Fossil Ridge Research Station

My wife and I live on a 2.5 acre "wilderness" lot on the northern fringe of San Antonio that has been designated a a National Wildlife Federation Urban Wildlife Habitat. The property has rocky meadows, a heavily wooded dry stream, and a thirty foot cliff. The diverse soils support approximately 275 species of native plants in addition to about thirty selectively introduced species (other than fruit trees and vegetables). The plant diversity in turn helps support a diverse fauna, including butterflies, hummingbirds, road runners, hawks, owls, foxes, coyotes, ringtails, and raccoons.

The star of our property is a rocky meadow that pulses with color and flowers with every major rain and is the home to perhaps a thousand native rain lilies. A variety of other wildflowers take their turn at dominating the meadow. Among the most prolific are: anemones, cactus, sedum, yellow-eyed phlox, two leaf senna, and zexmenia. The Black Lace Cactus shown on the left provides a spectacular show for two or three days a year. The meadow and uplands also support huisache, kidneywood, desert willow, Mexican plum, redbud, mountain laurel, and Texas pistache. The live oaks near the top of our property shade persimmons and elbow bush.

The live oak trees below the house and along the dry creeks and cliff serve as home to hawks, owls, bats, hummingbirds, ringtails, and raccoons. Foxes occasionally dig dens in the rocky slope near the cliff. A small pond and waterfall serves as a wildlife attractor in our desert landscape. The oaks provide shade for a variety of small trees including red buckeye, Mexican buckeye, escarpment black cherry, and mountain laurel. The entire area except for the vegetable garden and orchard is xeriscaped.

The area adjacent to the house emphasizes drought tolerant plants also. Buffalo grass was used for the lawn and is mowed once or twice a year with a string trimmer. Among the decorative plants used in the "civilized" area are: mountain laurel, Texas sage, anacacha orchid, skeleton leaf goldeneye, esperanza, copper canyon daisies, blackfoot daisies, red yucca, soft leaf yucca, sotol, prickly pear, prostrate rosemary, and red oak.