Wildscapes DVD Helps Gardeners Attract Wildlife, Add Beauty, Save Water

Texans are recognizing the value of wildlife-friendly gardening, and new multi-media tool can now help them realize their dream gardens.

The new resource is called Texas Wildscapes: Gardening for Wildlife, An Interactive Guide to Creating Vibrant and Beautiful Wildlife Habitat. This DVD combines short videos and color photos with a searchable plant database, "virtual tours" of demonstration gardens, customized plant shopping lists and more.

With this DVD, small-acreage property owners can:

• Search for native plants and wildlife found in any region, view hundreds of Texas native plant images, and read all about their growing needs, ornamental value and wildlife value
• Create and print customized plant shopping lists based on local soils, water, sun, desired wildlife and more
• Create and print fact sheets for favorite plants
• Take a "Virtual Tour" of demonstration Wildscapes in Texas
• Watch a Wildscaping episodes from the PBS TV series Texas Parks & Wildlife
• Read the award-winning book Texas Wildscapes: Gardening for Wildlife (Damude and Bender 1999) in its entirety
• Create and print a wildlife management plan with our exclusive Interactive Habitat Planning Guide for five-to-5,000 acres
• Plan for Agriculture Tax Valuation, Wildlife option (1-d-1) (subject to current tax codes)

The DVD project was funded in part through the federal State Wildlife Grants Program. It was created by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in partnership with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the Texas Master Naturalists (Capital Area Chapter).