Loaded Pistil

12/22/2025

11/04/2025

Sometimes I do in fact ‘talk’ with trees. More importantly I listen to trees. Beulah the 75ish year old Bald Cypress with all her twisted branches tells stories of standing her ground, sinking roots in deep past clay pans and horizons of bu****it, beauty, and underground magic. I lean on her when I wish I could hear my mom’s voice, when I’ve just about had it, or when disappointment and other people’s s**t infest my nervous system and impede growth. We’re not much different in this way. When trees undergo abiotic and biotic stresses back to back, energy is put into surviving rather than flourishing. When chronically stressed, we put all our energy into making it through the day rather than growing.
Without ego, Beulah reminds me of the storms endured, her transformative inflorescences more beautiful than the finest jewels. A perch used nightly by three barred owls, a burn mark from fireworks left to unattended neighborhood children, Louisiana Irises from seed deemed non viable rise up under her canopy. Filtered sunlight and drops of deep blood-red risen create refuge. Beulah says “,Don’t let bad human behaviors stand in the way of good work.” Be like a tree and support the growth of others around you.

09/25/2025

Join us October 11, 2025, 8:30am-2:15pm for Surge Forward: Coastal Heritage Preserve Tour 2025!

This event is put on by Artist Boat, CEER, Bayou City Waterkeeper, CTRL+Create and other Galveston Island partners. Guided Bus & Walking Tours of the Dune Swale Complex throughout Artist Boat’s Coastal Heritage Preserve and prairie restoration will connect all participants by honoring the restoration that followed Hurricane Ike. Lunch and lasting memories will be provided. The native plants you’ll help plant will provide wildlife habitat for generations to come.

Register at https://fareharbor.com/embeds/book/artistboat/items/666152/?full-items=yes&flow=396877

07/20/2025

03/10/2025

While crowds of Houstonians filtered into for the Sunday, the familiar sounds of mic checks filled the brisk air and I swole with memories. My incredibly intelligent and talented colleagues and Laura Webb had the first shift at our ‘Expert booth’- so I spent the morning assessing spaces I steward. The beamed with new growth and emerging blooms. Carolina grasswort, Creeping burhead, Texas Water Canna, Soft stemmed bulrush, Texas Spiderlilies, Mexican water lilies, Southern blue flag Iris & ‘Zig Zag’ Irises, Spartinas, and Shoreline sedge were just some of the unsung hydrophytes on the ‘wayside-show stage’ keeping time behind the scenes.

01/26/2025

Notes from Loaded Pistil’s Editor:
Yesterday I taught a class about native seed collection and propagation at where I am one of five horticulturists and the only one solely focused on natural spaces and conservation. The 1.5 hours long class was enlightening… inspiring! Nearly every attendee was there at the beginning of their gardening experience and wanting to start things off ‘right’ by planting natives in their yard! Friends who have been or are currently co-workers of mine supported me in tremendous fashion and helped me plant seeds of what so hope becomes a lifelong love affair between Houstonions and our incredible native flora!! A mere post cannot convey the amount of hope this reignited for me! Thank you and everyone at and a big thanks to those who showed up for the class!!!