Our Mission

St. Julian’s Crossing Wildlife Habitat is dedicated to educating about pollinators, their conservation, and the urban wildscapes supporting them. Did you know, for example, that there are around 1,100 species of native bees in Texas (and that the Honey Bee is not one of them)? Or that most native bees are solitary nesters, not forming hives like Honey Bees? Or that some bees and wasps are no bigger than a tiny fly? Don’t worry: neither did we before we began this amazing gardening adventure! St. Julian’s Crossing Wildlife Habitat exists to share this kind of fascinating and useful information about our native pollinators.

Critter

Of The Month

Cuckoo Bees in the genus Triepeolus

I love Triepeolus bees! First, I find them adorable: at least some of the Triepeolus species have markings like a smiley face on their dorsal thorax (the body segment behind the head). Now how cute is that?
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Plant

Of The Month

Blanketflower a/k/a Indian Blanket or Firewheel (Gaillardia pulchella)

This is one of the most beautiful, resilient, low-maintenance, and pollinator-attracting prairie plants in our gardens. It is a composite flower, meaning that the flower’s center is actually comprised of many tiny flowers. Consequently, an insect can feed on the multiple nectar rewards from a single flower—kind of like shopping at a mall, rather than a freestanding store! The flower heads are also broad enough to support larger pollinators, like Monarch and Gulf Fritillary butterflies. Blanketflower is one of the most widely used nectar and pollen sources in our garden.
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Our Blog

WILDSCAPING SERIES, PART 2: WHY WILDSCAPE?

Now that we know what a wildscape is, the question arises: why should we wildscape? That is, is there really good reason to change our landscaping habits? This is a legitimate question that deserves a thorough answer (thus, the longer post!). Although my answer focuses on pollinators, much of what I say applies to insects generally, and thus to the wildlife that depends on them.
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Our Hope

We hope that what you see at St. Julian’s Crossing Wildlife Habitat inspires you to start pollinator-friendly gardens at your own home! The great thing about pollinator gardening is its flexibility. It can be as simple as just a small garden bed filled with a few native plants species. It can be as complex as multiple beds filled with a wide variety of native plants to benefit multiple pollinator species. But whatever form your garden takes, and no matter its size or complexity, it can make a real difference for our diminishing pollinator populations.