PDF Version or Word Version
3-5 Conducting a Schoolyard Habitats Audit PDF Version, or Word Version | 3-5 Baseline Audit PDF Version, or Word Version | 3-5 Post-Action Audit PDF Version, or Word Version
How to Make a Seed Ball PDF Version, or Word Version instructions - fun, hands-on activity.
Middle School
Schoolyard audits from the National Wildlife Federation:
6-8 Conducting a Schoolyard Habitats Audit PDF Version, or Word Version | 6-8 Baseline Audit PDF Version, or Word Version | 6-8 Post-Action Audit PDF Version, or Word Version
High School
Schoolyard audits courtesy of National Wildlife Federation:
9-12 Conducting a Schoolyard Habitats Audit PDF Version, or Word Version | 9-12 Baseline Audit PDF Version, or Word Version | 9-12 Post-Action Audit PDF Version, or Word Version
Videos
See a butterfly lay eggs on its host plant at Mercer Botanic Gardens.
All about native trees at TC Jester Park with Houston Parks and Recreation Dept.
How to Build a Stormwater Wetland
Jaime González discuses six reasons why planting native plants, instead of exotic plants, is better.
Bring bees to campus
How to make a bee house