In her new book, San Antonio-based author and naturalist Monika Maeckle broadens the conversation on conservation, asking San Antonians to reconsider not just what grows in their yards, but why it matters.<\/p>\n
On the latest episode of the bigcitysmalltown podcast, guest host Cory Ames asks Maeckle about her new book, \u201cPlants with Purpose,\u201d which digs into native plants that serve pollinators, conserve water and thrive in local conditions.<\/p>\n
Maeckle has long championed the importance of pollinators as the founder of the Texas Butterfly Ranch and the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival. Now she\u2019s championing yards that do more than just look good.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to host a dinner party, would you only invite guests who are beautiful?\u201d Maeckle said. \u201cThere\u2019s so much more to a person or a plant than what they look like.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the book, she outlines a simple rule: a plant should have at least three qualities beyond beauty, such as being edible, drought tolerant, useful to pollinators or medicinal. She highlights 25 plants that meet that mark, all suited to the Central Texas climate.<\/p>\n
One of those 25 plants is a name you may have heard before, jimson weed, which Maeckle calls \u201cthe most interesting plant I\u2019ve met in my life.\u201d Toxic but fragrant, the night-blooming flower is a host for sphinx moths and holds a deep ethnobotanical history in the region. From indigenous spiritual ceremonies to its role in colonial-era resistance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Others, like agarita \u2014 a Texas native shrub known for its evergreen, spiny foliage and edible red berries \u2014 offer more tangible uses.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can make tarts out of it. You can make jelly out of it. But one of the things that I learned in researching this book is so many plants, you can make tea.\u201d She said, \u201cYou can make tea from so many plants that you already have in your yard.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
While some plants offer pleasant payoffs like edible berries or fragrant blooms, others such as frostweed and goldenrod play a role in water conservation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis plant has rhizomes and tuberous roots that just reach out and crawl and hold soil in place and they help conserve water. Same with goldenrod,\u201d Maeckle said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maeckle is optimistic about the direction San Antonio is heading, pointing to native plant nurseries, H-E-B\u2019s native plant promotions and a growing appetite for landscapes that do more.<\/p>\n
What excites her most, though, is how these plants can reconnect people with the land around them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s things to learn, things to see, things to engage me and my family and my children,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just so worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlants with purpose\u201d is available wherever books are sold, including The Twig and Nowhere Bookshop. Maeckle will speak alongside illustrator Hilary Rochow at a book event June 24 at The Twig.<\/p>\n
Click the link below to listen to the full conversation.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In her new book, San Antonio-based author and naturalist Monika Maeckle broadens the conversation on conservation, asking San…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,11884,11885,4368,7202,11886,7203,358,3187,7815,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,11887],"class_list":{"0":"post-10984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-bigcitysmalltown","10":"tag-monika-maeckle","11":"tag-podcast","12":"tag-san-antonio","13":"tag-san-antonio-butterfly-festival","14":"tag-sanantonio","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-typedaily","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa","24":"tag-wc-less-than-500"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114738919278269383","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}