Ashe Juniper (juniperus ashei)
This evergreen is commonly called Mountain Cedar, but of course it is not a cedar. The question persists about whether the benefits outweigh the harm it causes or vice versa.
Susan Wilkinson alerted us to a Central Texas Gardener show she saw recently featuring Elizabeth McGreevy, (the cedar lady) talking about the benefits of Mountain Cedar and the mistaken information that still seems to persist.[1] McGreevy has been interested in the junipers for many years and has been taking informed notes, which will be part of her book being published and available for sale in August of this year.
It is a known fact that Ashe junipers are native to this area and they have been since the Ice Age. [2] And 174 years ago Ferdinand Lindheimer wrote to George Engelmann “The cedars form wide strips of forest along the river banks.”[3] This is followed by a description of land 20-40 miles north of the Comal and includes, ”The peaks of the hills are bare. By the banks of the little rivers there are still a few sorts of trees, mostly elms; otherwise cedars on the slopes of the hills and in low-lying places.” Oct. 10, 1846 he wrote about collecting the #20 Geranium. “It grows in the hills, you see, on the plateau, which is here 200’ high, full of ravines that are densely covered with cedars and underbrush, and to which one has few ways of access along the slopes.”[4]
However, Lindheimer’s writings are not sufficiently descriptive to determine if there are more or less junipers on the area land today than there were a couple hundred years ago.
What we do know is that two significant enemies of the juniper have disappeared. One is the grassland fire and the other is the so called cedar cutter. Grass fires are not allowed to run out of control anymore and cedar cutters for fence posts have been replaced by steel posts. This shift occurred 40 or 50 years ago. Only recently has equipment appeared that will destroy junipers and everything in its path. Its only limitation is the cost of their operation.
As an aside, here is Ferdinand Roemer’s description of a prairie fire in July, 1846 seen with Mr. John Torrey on their way from New Braunfels to Torrey’s Trading Post N.W. of Bryan-College Station. They were camped for the night and”[5]….were entertained before going to sleep by the beautiful spectacle of a prairie fire. Like a sparkling diamond necklace, the strip of flame, a mile long, raced along over hill and dale, now moving slowly, now faster, now flickering brightly, now growing dim. We could more enjoy this spectacle undisturbed since the direction of the wind kept it from approaching us. My companion was of the opinion that Indians had without doubt started the fire, since they do this often to drive the game in a certain direction, and also to expedite the growth of the grass by burning off the dry grass.”
Ashe Junipers although called cedars by some are not cedars but are coniferous trees of the cypress family Cupessaceae. Not very far to the east of us the Juniper ceases to exist and the similar tree is the Eastern Red Cedar. Unlike the juniper it always has a singular trunk and its wood is often used for paneling because the grain is attractive and the wood is aromatic. This eastern red cedar is not part of the cypress family.
Female Ashe Juniper trees produce berries and the males produce pollen. And this has been an especially productive year for the males because of the rain we have had. Supposedly, this has been the worst year in 21 years for cedar related allergies. Hence, the problems many of us have had with “cedar fever”. The season started earlier and is expected to last a bit longer than usual. According to Ms. McGreevy its effects are increased by wind activity, pollution and the consumption of sugary foods.
Like everything in nature, the Ashe juniper is connected to many other systems. One interesting bit of information is the symbiotic relationship the juniper has with the Texas Madrone. If you have never seen a Texas Madrone, make point to do so. It’s a small tree that has smooth bark resembling a crape myrtle. On our place in Bandera County we found that Madrone seeds would only germinate underneath a Juniper. A Bandera County horticulturalist was studying this a few years ago. We are bringing some seeds from the area and will plant them under some Junipers here to continue our experimentation.
Because all things in nature are interconnected, this creates a rather long list of benefits and detriments—some diametrically opposite the other. Therefore without fact based study, this creates a lively discussion among hand-me-down experts regarding what is important in the decision to clear out the junipers. To mention just a few, the juniper provides food for wildlife, nest making material for the Golden Cheeked Warbler, humus for soil building, erosion control, wind breaks, privacy screens, mature tree shade and several others. But, they do block the growth of native grasses; prevent brief rains from reaching the ground, etc. The most significant controversy with Ashe junipers is the accusation that they are water guzzlers. The Native Plant Society of Texas [6] explores this in a question “Mountain cedar- water guzzler or not”? Junipers may not consume a lot of water as much as they prevent brief rains from reaching the ground to soak in.
So, size up your own situation with regard to the juniper population. Have you so many that grass can’t become established, then selectively cut the smaller ones. No junipers at all? Probably should not plant any as they do that pretty well on their own.
Navel Oranges
For those of you who don’t get The Daily Record, Joe Urbach has been having some interesting Sunday columns on fruits. Urbach, a 30 year resident of Central Texas is a Hays, Co. Master Gardener who is affiliated with the Master Gardener Program. On January 20 he wrote about navel oranges.
He receives many questions about seeds to grow navels and has to tell interested parties that they don’t exist. There are no seeds and when pulled apart the orange has a little mini orange inside. He consulted orange historian Vince Moses for the answer to this conundrum. Turns out it is a mutation which forms another undeveloped orange at the opposite end from the stem that looks like a human navel. The mutation was found on a single stem of a sour orange tree in a monastery garden in Brazil.
Next it was discovered by a missionary in the mid 1800s. He recognized it as unique; it was juicy, sweet and seedless. He made a cutting, propagated some trees and sent them to William Saunders at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture in Washington. Moses says that all the navels we see today are genetically the same as the original mutated orange. The only way to grow navels is to graft a bud onto a compatible fruit tree’s trunk or root, such as grapefruit, lemon or lime.
