Thornscrub Por Vida
For those of us who are advocating for more native plants in landscapes here in the Rio Grande Valley I think it's important to point out that what has collectively been referred to as "brush" or Thornscrub here (what might be called "chaparral" in California or "matorral" in Chile) IS the kind of habitat type that occurred here and which lived here for many tens of thousands of years before Europeans and even humans in general came here.
Yet there seems to be this subconscious distaste for "brush" within the mainstream culture of the Rio Grande Valley and much of South Texas, where "brush" was often something to be feared because it's where snakes lived and the plants could poke you. I see a similar fear or ignorance of the native habitat in many places around the world.
Rather than understanding and appreciating the native living skin of the Earth at this latitude and longitude - at this particular unique place on the North American continent - the "brush" is usually seen as something that stands in the way of development or agriculture (nevermind the fact that it harbors life and literally acts like nature's swamp cooler by evapotranspirative cooling).
Instead of appreciating and nurturing the plant species that form these habitats, many local gardens historically have tried to mimic traditional European gardens by blending mowed turf grass (which makes no sense whatsoever in this climate) with orange dyed wood chips and landscape beds hedged into topiary shapes.
Changing this paradigm and outlook - which one could argue is immediately hostile to the surrounding native ecosystem - and getting people to appreciate the Thornscrub and brush is key to creating a healthy and liveable landscape in the RGV.
As someone who learned botany in deserts, I've always been attracted to spiny plants. They are often the coolest examples of what can evolve under the intense natural selection of hot seasonally-dry environments. I first came to the Rio Grande Valley in 2014 SOLELY TO SEE THE PLANTS HERE : many of these species don't grow anywhere else in the United States.
I think pointing out to people - city hall especially - that "brush" or Thornscrub is the only thing that makes sense here. It is what evolved here and nourished the many animals that live here and which make the RGV a destination for winter Texans, birders, and "ecotourists". You plant a few of the native shrub species and you get a pair of electric hedgers to give it a "haircut" every once in a while. Trying to have a lawn at a subtropical latitude in a place where rain is sporadic and temperatures remain at 100° for 8 months straight is absolutely INSANE.
Plants define a place and a region like nothing else does. We need to encourage people to stop pretending that they live in a villa in Tuscany or a palm-tree-candyland in Fiji. We live in a place with Ebanos, Mesquites, Retama and Coma trees, with tough plants that take getting blasted with hot sun and surviving months without a drop of rain and still feed our rare birds, butterflies and insects. They are beautiful and they deserve to be respected rather than bulldozed or called "weeds" by people in suits who can't name even 3 of the native plants that lived on the land they grew up on for centuries before they were born.
We need to teach people to love the Thornscrub.
