Cleveland Powell

SPECIALTY: Propagation

ABOUT:

Cleveland Powell is a conservation consultant for SAWS. He is enthusiastic about grass taxonomy and milkweed propagation. In his free time, Powell enjoys hiking around area parks in search of intriguing bugs, birds and plants.

Calling all caterpillars

Aside from beautifying your yard, many of the approved WaterSaver Landscape Coupon plants also double as hosts for butterfly and moth caterpillars. Many of us are familiar with the monarch butterfly and how the caterpillars only eat milkweeds (available on the coupon). But several other butterflies have evolved to use different plants as their caterpillar […]
Hopping down the hop tree trail

With distinctive leaves and fruit, hop tree is an easy Texas native to identify — if you know what to look for. Hidden among the underbrush around Bexar County is a rather unassuming shrub with an outsized impact. It’s known as the common hop tree (Ptelea trifoliata) and it’s a widespread plant with a native […]
I spy wildflowers in winter

Can’t wait to see your spring blooms? Many wildflowers can be identified just by their leaves. Here’s how. While winter often feels like a time when nature is sleeping, if you planted wildflower seeds in the fall, know that they’re silently growing all winter long through frosts (and sometimes snow). They’re slowly storing energy they […]
Creating a Winter Wildlife Haven is Simple

A few easy changes to your landscape maintenance are all it takes to create little spaces for wildlife — and help protect other residents that call Texas home. As temperatures fall and plants begin to go dormant, the natural inclination is to trim up bare stems and old flower heads. But consider leaving a little […]
Terrifying tree tales

If trees could talk, these spine-chilling stories would startle saplings senseless. A mature shade tree is one of the most valuable additions you can make to your landscape. However, majestic trees start out as small saplings. It’s in the time shortly after planting when they are most vulnerable. If trees could talk, here are a […]
A great ground cover with a comical moniker

Don’t let the goofy name or delicate blooms fool you. Woolly tubetongue is seriously hardy, even in our searing heat. By now most people are familiar with horseherb (Calyptopcarpus vialis), but there’s another native groundcover that doesn’t get nearly as much love as it should: woolly tubetongue (Justicia pilosella). Also known as Gregg’s tubetongue, it […]
Unrelenting Ironweed

The summer heat is brutal to ordinary blooming plants. But there are ironclad options that’ll show the scorch who’s boss — and add the color your landscape craves. As the summer heats up, many flowers are shriveling and shrinking from the sun. But if you’re craving mid-summer color, there are some tough, hardy options available. […]
Native Wildflowers That Scoff at the Scorch

Drought can stress many a plant. But these untamed Texas mavericks know just what to do and how to get through. After the hottest May on record and only scant rainfall all year, South Texas is experiencing another severe drought. Looking out at the landscape, many plants are showing signs of stress. Of course, native […]
Drought Is No Match for a WaterSaver Garden

Using the right plants in the right place of your landscape means less worrying about watering and yardwork during the hottest days of the year. by Cleveland Powell and Brad Wier Flash back to summer 2021, when it seemed to rain almost every week for half the summer. What a contrast to 2022, with months […]
The Bulb Factor

Take a spring stroll in a natural setting and you just may spy these rare native bulbed beauties. Flowering plants that produce bulbs are an intriguing group of plants, more closely related to grasses than other wildflowers. Springtime is the time when many cultivated bulbs produce their showy flowers. Although introduced bulbs like daffodils and […]
Wildflowers In Winter? Why Yes!

Believe it or not, blooms do burst forth as early as February. Consider these small trees and shrubs in your landscape for both springtime beauty and nectar. When people think of wildflowers in Texas, fields of bluebonnets and paintbrushes in April and May likely come to mind. But blooms in February? Just look up into […]
Happy Yellow Wildflowers That Bloom Year-Round

There are many different species of golden feral flora growing in Bexar County. Just take a look around and you’ll likely find one blooming near you. One of the most wide-spread and successful plant families is the aster family, Asteraceae. Many central Texas wildflowers belong to this family and boast cheerful yellow flowers. In fact, […]
Streamline Your Sprinkler System

