South Texas Border Chapter
Texas Master Naturalist

Margined Calligrapher Hover Fly on the flower of a Trans-Pecos Spiderwort. (Photo by Anita Westervelt) Published November 22, 2025, in the McAllen Monitor Story and photos by Anita Westervelt The cooler months are ideal for planting in the Rio Grande Valley. As Texas Master Naturalist members, we encourage planting native plants. Nonnative plants carry the potential to become annoying, get out of control or worse, become invasive and disrupt or destroy the native habitat. Alt

Evening Bat, safely rescued high up on a palm trunk. (Photo by Anita Westervelt) If you haven’t heard, November through February is tree planting time in the Rio Grande Valley. We are entering that cooler time of year when it’s kinder to plant trees and shrubs while they are dormant. They will establish over the winter, without the heat stress of summer, and then begin flourishing in spring. As Texas Master Naturalists, we promote native plants, of course, and I like to inclu

Purple Bush-bean. (Photo by Anita Westervelt) Published in the McAllen Monitor, November 1, 2025 Story and photos by Anita Westervelt I was first introduced to a lovely native vine called purple bush-bean, during a presentation given by Jann Miller, president of the Native Plant Project. Her lecture was about container gardening, one of her specialties, which is an impressive feat in the heat and wind of Deep South Texas summers. Purple bush-bean, Macroptilium atropurpureum ,

Pumpkin. (Photo by Anita Westervelt) Published October 25, 2025, in the McAllen Monitor Story and photos by Anita Westervelt American pumpkin, Cucurbita pepo , is native to North America; it is a cultivated winter squash. The oldest known domesticated pumpkin seeds were found in caves in the Oaxaca highlands of Mexico, possibly 10,000 years ago. Pumpkin was designated the official Texas state squash by House Concurrent Resolution No. 87, in 2013, stating, “the diversity of Te