May 2025 Moment in Nature

You've got to celebrate those plants that take your breath away. This week I rounded the corner to my backyard and caught sight of this plant: bigleaf snowbell (Styrax grandifolius). It's been in that location for a number of years, blooming modestly over time. This year the bloom volume is amazing. Every single branch sports these small white flowers and the overall effect is more magical than my camera can capture.

Bigleaf snowbell (Styrax grandifolius)

Native bee on snowbell

As I tried to capture the beauty, the gentle hum of two bees indicated they were going after the pollen and nectar of these graceful blooms. While this was certainly my #momentinnature for May, it's been extra special to visit this small tree all week to enjoy it again and again.

Spring is an amazing time. Get out there and find your moments.

Planting for What I Can’t See

 

For centuries non-edible gardening has focused on what is pleasing to us. Explorers have brought back plants from lands far and wide to entertain human senses. We now know that planting ornamental plants for only our pleasure is not helpful to the local ecosystem when our choices cause biodiversity to diminish at the expense of local insects, birds, and even small mammals. I have written before that at least maintaining native bird populations requires about 70% native plants in our environment.

So I plant things. Native things. Lots of different native things. Some of them I don’t see every day – or at all. My crossvine is blooming now. Bignonia capreolata is a native evergreen vine that I planted at the base of a medium-sized maple tree at the edge of my property. I can see the ropey vines as they drape through the lower part of the tree, but I have to use my binoculars to see the blooms. 

Until they drop to the ground – then I know it’s blooming. Those fallen flowers were the inspiration for my post about The Tiny Hands Project. Those little hands are bigger now; our little sprout just turned 7 this week.

The crossvine is just one example of things that I plant not necessarily for me but to support those who have needed it for far longer than I have been around. As we exit another Earth Week – our 55^th since 1970 (and I have been around for all of them!), remember that what we do is not always for us. Plant something for the ecosystem, your ecosystem.

Hike Local: Woodlands Garden

 

I had a chance this week to visit Woodlands Garden in Decatur, GA. It is an approximately 7-acre park in an urban setting. It is open to the public every day during daylight hours (note: no dogs allowed). Originally a private residence, the garden contains the smaller Morse Family Heritage Garden – which has a selection of exotic plants – and extensive trails of Piedmont native woodland plants. A map of the grounds can be found here.

Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium)

The trails are easy walking and have good signage both for directional guidance and for many of the plants you’ll see. Several areas had extensive sweeps of single species of plants: narrow-leaf blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) in a sunny area, fernleaf phacelia (Phacelia bipinnatifida) just inside the shade, and in deep shade, patches of Allegheny spurge (Pachysandra procumbens) and interrupted fern (Osmunda claytoniana) were lush and full of new spring growth.

Phacelia bipinnatifida

Osmunda claytonia

You might spot several of Atlanta’s champion trees. I was able to see the champion devil’s walking stick (Aralia spinosa); it was so mature that the only spines I could see were 6 feet high on the otherwise smooth trunk. 

Foamflower and Phlox

Blooming native spring flowers were sprinkled throughout: woodland phlox and foamflower, tiny wood anemone and native ginger, and gorgeous native azaleas. In the parking area, a flowering native coral honeysuckle lit up the front of the office building while the flowers of wild white indigo (Baptisia alba) and false indigo-bush (Amorpha fruticosa) kept the native bees busy.

Two of the native azaleas

The garden is a well-managed mix of intentional design and woodland wonders. As with any truly urban garden, exotic invasive plants creep in. The staff and volunteers have regular workdays to manage weeds and keep the trails open. If you're looking for inspiration or just to enjoy some natural beauty, stop by and visit this urban gem.

Amorpha fruticosa

 

April is Native Plant Month

 

Beginning in April 2021, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution designating April to be National Native Plant Month. [Since this is a Resolution and not a Law, this legislation needs to be reintroduced each year.]  That designation has continued each year, and each year the message spreads a little further. In Georgia, the native plant society has been using social media to highlight chapter activities around the state, using the national momentum to encourage people get involved locally. The Society’s executive director also wrote a great article to share about ways to celebrate: planting native plants, removing invasive plants, and educating others. Notice that two of those ways don’t even require you to have a garden!