That spot where you can’t get lawn grass to grow? It may be time to put in a pathway or flowerbed instead. A healthy landscape evolves over time and your watering habits should change with it. I recently learned a peculiar term in architecture: Thomasson. It’s a name for any feature that once had a […]
The Considerate Uninvited Guest

If you’ve seen a boastfully bright orange butterfly beating about your bushes, there may be a passionflower vine hiding in plain sight. Sometimes, uninvited guests can actually be helpful. That’s the case with the passionflower vines that may be coexisting with your shrubs. Depending on where you live in San Antonio, you might discover several of these […]
Plants With Built-In Sunblock

Several local plants are uncommonly adept at blocking sunlight and reducing water loss during summer months. Summer is a great time for outdoor activities. As humans we know we need to protect our skin with sunscreen, but did you know plants also use sunblock? No, they don’t apply lotion to one another. But many have […]
Preventing Pollution from Rainfall Runoff

Fertilizers and pesticides can be washed away by rainwater to nearby creeks and rivers. A few simple solutions can prevent this pollution — and save water! From heat to cold, rain to drought, moderation doesn’t apply to the weather in South Texas. Recent rains have been a welcome respite from the drought, but with significant […]
Common-Yet-Overlooked Yard Plants of San Antonio

Is it a pesky weed or an advantageous addition to your yard? Think twice before ridding your landscape of these broadleaf beauties. While many people dismiss the broadleaf plants that take up residence in lawns as “weeds,” these plants can actually be desirable additions to your lawnscape. Join Cleve Powell and Brad Wier Thursday for […]
Monarchs Are Back

Monarchs have evolved to take advantage of a wide range of milkweed host plants. We can help them out by increasing the diversity of native plants in our landscapes. The winter deep freeze certainly disrupted the human-built landscape. Tropical plants that had stood in defiance of winter for 30 years or more were brought down […]
Water-Wise Landscape Design Includes Your Sprinkler System

If you are changing your landscape — or if your landscape has grown and changed over time — you should also update your irrigation system. The recent cold weather has caused many people to rethink their landscapes. Some might be moving forward with a pre-freeze plan to reduce outdoor water use by removing turf grass. […]
Ghosts of Grasses Past

There’s not much left of the original prairie lands of Texas, but every October phantoms of the “big four” are often seen haunting local parks and roadsides. Historically many Texas ecosystems were dominated by tall and mid-height grasses. Today there isn’t much left of the original prairie lands. But look around and you might be […]
Know Your Natives: Frostweed

It may not look like much most of the year. But come winter, you’ll be amazed by this unpretentious perennial’s bone-chilling beauty. For most of the year, frostweed is rather unassuming, blending in with other plants under live oaks and cedars. In midsummer it bolts, in moist locations reaching heights of six feet or more. […]
Hiding in Plain Sight: Swanflower

If you spot patches of grass with intriguing orchid-like blooms or bold black butterflies hovering about, you’ve likely stumbled upon this native vine. While most butterfly gardens are works of art lovingly created by their owners, there’s a little-known plant transforming lawns and empty lots into butterfly gardens, too. Finding it can sometimes be tricky, […]
Grass Giving Up? Break New Ground!

If your lawn’s gone crispy and sparse, it’s a desperate cry for help. That sounds like a job for the WaterSaver Landscape Coupon! Turfgrass is the default filler in most San Antonio landscapes, which were traditionally set up to have a small flower bed by the door and an expansive lawn occupying the remaining space. […]
Think Outside the Water-Saving Box

When it comes to conserving water, the changes you make inside your home are just a drop in the bucket. To score some serious savings, you’ll need to walk out that door. San Antonio has a strong conservation and public health ethos and we value that, especially in these trying times. So many times customers […]
What’s Blooming Now: Weeds Edition

There are plenty of curious nooks in our own neighborhoods where wild plants find a place to call home. Take a brisk socially-distanced stroll and you may discover a few. While we’re all stuck at home, we may as well get some Vitamin D and fresh air and commune with nature. Taking a quick socially-distanced […]
Milkweed Must-haves for Monarchs

Twice a year, South Texas becomes Butterfly Alley as millions of migrating monarchs flutter by. Plant native milkweed to give Momma Monarch a welcoming way station to lay her eggs. Monarch butterflies are the only species of butterfly that make a two-way cross-continent migration. Monarch larva can only eat milkweed, plants in the genus Asclepias, and […]
Know Your Natives: Snow on the Mountain