Mr. Saunders (not the Saunders that follows) had a neighbor Eliza Tibbets. She and her husband had suffered a financial loss and decided to head for California. Saunders gifted her with three little starter trees and she cared for them faithfully on the trip and in her yard in Riverside, CA. That was in 1872 and they responded well to the mild climate and two of them rewarded her at first with a few oranges and later with bushels of navels.
And this was the beginning of the navel orange industry as other growers decided to take buds from Eliza’s trees. By 1882 500,000 navel orange trees were growing in California, many of them Tibbets’ grafts. This variety of navel was first called Riverside Orange, but it was changed later to Washington Navel Orange and now it’s the most popular type of navel in the world.
If you are interested in trying to grow a navel orange tree, please check with the library or the newspaper and read his whole article.
The history of the Williamson-Saunders family of Purgatory Springs continues in Wimberley, Texas.[7]
The Saunders had five girls when the 6th was born, a boy, to carry on the family name. When John Henry Jr. was 5 months old the family moved about 2 miles down the road from Purgatory Springs to a place they called “over in the Hollow” where the hunting was better and they could raise mohair goats, cattle, corn, cotton and cane. They sold the cane sorghum by the barrel and mohair twice a year when they sheared the goats. They also added three more children to the family: William Edgar, Rosie Mabel and Thomas Joseph.
John Henry Sr. still taught school in Wimberley, sold horses and also quarried and dressed stone for the home they planned to build near San Marcos.
They had saved all the money they could over the years in a special fund so they could move to San Marcos and send their children to the Coronal Institute. This plan, however, did not work out as John Henry Sr., to help out a friend, co-signed a note with Pleasant Wimberley and ended up having to pay it off with the special education fund.
Pleasant was an honest man and deeded his land over to the Saunders which consisted of a house, store and field. And on February 26, 1888 the family moved to Wimberley to farm the land and run the store. The Saunders only stayed in the house a few months before buying and moving into the J.P. Laney house where Louis Yell was born in August. This property across The Square from Pleasant’s store came with a wood frame store that Saunders tore down when he built the rock store in 1890. He used the wood to build rooms between the house and rock store. They were rented or used for the homeless or aged and later as bedrooms for the boys. The rock store carried both general merchandise and dry goods and as soon as it was finished, all of the merchandise was moved across The Square from P. Wimberley’s old store to it. A U.S. Post Office was located in the S.E. corner of the building and John Henry Sr. was appointed postmaster twice (1890-1892 and 1902-1907). When the girls were older, Virginia and Lillie had day jobs as postal clerks.
John Henry Sr. did not teach school any longer. He focused on running the store, ranching, farming, selling horses and working for the betterment of Wimberley especially in education. He gave the land for the school and cemetery and also served as County Commissioner Precinct 3. The family settled into Wimberley, the children went to school there, roamed the creek and river and played games on The Square. The Saunders had 13 children and reared a family orphan as well. As they sat down at the table Dad and Mother were at the head and foot with girls on one side, boys on the other.
This is the Saunders’ old home in Wimberley. As one approaches the Square on 12 just past the cutoff road on the right this building can be noticed. Note the Historical Marker on the left that tells about the Saunders house. As one passes it and goes over Cypress Creek it’s possible to see how its backyard slopes down to the creek.
One of John Henry’s many betterment projects was to install the first water system by using a “hydraulic ram” system to lift water uphill from Cypress Creek to a huge holding tank. The tank’s platform was high enough to provide gravity flow to a hydrant in the kitchen and one on the porch. He offered to help anyone else who wanted to copy his system.
In 1906 the office of County Superintendent of Hays County was created. John Henry Saunders Sr. was appointed to the office and at the next election was elected to the office for as long as he wished to hold it. The family moved to San Marcos and traded their home in Wimberley to The Oldham family for their home on N. Comanche. A short time later he bought a home at 1109 W. San Antonio Street. He served as the County Superintendent for about 10 years and died on November 3, 1919. Much beloved, the schools were closed the day of his funeral and flags were flown at half staff. He was buried in the San Marcos Cemetery where Callie Saunders was interred beside him in 1930.
Callie and John Henry Saunders:
Sightings
On several occasions this week, a flock of some twenty Yellow Warblers all together were spotted in a short bush. They must be on their way north to their nesting grounds.
The American Kestrals are back. The kestral is a falcon, it is most commonly spotted on the telephone wires in BWR this time of the year searching for its next meal which would consist of large insects to small birds, whichever it may find tasty. This bird was commonly called a sparrow hawk or chicken hawk. The kestral doesn’t seem to nest here although the range map shows that the year around area covers central Texas. Later in the spring, we think they leave and go further north to nest.
R & D Tusch
[1] That show can be seen at htts://youtube.com/watch?v=Aeet3of)A5w.
[2] Thirty years of research by Robert P. Adams of Baylor University. Juniperus ashei has existed in The Hill Country for thousands of years; a conclusion based on carbon dating pollen.
[3] The lower part of the Comal River. Aug.,1845
[4] These quotes are from A Life Among the Texas Flora by Minetta Altgelt Goyne.
[5] Roemer’s Texas 1845-1849 by Dr. Ferdinand Roemer.
[6] Posted on August 15, 2010 by Bill Ward.
[7] Many thanks to David Williamson for his family history of the Williamsons. And Dorothy Wimberley Kerbow for “The John Saunders House Wimberley, Texas”
