One Year Later – Our New Space

 

Christmas fern replanted after rescue in Buford

We have reached the one year anniversary of moving into a new place. I have always cautioned new homeowners to watch their new space for a full year before making significant changes. I have tried to take my own advice here and I’ve been pretty successful. Here are some of the things I’ve done over the last year.

First, I cut down all the Mahonia bealei shrubs as they are invasive and spread by fruit. Since then I’ve dug up some of them. Two of them required careful herbicide treatment as their roots were impossible to dig out. My neighbor was very supportive and I’ll eventually help remove hers. Kneecapping invasive fruiting plants gives you some control over spread immediately. I have also pulled dozens and dozens of mahonia seedlings.

I took an inventory of what is already here and marked plants to watch or protect. I have found a few new plants since my original assessment, including a nice drift of Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum biflorum).

Throughout the year I’ve evaluated sun exposure of different areas around the house by watching the sun movement during the day. I have some dense shade areas so I have identified some trees to remove to bring more sun to increase the diversity of my plant selections. I haven’t removed any trees just yet and will be doing so with caution so as not to cause erosion.

I’ve evaluated water flow during average and extreme rain events; we’ve had both 2-inch and 3-inch rain events and the 3-inch one revealed an issue from the neighbor’s yard washing into ours. Addressing water flow issues is on my list of things to do quickly before winter rains get here.

In the woods: I’ve made paths, dug out daffodils, shored up low spots and filled holes (which are potential areas for yellow jackets), removed invasive seedlings (privet, Japanese honeysuckle, mulberry weed, beefsteak plant, stiltgrass, mock strawberry). I’ve also used my battery weed-whacker against the biggest patches of stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum), allowing me to hand-pull the stragglers. While I’ve made good progress against the others, I know the stiltgrass seedbank will be here for years.  

We created a dead hedge to deal with drop off at the creek and create more support for wildlife. It was fun to build and a good use of the endless supply of sticks we have.

And I planted some things! Again, I’ve been cautious while I figured out if the deer would be aggressive. I’ve used light fencing, deer spray, and Milorganite granules to protect the new plants from deer and curious squirrels. 

But we discovered a new pest: armadillos. We haven’t seen one (they are mostly nocturnal), but the damage has been significant and we’ve seen dead ones on a nearby road. I’m hoping the Milorganite deters them as well since they are sensitive to smell.

I also recently realized that we have a sizable population of hammerhead flatworms, especially by the front sidewalk. In the morning between 7 and 10 am they can be found crawling on the sidewalk. I’ve destroyed close to 50 of them so far.

Local plant rescues allowed me to get some ferns to address light water flow areas. I specifically used Christmas ferns (Polystichum acrostichoides) on a natural berm in the hopes of getting the same lush effect I saw at a garden years ago. Green & gold (Chrysogonum repens) and low St. Andrews cross (Hypericum stragulum) came from the same old home site and will help with lawn replacement in the part-shade front where I’m removing half the grass.

I’ve made several pollinator areas, again using light fencing to deter the deer. I think I bought out my local store's whole stock, but I consider it cheap insurance. So far it has been enough, with a light spritz of Liquid Fence initially. Again, cheap insurance.

A rosinweed leans out, waiting to be planted

It’s been a pretty good year, I’m happy in the new space, and this next year will bring a lot more changes on this habitat: old shrub removal, more lawn reduction, tree thinning and lots more native plants (some of which are just waiting to be planted)!

If you’re looking for more advice on dealing with a new space, I found the guidance in this article to be useful.

Stiltgrass Hides Hazards

 

Now is the time to address your stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum). Stiltgrass is a Category 1 invasive plant that was brought to the US as packing material when porcelain was shipped from Asia around 1919. It is an annual and can be controlled by removing it before it flowers; in Georgia that is usually in September. Deer do not eat it so you’re on your own.

Stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum); notice the small
silver stripe down the center of the blade.

