Happy Friday GPODers!
We’re wrapping up our week of diverse garden spaces with Lisa Adam in Texas. Lisa lives very close to the southernmost point of Texas, and shared photos of her garden in Weslaco last fall (Check out that post here: Lisa’s Wildlife Haven Near the Southernmost Point of Texas), but today she’s sharing a recent visit to a really cool ecotourism center that highlights and educates on the the ecosystems native to this unique region.
My name is Lisa Adam and I live in Weslaco, Texas. (I previously submitted photos from my retirement cottage.) Today, I’m taking readers to the South Texas Ecotourism Center (STEC). Located in Laguna Vista, Texas, STEC is on route to the popular beach destination, South Padre Island. STEC promotes exploration of the region’s nature through gardens, interpretive exhibits and sculpture, bird blinds, and a boardwalk overlook. Today I’ll focus on some of its iconic plants. It’s zone 10 in this region, so excuse the cloudy skies, which we appreciate as a relief from the sun.
Past the open passage of the building, visitors walk through multiple garden areas that model several different ecosystems of the region: thorn forest, savanna, and coastal prairie. Beyond those is a boardwalk that looks out over Bahia Grande, Texas’ largest wetland restoration project and part of the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge.
Cacti feature prominently at STEC since they grow in nearly every eco-region in South Texas.
Tasajillo (Cylindropuntia leptocaulis, Zones 9–11) is a shrub-like cactus. It’s also called Christmas cholla or Christmas cactus, because the red fruit sometimes persist until the holiday season if they are not all eaten by birds.
Thank you so much for sharing this incredible plant destination with us, Lisa! I can’t think of a better place to give us an insight into the incredible plant palette of your region, and your selection of highlights was a delight.
Have you visited any public gardens this season? Last week I made a trip to New York Botanic Garden that I will be sharing highlights from in the coming weeks, but I would love to see where you’ve enjoyed some special spring displays. Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.
We want to see YOUR garden!
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
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Comments
What a beautiful place!
I am not familiar with this place. It is so very lovely.
Always fun to see how different plants grow in different states, love the sculptural looking Century Plants!
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