Far West Texas is a place of extremes, and for many it inspires an extreme kind of love. That love can find expression in art, in care for the land, in the study of its creatures or history. Then, there are those who are moved to literally cultivate and share aspects of our region’s natural richness — specifically, its native plants.
The Big Bend Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas holds a sale April 27 in Alpine. It’s an invitation to bring native plants into our gardens and yards, which, in turn, supports birds, bees and other pollinators. Many plants at the sale will come from the nursery of Alpine’s Patty Manning. Across three decades, Manning has acquired a unique intimacy with the Trans-Pecos flora.
Manning managed the Sul Ross greenhouse for 18 years, before retiring in 2014. But one element of retirement didn’t suit her.
“The part about my job that I really missed was growing plants,” Manning said. “Old horticulturalists never die – or never retire, I should say. The bug to grow plants is always there.”
Manning had long collected seeds from local ranches and roadsides. But six years ago, her plant habit became a business, when she and her partner Cindi Wimberly launched Twin Sisters Natives. The nursery has become a prime source for Trans-Pecos plants.
Manning grows almost entirely from seeds, and that requires patience and know-how.
Some seeds can be simply be planted and watered. But many require “treatments.” These processes recreate the conditions that trigger germination in desert-adapted seeds.
Given its ubiquity here, creosote might seem an easy plant to grow. But like other natives, its seeds require “leeching.” The seeds have be to washed with running water, overnight or longer, to imitate the rare blessing of a soaking rain.
Other seeds Manning “rough ups” with a file. It’s a “scarification” treatment that recreates what a seed goes through when it passes through the gut of an animal, or is acted on by soil microbes. Then there’s “pulsing” and “stratification” — exposing seeds to cold, in a refrigerator. Seeds from mountain locales often require these treatments, which mimic the arrival of spring in the high country.
Growing from cuttings would be simpler. But for Manning, there’s a deep satisfaction in connecting with a plant throughout its lifecycle — from embryonic leaves to robust maturity.
“I love to see things germinate,” Manning said. “The thrill of going out to the greenhouse every morning and seeing what's germinated — it’s just something I look forward to every day. And that's a thrill that not everybody can identify with. But that's okay.”
Manning will offer plants for every taste. For flower lovers, there are penstemons, which bloom through the summer and lure hummingbirds, and longspur columbines, whose yellow blooms ornament mountain springs here. There will be trees and shrubs, including Gambel oak, fragrant sumac, desert olive, whitebrush and cedar sage.
And hardcore desert enthusiasts can opt for pricklier natives, like Texas false agave.
“And the coloration of the leaves can be really, really pretty,” Manning said, “but you can't walk through it or it will rip you up. It's a very pretty plant, for those who love plants with spiny-edged leaves.”
Manning will be joined at the sale by another local grower, Hoven Riley, who grows yuccas at his Pecos County farm. For these growers, West Texas native plants are more than a business — they’re a passion.
The plant sale is Saturday, April 27, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., behind Forever West Texas Realty at Eighth Street and Avenue E. Check and cash only.
