NICE

We gratefully acknowledge a fellow Society member, Joy Fisher Hein, for permission to use her beautiful paintings of native plants as part of the NICE! logo.

Joy is an artist, painter, jewelry designer, sculptor, gardener and illustrator. Joy's art is collected by art appreciators around the world.

Joy is a member of the Boerne and Kerrville Chapters. She is also a Texas Master Naturalist and certified to create Schoolyard Habitats for The National Wildlife Federation.

We plan to communicate regularly with participating nurseries and identify “wins” for them. To create more demand for natives, we plan to offer short presentations at the nurseries and other outreach programs on topics such as: the benefits of natives, designs for theme gardens, gardening for pollinators, birds, bees, etc. The theme garden presentations will build on the outstanding designs that were developed by the Guadalupe Chapter. We will modify them as needed to use plants suitable for the North Central Texas ecoregions.

We want to increase the number of nurseries in the NICE! program. The Native Landscape Certification Program and other Society initiatives are doing a fine job of educating people about native plants, but if the plants aren’t available, we will have limited success in their actual implementation.

We want to explore how to increase the availability of less well known native plants. We plan to identify what growers the nurseries use and assess their level of interest in expanding their sources. We plan to identify other native plant growers in the area, identify what native plants they currently grow, and determine whether they are willing to grow sufficient quantities of less common native plants.

We also feel there is an important need to work with Home Owner Associations, City Councils, Planning and Development and Parks and Recreation departments to promote their use of native plants. We will develop materials recommending natives which they can use as part of their landscaping guidelines. We will endeavor to encourage more mayors to participate in Mayors’ Monarch Pledge.

Stay tuned for more NICE! progress updates....!