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From Cattle Ranch to Wildlife Paradise
These days, wildlife graze four acres of native plant gardens on former Blackland Prairie ranchland in Jarrell. With ingenuity and lifelong commitment to conservation, Ann and Doug Garrett unearthed tons of limestone boulders to frame waterwise plants dotted by venerable live oak trees.
“We call it the three B ranch: the bird, bee, and butterfly paradise. And that's what we've worked to do,” Doug told us in May 2024. We missed the bluebonnets and other early spring bloomers and the summer-to-fall sensations. Still, we scrambled to see even a fraction of the May floral kaleidoscope.
They moved from Austin in 2010 to the former ranch pastureland, now a Wildlife Management Cooperator Private Lands Program of Texas Parks & Wildlife. Here, director Ed Fuentes frames shots from the front porch pathway framed by yellow yarrow, red yucca, bee balm, salvias and muhly grasses.
Doug noted, “Everybody in the development manages their land for the benefit of the wildlife. You know, bees, birds and butterflies, deer, foxes, bobcats, a cougar, red foxes, you name it. It's quite a show, a great place to live.”
Doug and Ann experimented to come up with plants that go along with clay, rock, and little to no irrigation. If a plant lives, but isn’t especially happy, it seeds itself to a more amicable spot. The Garretts are delighted to let plants make design decisions, freeing them up to just enjoy the wildlife visitors.
Salado Creek runs through the back of the property that sits on Blackland Prairie clay. But it is full of rocks, as they quickly discovered. “I bent two rock bars, and we unearthed all these huge boulders that you see surrounding all the beds,” Doug said. He hauled them around with a two-wheel dolly, a project that hurts my back just thinking about it!
They also unearthed globular rocks. “When you bust it open, we found that it was a form of flint called chert, which is a very not just regular flint, but the best flint for making tools, knives, arrowheads, spearheads.” He discovered that the area, now known as the Gault Site in Florence, is one of the oldest continuously settled parts of North America. Schedule a tour and learn more at The Gault School of Archaeological Research.
Since animals respond to the sound of water, Doug rigged up a self-feeding dripper tube in a large plastic planter positioned above a bird bath. He used the pedestal from a bird bath and inexpensive parts from a hardware store.
“I enjoy learning about new things. I always enjoyed learning all of my career in life,” Doug said. “There's endless amounts you can learn about plants and nature.”
P.S. Cultivate a year of adventure by entering this year's Big Deal Raffle for a chance to win passes to festivals like Hot Luck Fest and SXSW Music. Your $25 ticket entry helps keep programs like this one in bloom.
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