If you’ve spotted a roadside field cloaked in what appears to be freshly fallen snow, it’s not a (complete) mirage. It’s actually a hardy summer annual wildflower that begins bursting into bloom around mid-July. In late June and early July, an intriguing plant begins to make its presence known. Solitary stems with thick green leaves […]
Drought-proof Your Landscape

In San Antonio, it’s the dry, hot summer months that present the biggest obstacles to your landscape. But choosing native plants with a diverse mix of adaptations for survival can make all the difference. In Texas, and San Antonio in particular, it’s the summer months that present the biggest obstacles to your landscape. High heat […]
Your Grass is Talking To You

Baffled by spots, stripes or other odd patterns in your lawn? Before you chalk it up to supernatural phenomena, you might want to inspect your irrigation system. It might be raining now, but if there’s one thing you can count on in Texas it’s that the summer will bring high heat and little precipitation. And […]
Wildflower Gems of San Antonio Parks

We all know bluebonnets and firewheels, but there are rarer native gems that reside in several San Antonio parks — if you know where and what to look for. We all know bluebonnets and firewheels, but the natural beauty of the San Antonio area doesn’t end there. Throughout San Antonio there are city parks that […]
This Daisy’s a Doozy

Engelmann’s daisy may blend in with the other yellow wildflowers along the roadside. But get to know this cheerful native perennial and you’ll find it has many attributes that set it apart from the crowd! During the spring, San Antonio roadsides, fields and the yards of gardeners in the know are filled with a profusion […]
New Year, New Lawn

Our climate supports a wide array of beautiful flowers and turf grass substitutes. Winter is the best time to rethink the traditional lawn-based landscape and create a plan that will help you save water and beat the heat next summer — and every summer thereafter. In South Texas a traditional lawn is impossible to maintain […]
Know Your Natives: White Mistflower

This drought-tolerant perennial has unique characteristics that set it apart from other mistflowers. And once established, white mistflower can hold its own through the toughest weather. Mistflowers have a well-deserved reputation as important pollinator plants. When they bloom they are covered in many tiny flowers that prove irresistible to nectar seeking insects. While many people […]
Maintenance Must-do: Fall Irrigation System Checkup

Just like any other mechanical device, an irrigation system requires regular maintenance. There are a few minor issues an enterprising homeowner can repair on their own. This summer was brutally hot, and if you have an in-ground irrigation system it was probably working overtime. Just like any other mechanical machine, an irrigation system requires maintenance. […]
Building a Case for Beneficial Weeds

Contrary to popular belief some weeds are beneficial, particularly in areas where the landscape has been disturbed. Read on to find out how these plants act as a bandage for the soil and surrounding environment. While construction sites are generally inhospitable to most forms of life, there are a few hardy plants whose specialty is […]
The Pitfalls and Perils of Drip Irrigation

When installed properly, kept in good repair and scheduled correctly, drip irrigation can be a tool to reduce outdoor water use. Consider these potential problems before deciding on drip. Does drip irrigation save water? The answer is more complicated than you might think. The benefit of drip is that it applies water slowly, ideally below […]
5 of the Most Commonly Over-Watered Landscape Plants

Not all yellowing leaves can be attributed to a lack of or need for water. San Antonio might be hot and dry, but there are many plants that like it that way. Many plants that are advertised as drought tolerant can actually lower your water bill because they can survive the hot Texas summer with […]
Saving Water From the Outside In

How many loads of laundry or dishes could you do with the water from a single cycle of your irrigation system? These shocking comparisons will have you saving water (and money) in no time. One of the most common statements I hear from customers during irrigation consultations is how conscientious they are of water use […]
Brighten Up Your Garden with Pretty Perennials

Bring the warm glow of fall into your garden with two marigold-like plants. Both boast bold yellow blooms and invite butterflies to linger in your landscape. In search of flowers to brighten your fall garden as summer winds down and days shorten? Look no further than the cheerful yellow blooms of Copper Canyon daisy ( Tagetes lemmonii) […]

Cleveland Powell

SPECIALTY: Propagation

ABOUT:

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