My new house has a large floodplain area next to the creek. The stiltgrass is abundant there. I whacked it last fall and have been doing so already this summer. It is easy to do with a battery-powered weedwhacker, and I can leave the debris on the ground since it hasn’t flowered. I noticed that clearing it revealed a number of hazards, not to mention that stiltgrass can help breed mosquitos.

• Holes in the ground that can become homes for yellow jackets. I fill these in.
• Leaves that hold water in the shade below and help breed more mosquitos.
• Trash that holds water – I found old glass bottles, plastic bottles, aluminum cans. All of these can help breed mosquitos as well.
• Other invasive seedlings/weeds – I have found beefsteak plant (Perilla frutescens), mulberry weed (Fatoua villosa), mock strawberry (Potentilla indica), Japanese hawkweed (Youngia japonica) growing with it. All of these could have flowered and made seeds if left alone.

Stiltgrass is also easily pulled by hand because the roots are not very strong. Pull the biggest ones first! Once I weedwhack most of it, I hand-pull the stragglers as well as the plants in less dense areas. In the morning, it is part of my stroll through the woods before it gets too hot. If the plants haven’t flowered, you can just throw them on the ground after pulling. If they have flowered, bag what you pull.

In addition to hiding hazards, stiltgrass can smother young native seedlings that are trying to germinate or grow. 

A section showing where I whacked it;
I should have done it sooner.

I expect that I'll need to repeat this for several more years, hopefully seeing less of it each year as the seedbank is reduced. I'll add more native perennials such as ferns, sedges, and wet-tolerant shrubs (I've got some spicebush (Lindera benzoin) waiting to be planted). I'm going to enjoy bringing this space back to a more productive woodland.

August 2026 Moment in Nature

Some moments are painful! This is the caterpillar of the Io (eye-oh) moth and those spikes can deliver a powerful sting. This is a large native moth and you can read more about it here (great pictures too).

I was on a group ramble/hike and we stopped to look at a plant and the caterpillar fell down from above and landed on my calf. My pants were a thin material and I could almost immediately feel a light sting. A friend helped get it off with a stick and we put it back in the vegetated area. [I had no lasting effects from the brush with it.]

These moths are generalists and eat the foliage of many of the native trees that we'd already identified on the hike. I had never seen the caterpillar before so this was actually a great #momentinnature for me.

August is a great month to see caterpillars in nature. Here is a blog I did about finding caterpillars in 2018 (and it has links to two earlier posts so you may find those interesting too). Get out there and find your moment!

They’re Back! Monarchs Return to Georgia

 

Monarchs are now passing through Georgia as part of the fall migration. They don’t just pass through – females may lay eggs here to create another generation, likely the generation that will overwinter. Keep an eye on your milkweed to see if caterpillars show up! Monarch caterpillars are milkweed specialists and the female will only use milkweed for her eggs. Need help figuring out native milkweeds? Here's a good resource for Georgia residents.

Monarch resting on milkweed leaf

The adults passing through also need abundant sources of nectar to fuel their trip. Having summer and early fall flowers in your garden will help them (as well as other pollinators). Milkweed flowers are not required for adult Monarch butterflies as they are generalist when it comes to nectar sources; milkweed flowers are appreciated and pollinated by other insects such as bees and wasps. If you need ideas for fall flowering plants in North Georgia, check out my previous blog here.

American bumblebee on Echinacea

Rudbeckia fulgida and bee

I found two Monarch butterflies this week at my community garden in Hoschton. It is a garden specifically created to attract and support butterflies and is located on a vacant lot owned by the city. Volunteers and the city helped create the planting area and residents adopted plots. We were encouraged to plant native milkweed and native flowering plants. This effort was modeled after a similar garden in a nearby neighborhood that has spurred residents to create beautiful plots.

Asclepias incarnata with wasp

Asclepias tuberosa with bee

The Oak Street Park sign at the garden

July 2026 Moment in Nature

The baby season continues and this week I found two very special babies. First I found the juvenile form of the red-spotted salamander, known as the red eft form. I found it near my pots next to the house in the back. I gently picked it up and put it in one of the pots further from the house and that is where this photo was taken. It eventually moved out of the pot to a more secure location. I have found black salamanders already here which is consistent with our moist woodland habitat.