Various national organizations are using the designation to highlight how essential native plants are to creatures that people like: birds, butterflies, and bees. Yes, science has shown us that there is a reason that native plants are required for our native ecosystem to thrive and I’ve written about this before:

Why Native Plants Matter to Birds

Why Native Plants Matter to Bees, Butterflies, and Bugs

Pollinators in Georgia: A Compilation of Articles

I also think that using native plants in our Georgia landscapes help anchor a sense of place and celebrate the natural beauty of our state. That certainly is one of the founding principles of this blog: Using Georgia Native Plants.

I hope you enjoy April and all our natural beauty. My native Piedmont azalea, Rhododendron canescens, is currently in full bloom outside the front window, serving as this week’s installment in gorgeous native flora in my yard (although the golden ragwort, Packera aurea, is certainly trying hard to rival it).

April 2025 Moment in Nature

This month's #momentinnature is really a two-fer. I noticed a row of insect eggs on the twig of an American beautyberry in my yard. As I leaned in to look more closely, I realized there was a very young gray tree frog nestled into one of the branch crotches.

While March has produced some wonderful early blooms, April promises to be amazing! Keep your eyes open for lots of special moments.

Impactful Shrubs

 

What’s in your yard? You probably don’t have room for everything you want, but small and urban yards can plan to maximize the wildlife value of their plantings. We talk about trees a lot, but shrubs can provide good ecological value for smaller spaces. Here are some thoughts on impactful shrubs to plant that make a difference.

Impactful means that they contribute to the food web in one of 3 ways: their fruit is good for wildlife (like birds), their foliage serves as a host plant to insect herbivores (like caterpillars), and/or they are a good source of pollen/nectar for insects (like bees and butterflies).

Blueberry specialist bee helps us get the most fruit

Shrubs that support frugivorous birds (those who use fruit as a major source of their adult nutrition) include native viburnums (Viburnum spp.), hearts a bustin’ (Euonymus americanus), spicebush (Lindera spp.), elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), holly shrubs (Ilex spp.), chokeberry (Aronia spp.), shrub dogwoods (Swida amomum, C. foemina and others), St. John’s wort (Hypericum spp.), beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), blueberry (Vaccinium spp.), huckleberry (Gaylussacia spp.), and sumac (Rhus spp.).

Shrubs whose foliage serves as a host plant to butterflies and moths (these feed caterpillars) include spicebush (Lindera spp.), blueberry (Vaccinium spp.), plums (Prunus spp.), and paw paw (Asimina spp.). Some of these support specialist insects like the Zebra swallowtail that can only use paw paw.

Zebra swallowtail as caterpillar and adult

Shrubs whose flowers are a good source of pollen or nectar for bees and butterflies include native viburnums (Viburnum spp.), buckeyes (Aesculus spp.), elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), holly shrubs (Ilex spp.), chokeberry (Aronia spp.), shrub dogwoods (Swida amomum, C. foemina and others), St. John’s wort (Hypericum spp.), blueberry (Vaccinium spp.), huckleberry (Gaylussacia spp.), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), and sumac (Rhus spp.).

Buckeyes are good for bees and hummingbirds

You can see that some plants might serve 2-3 ecological purposes (for example, blueberry and spicebush support both birds and insects), allowing smaller yards to benefit from these shrubs quite a bit. Make your choices count!

Previous blogs on shrubs that you might find useful:

Native Shrubs in the Georgia Piedmont

Native Shrubs for Supporting Birds

Underused Native Shrubs

Enjoy Each Season: Spring

We've been waiting for spring for literally months; now that it's finally here, I have to remind myself to appreciate each plant in its turn. For all their benefit to the ecosystem, spring native plants aren't always as showy or large as the exotics that are so widely planted.

I am enjoying the Sweet Betsy trillium (Trillium cuneatum) just starting to bloom in my yard. We recently rescued some of this petite perennial from a construction project; so many of these small, ephemeral things get overlooked and yet I imagine a time when they might have carpeted the woodlands around here.

Trillium cuneatum

This week I had a chance to stop by Stone Mountain. I was interested to see what spring granite outcrop plants might be blooming. The woolly groundsel (Packera dubia) was just getting started but the elf-orpine (Diamorpha smallii) was not yet flowering. You can see photos of flowering elf-orpine at my Heggie's Rock post from 2013. One young serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) was flowering like mad, ahead of  all others I've seen. 

Amelanchier arborea

Diamorpha smallii - not quite ready

Packera dubia

On the way back home, I enjoyed the many flowering redbuds that lined the edges of wild roads. By next week, many of them will be done. I was glad I got out to see them at their best. Don't rush through spring - take time to notice the diversity of our native flora during their season.

Redbud (Cercis canadensis)