The Landscape Committee of Marshall Ridge

05/20/2026

05/16/2026

05/13/2026

Something beautiful is growing in The Colony, and it's completely on purpose. 🌸

The Colony Parks & Recreation Department has been working to naturalize areas at Squires Park, along FM 423 and the Park Loop Trail with native wildflowers and plants. It's more than pretty, it's a long-term investment in our local ecosystem.

Stay tuned as we share the story behind the blooms, or visit Parks' website for more info!

05/12/2026

Why Curvy Rivers are the Key to Flood Prevention.

For years, we tried to make rivers as straight as possible. Today, we know that straight rivers lead to faster, more dangerous floods. River Meander Restoration is about giving the river its "wiggle" back to protect our homes and businesses.

Why it’s Smarter Engineering:

Natural Braking: Each curve acts as a natural brake, slowing the water down before it can cause damage.

Room to Breathe: Restored rivers can easily overflow into safe, natural areas during heavy rain, preventing overflow in cities.

Sustainable Protection: Instead of building bigger concrete walls, we use the river's own shape to keep us safe.

Smart, sustainable, and better for everyone.

05/03/2026

Everyday is an excuse to celebrate prairies. But right now they are putting on a show!

Those bright blooms in this photo are Firewheel (Gaillardia pulchella), one of many native plants that make prairies feel alive this time of year. But what you see above ground is only part of the story. Many prairie plants are just as busy below the surface, sending roots several feet deep to reach water, store nutrients, and hold soil in place. A lot of a prairie’s strength is hidden underground.
Prairies are also built for change. Fire, drought, and extreme weather aren’t setbacks, they’re actually a part of how the system stays healthy. Periodic fires can help native plants thrive by clearing out competition and returning nutrients to the soil.
And while it may look like “just grass,” prairies are incredibly diverse. A single area can support hundreds of plant species, along with pollinators, birds, and other wildlife that depend on them.
You can see these wildflowers blooming across LLELA right now, but you’ll also find them throughout Lewisville. Look along roadsides, in open spaces, the pocket prairies, and maybe even your neighborhood yards.

Prairies are always worth celebrating. This time of year just makes it a little easier to notice.

04/27/2026

I’ve mentioned VPD in several posts over the past week, and before I get into the BRIX series next week, we need to take a deep dive into “V***r Pressure Deficit”

Think of V***r Pressure Deficit (VPD) as the "Thirstiness of the Air." For a home gardener, you don't need a physics degree to understand it—you just need to think about how a plant "breathes."

Plants are essentially living straws. They pull water up from the soil through their roots, and that water travels all the way up to the leaves. At the leaf surface, the water evaporates through tiny pores called STOMATA. This evaporation is what "sucks" the next drop of water up from the roots.

VPD is the difference (the deficit) between how much moisture is currently in the air and how much moisture that air could hold if it were totally saturated.

When the Air is "Full", there is LOW VPD. On a very humid, muggy day, the air is already packed with moisture. It doesn't want any more. Because the air won't take the water from the leaves, the "straw" stops pulling. The plant's internal transport system grinds to a halt. More on this later.

When the Air is "Thirsty", there is HIGH VPD. On a very dry, hot day, the air is like a sponge. It aggressively pulls moisture out of the leaves. If it pulls too fast, the roots can't keep up, and the plant WILTS to protect itself.

SO, why does the average gardener care about VPD? Most people focus on "Humidity," but VPD is more accurate because it accounts for TEMPERATURE. WARM AIR CAN HOLD WAY MORE WATER THAN COLD AIR!

Certain nutrients, SPECIFICALLY CALCIUM, can only move through the plant if water is moving! SO, If your garden or greenhouse is too humid (Low VPD), even if your soil is perfect, your plant might get "Blossom End Rot" or "Tip Burn" simply because the plant isn't moving the calcium to the new growth.

How does VPD affect disease and pests? If the air stays too humid (low VPD), the plant gets "sweaty." This moisture sits on the leaves and invites mold, mildew, and rot.

If it's too dry, like in arid climates, the plant gets stressed. Stressed plants are like a dinner bell for pests like Spider Mites, who love hot, dry conditions.

You don't need fancy sensors to find the "Sweet Spot" (where the air is just thirsty enough to keep the water moving, but not so dry that the plant panics). When the air is too full (low VPD), if it’s possible, put a fan on your plants! Moving air helps strip the "wet blanket" off the leaves so they can breathe.

When the air is too "Thirsty" (High VPD), you’ll feel it…cracking skin, static electricity, and the soil dries instantly. Mulch your soil and consider a light misting or grouping plants together to create a little "humidity bubble."

As we move into the BRIX series, this explanation will make it easier to understand how and when to apply your BRIX sprays.

04/27/2026

04/25/2026

“From Florida panthers to pronghorn and monarch butterflies, wildlife need to move across the landscape to survive. Protecting wildlife corridors is one of the most important tools we have to address the biodiversity crisis, especially in the face of climate change,” said Susan Holmes, Executive Director of the Endangered Species Coalition. “By creating a national system of wildlife corridors, this bill will safeguard biodiversity and protect some of our most endangered species. We thank Representatives Beyer, Buchanan, Lofgren, and Fitzpatrick for their leadership in championing this critical effort.”

Earlier this week, on Wednesday—Earth Day—a new bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives aims to address America's habitat fragmentation problem at a national scale by establishing an entirely new category and system of protected public lands and waters.

The bill is called the "Wildlife Corridors and Habitat Connectivity Conservation Act of 2026" and was introduced by representatives Don Beyer (D-VA), Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA).

It proposes the creation of a National Wildlife Corridor System on federal public lands and waters, along with a supporting framework for mapping, research, coordination, and funding.

These new National Wildlife Corridors could be identified through legislation, agency rulemaking, or revisions to existing land-use plans. Nominations could come from states, Tribal governments, local entities, or conservation organizations, while a federal coordinating committee would also play a role in identifying priority areas.

Crucially, the legislation also includes provisions withdrawing all federal lands within a designated National Wildlife Corridor from disposal, new mining claims, and mineral leasing, subject to existing rights. These measures are intended to reduce further fragmentation in areas identified as critical for connectivity.

This is huge.

This bill, if passed, would be a giant leap forward in terms of protecting America’s amazing biodiversity for future generations.

I’ll be keeping an eye on the progress of this exciting new legislation—that really doesn’t happen very often nowadays, after all—and once it’s time to put pressure on lawmakers to get this passed, you’ll be the first to hear about it.

Read the full story in my latest article: https://ourpubliclandsandwaters.substack.com/p/bipartisan-bill-aims-to-create-a

04/24/2026

As Texans prepare to celebrate Earth Day, conservation experts are urging home gardeners to look beyond traditional landscaping and embrace "ecoregion specific" native plants to bolster the state’s local ecosystems. MORE BELOW ⬇️