March updates for Time to Restore - new species are here!

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.

Need some help getting started?

Watch the recording of our set set up training webinar from February 27th. You can jump into whichever spot you need:

We have another webinar opportunity for next week - How to make an observation in Nature's Notebook - on Wednesday, March 12th at 6:30 CT.

You can also find training materials and other resources on our Time to Restore page. Or, reach out to your State Coordinator with the contact information listed at the bottom of this email.

Would you like an overview of the Time to Restore project? Watch the recording of a recent presentation by David Gwin, Time to Restore Texas Coordinator.

New species are here!

The nine species requested for Time to Restore in Texas have now been added to Nature's Notebook. See the updated list of Time to Restore Texas Priority Species here. Please note that the common and scientific names in Nature's Notebook may be different than the ones you are used to in your location. Please see the names on our Priority List.

We have also added several Time to Restore plants at the genus level including Monarda spp. (bee balms) and Solidago spp. (goldenrods) so that you can more easily observe these hard-to-identify species.

Photo at right: Turk's Cap aka wax mallow, Malvaviscus arboreus

Photo credit: Charles Ray Newsom via Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center

Plant of the Month: Blue mistflower, Conoclinium coelestinum

Photo: Gina Lloyd

Each month, we feature one of the plants on the Time to Restore list. Blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum) has been identified as a priority species in Texas and Louisiana and is one of the species added to Nature's Notebook this week! The range of this species spans eastern and central North America, from New York to Florida, and west to Nebraska and Texas.

You can expect to see this plant bloom in the summer and fall. The flowers are used by many pollinators and are a favorite of monarch and queen butterflies which use the pyrrolizidine alkaloid toxins in the plant to attract their mates.

According to Spadefoot Nursery in Tucson, 'the genus Conoclinium is derived from the Greek words “konos” meaning “cone” and “klinion meaning “little bed”. The reference is thought to be related to the reclining habitat of many of the plants in this genus. The species epithet coelestinum is from the Latin caelistis (coelestis), meaning “celestial” or “heavenly.” It refers to the sky-blue color of the flowers.'

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 differentiate, 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: Gina Lloyd

As for the optional intensity questions, remember to count the flowers as inflorescences.

For the photo below, for the question "How many flowers or flower buds?", you would select the bin 3 to 10 flowers, as there are at 5 inflorescences in the photo.

For the question "What percent of flowers are open?", you would select the bin 25-49%. Since the inflorescences don't have either all flowers open or all flowers closed, you can count the number of individual flower heads. There are 12 open out of 40, which is 30%.

Photos: Gina Lloyd

Questions? Reach out to Erin@usanpn.org.

Additional resources

Join us for Phenology Week!

March 17-21, 2025 is Phenology Week - a virtual celebration of the seasonal cycles of plants and animals. The purpose of Phenology Week is to celebrate YOU, our Nature's Notebook observers, Local Phenology Programs, and partners! We'll have webinars, awards, daily challenges, observer stories, and more. Our Monday webinar, "Let's get you started with Nature's Notebook," offers another chance for an orientation for getting your sites and plants set up.

See the webinar schedule »

Training options in your state

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.

Texas

We have several upcoming virtual trainings in Texas in coming weeks that anyone is welcome to join:

Project Presentation and Training Workshop for the Gideon Lincencum Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists (Central Texas) - Saturday, March 15, 2025 @ 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. - In-Person Extended Workshop in Brenham, Texas
Project Presentation for the Cradle of Texas Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists (Gulf Coast), Wednesday, April 9, 2025 @ 9:00 a.m. - Virtual Via Zoom
Project Presentation for Texas Wildflower Day @ Texas Women’s University in Denton (North Texas), Friday, April 25, 2025 @ 9:30 a.m. - Virtual Via Zoom

Please email David Gwin, Texas TTR Coordinator, at dgwin@ymail.com (yes, that's a y!) for the meeting’s Zoom registration link you are interested in joining. Thanks!

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

As you can see in the table below, we recently added 21 new counties in West Texas that are represented by Master Naturalist and NPSOT chapters that have already approved the project. 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, Hays, Milam
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
West Texas Counties	Bailey, Borden, Cochran, Cottle, Crosby, Dawson, Dickens, Floyd, Garza, Hale, Hockley, Kent, King, Lamb, Lubbock, Lynn, Motley, Scurry, Stonewall, Terry, Yoakum