Sustainable Houston

Monarchs and other wildlife are welcome to enjoy and pollinate the native plants.

This is one of several greenway areas that were created out of retention ponds. They beautify our area and provide a place for leisure and exercise in addition to helping control floods. Environmental activists funded and developed the areas, and local organizations like Scout troops and churches help maintain and clean them.

Native plants matter, and so do native animals! This is Sketch, part of the local feral colony. Yes, of course he and his siblings been neutered. The hard part is catching them, as I'll bet many of you know.

Mealy blue sage is popular with all sorts of bees and butterflies. It's a lovely addition to any pollinator-friendly garden, and is a native plant for my area.

Beautyberry tree from last year when it was in full fruit. A native plant that the birds love. I tried some of the berries and found them pretty bland. I just love the color, though!

Wow, it's hard to believe it's already the end of April! I was happy to get all my selected actions done, given that bad weather, health issues, and other challenges claimed a lot of time this month. I FINALLY visited some of the not-too-distant nature areas that I've been planning to check out for years. I have a favorite greenway that's...

My co-captain and I explored some greenway areas that we've been intending to visit for a long time, since they're not that far away from our neighborhood. We saw lots of wildlife, including our official city bird, the Yellow Crowned Night Heron! Although it was morning, the bird very graciously posed on a power line for our admiration. The...

Efforts like clean-ups always seem to go better with company! We were able to cooperate to spot trash, avoid dangerous situations, and keep reminding ourselves to pace things. We found a HUGE mess and cleared it along with some other less intense situations. We had to leave the dumped couch and loveseat, though; they wouldn't fit in my KIA. :)...

My housemate and I did a trash cleanup this morning, along a road adjacent to a large city retention pond/park/wildlife area. I also found the parts of a small metal table that were hiding in the grass. As we’re trying to introduce more seating and reflection spots among the backyard native garden, this table will serve as a side table for a...

Selected as the official bird of Houston, the yellow crowned night heron is an interesting water bird. Even though a coastal bird, living on crawfish and other crustaceans, they can live inland and nest in neighborhoods close to water bodies. While exploring the Willow Waterhole Conservancy this morning, I saw a juvenile perched on a...