July updates for Time to Restore

Time to Restore

Hello USA-NPN,

Here is your monthly update for those participating in the Time to Restore project in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. If you know others who may be interested in this newsletter, please send it their way! If you were forwarded this message, you can sign up to get on our list here.

Upcoming virtual trainings

Join us for a virtual training July 2nd!

We are now hosting monthly virtual training calls. The next call will be Wednesday, July 2nd at 5:30pm MT / 6:30pm CT and will provide a one-hour training on how to participate in the Time to Restore project.

We'll host calls on the first Wednesday of the month through the summer. The August and September calls will provide a check-in on the data submitted so far, tips on how to improve data collection, with an opportunity for you to ask questions.

Plant of the Month: Mealy blue sage, Salvia farinacea

Photo: Charmaine Richardson, Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center

Each month, we feature one of the plants on the Time to Restore list. Mealy blue sage (Salvia farinacea), also known as mealycup sage, and mealy sage, is one of our Texas priority species. This species is found in the South Central states, primarily New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma, as well as Northeast Mexico.

Mealy blue sage can bloom throughout the summer. The flowers occur in a 3-9 inch long inflorescence known as a spike.

You can observe this species as a single plant in Nature's Notebook, or, if you have multiple plants growing together that are difficult to distinguish from one another, register the plant as a patch and make your observation considering the patch as a whole. If you have more than one plant or patch, consider monitoring 2-3 individuals at the same site to capture the variation between plants.

For the plant pictured below, you would report:

Flowers or flower buds - yes

Open flowers - yes

Fruits - no

Ripe fruits - no

Photo: Alan Cressler, Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center

As for the optional intensity questions, you are answering the question "How many flowers or flower buds are present?" Remember that for this species, you should count the number of spikes, or inflorescences, on the plant, or patch of plants.

I counted 34 inflorescences in the photo below. It's possible that I missed one or two, but that's ok! All I need to do it put my estimate into one of the intensity bins. The appropriate one here is 11-100. To include more detail, I can also put the estimated number of 34 inflorescences in the comment field with my observation.

Photo: maryannetromano via iNaturalist, CC-BY-NC

As for the question "What percentage of flowers are open?", do your best to estimate the percentage of flowers where reproductive structures are visible, ignoring and dried or dead flowers. In the photo below, you could estimate that for each inflorescence, about 3-4 flowers of 30-40 total flowers are open, or about 10%. That would put the estimate into the 5-24% bin.

As for the number of flowers or flower buds, you try! Which bin would you select from the following for the photo below? Answer at the bottom of this email.

Less than 3
3 to 10
11 to 100
101 to 1,000
More than 1,000

Photo: Joseph Marcus, Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center

Questions? Reach out to Erin@usanpn.org.

Data Collection Spotlight

Our new Data Collection Spotlight shines a light on one or more observers who are making a big impact on the Time to Restore project. This month, we want to give a shine to Meade LeBlanc, with the Galveston Bay Area (Gulf Coast) Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists, and Tina Olivas, with the Cross Timbers (Fort Worth) Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists.

Over the last several months, both of these Local Phenology Leaders have led active and sustained efforts to organize, build, and promote a Local Phenology Program for their Master Naturalist Chapters. They have created useful observation resources and increased data collection in their respective parts of the great state of Texas. Their efforts to add phenological data collection to their chapter’s existing native gardens and wildscapes under the Time To Restore project umbrella have made an important addition to these existing wildlife-focused habitat creation and maintenance efforts. Great work Tina and Meade!

If you want to hear more about their efforts, don't miss the Monthly Murmuration on July 17th at 1pm CT! Learn more and register below.

Additional Resources

Monthly Murmuration - Thursday, July 17th at 11am PT / 1pm CT

Monthly Murmurations are webinars that are open to all Nature's Notebook observers and Local Phenology Leaders! At this meeting, we will hear from Meade LeBlanc and Tina Olivas (highlighted above in our Data Collection Spotlight) about their experiences as new Local Phenology Leaders. Meade and Tina will share their tips on what has worked well and challenges they have identified. We'll have a chance for you to ask questions and to network with other Local Phenology Leaders and observers.

Come be part of this exciting conversation and be prepared to learn about how you can continue to grow your participation in Time to Restore.

Training options in your state

Participants in all states are invited to join us for monthly training series on the first Wednesday of the month. The next training will be Wednesday, July 2nd, 2025 @ 6:30 p.m. CT and will provide an orientation to the Time to Restore project. Register here.

Louisiana

Interested in organizing a training for your group in Louisiana? Reach out to Gina Lloyd to schedule.

New Mexico

Interested in organizing a training for your group in New Mexico? Reach out to Kim Eichhorst to schedule.

Oklahoma

Interested in organizing a training for your group in Oklahoma? Reach out to Jane Breckinridge to schedule.

Texas

Interested in organizing a training for your group in Texas? Reach out to David Gwin to schedule.

The table below shows the Texas counties that are represented by Master Naturalist and NPSOT chapters that have already approved the project. We are now up to 74 counties! Let us know if you are already planning on participating in the project but your county is not represented below!

North Texas Counties	Dallas, Denton, Collin, Cooke, Hunt, Kaufman, Montague, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, Parker, Wise
Central Texas Counties	Bell, Caldwell, Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Comanche, Erath, Hamilton, Hays, Lampasas, Llano, Milam, Palo Pinto
East Texas Counties	Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity, Tyler
Southeast Texas Counties	Austin, Brazoria, Brazos, Burleson, Colorado, Fayette, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Lee, Leon, Madison, Montgomery, Robertson, Walker, Waller, Washington, Wharton
Southwest Texas Counties	Uvalde, Medina, Kinney, Bexar, Comal
West Texas Counties	Bailey, Borden, Cochran, Cottle, Crosby, Dawson, Dickens, Floyd, Garza, Hale, Hockley, Kent, King, Lamb, Lubbock, Lynn, Motley, Scurry, Stonewall, Terry, Yoakum