Red eft form of red-spotted salamander

Also near the house I found a juvenile writing spider (Argiope aurantia), a species that I have not seen since I started tracking invasive Jorō spiders in 2020. I am so excited that I feel like catching flies for her so she'll thrive!

Juvenile writing spider (Argiope aurantia)

I am so thrilled to find and document good species of wildlife that illustrate how important habitat can be. Get out there and find your good stuff and make a #momentinnature.

My Dead Hedge

 

Sometimes you don’t recognize a good idea until it comes to you right when you need it. Apparently this concept – a dead hedge – has been around since the dawn of sticks in man’s yard, and this year was the perfect time for me to implement it at my new place. I came across the idea while visiting Woodlands Garden in Decatur where this concept was used to mark the edge of a path next to a steep drop, like a natural guardrail.

My dead hedge

At my new place, the drop off at the creek is about 5 feet. It occurred to me that I could do something similar for the same reason. Also, I have a lot of sticks in my yard so it seemed like a win-win idea. The benefits only got better after that initial plan.

For the dead hedge at Woodlands Garden, fresh branches were available so the stakes to create the shape were twigs themselves. I decided to buy premade 24-inch stakes at the local hardware store. My husband helped pound them into the ground in a staggered arrangement where each stake was 2 feet apart.

We did this in an initial test section of 8 stakes (4 on each side, total span being 6 feet). I filled the space with dead branches (unfortunately too brittle to do any weaving). The bank of the creek is potentially unstable over the long term due to severe rains causing erosion, so we placed the hedge 2-4 feet away from the edge. At some point, it came to me that this low hedge could deter deer from a quick browse. A third win! I had a number of Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica) shrubs in pots so I decided to plant them in that 2-4 foot area on the creek side of the hedge and so far they are mostly doing well; there was some light browsing where the land dipped; I should have made the fence higher to account for that. I’ll fix it.

I was so excited by this extra benefit that I bought more stakes and we created a hedge that spans a good portion of the creek (with ends tapered to create a closed off area should a deer feel curious enough to try a side entry), approximately 110 feet long. I’ve since added more plants like yellowroot (Xanthorhiza simplicissima) and pawpaw (Asimina triloba) to my edge. On the sunniest spots, I scattered some partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) and jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) seeds.

Of course we all know that this will benefit wildlife (win #4): places to hide, shelter, or just a local feast for our friends the decomposers are all good benefits. I’m also hoping that it might be an endpoint for microstegium so that the area by the creek (other side of the hedge) can be just native (win #5!).

It’s not the prettiest thing but it doesn’t need to be. The stakes will weather and over the years I might be able to weave in some fresh branches to give it a more ‘creative’ look. I’m sure the Virginia creeper nearby will latch onto it and give it a wild look in several years. 

It is amazing that I could find so many sticks, but I still have more I can add. With this many trees, sticks are always dropping. On the picture below you can see a top-down view of the hedge.

This could be a tidier brush pile solution for yards that can't be as wild (like HOA).

If you’re dead hedge-curious, check out this post listing other reasons to create a dead hedge: https://www.bobvila.com/diy/ways-to-use-dead-hedges/

June 2026 Moment in Nature

It's baby season and this month's moment in nature celebrates the one that I could photograph the best. Earlier this month, I saw a baby walkingstick while I was planting ferns in the woods. Last fall, finding walkingstick insects at our new place was my October moment in nature. This baby was a fast mover and all I could do was capture some blurry pictures. Next!

Yesterday I returned from a trip to visit our granddaughter in Florida and took a quick spin around the yard to check for any plant issues (thankfully, everything looked good!). As I passed my stack of empty pots, a young praying mantis was hunting for insects. Based on its appearance (see my post from 2017 for pictures of how to tell the difference between native and exotic species), I do think this is a native one.

Remember, get out there and discover your #momentinnature. It's the reason I encourage people to plant native plants. More and more, our local ecosystem depends on the choices we make and we want to celebrate our successes.