It’s Been a Journey

 

We’re moving! After 22 years – the very heart of my native plant journey – we are downsizing and moving to a smaller house (but not a smaller yard). This may be our third house, but the landscape will be familiar because we’ll still be in the Piedmont ecoregion.

A photo from 2008 when my friend Sheri made a planter
out of native perennials for my turn on the GNPS garden tour

Of course I’ll take some plants, as I did 22 years ago. I still have things in pots so they’ll find their forever home there instead of here. I will also pot up a few of my favorite perennials and hope they don’t mind being uprooted during this very hot time. So far I've dug up over 60 baby ferns out of the lawn (the new place has very few ferns so these will be a good starter set). [To the person who might buy this place, plenty more will come back; fern spores seem to do well in our lightly-maintained lawn.]

I hope I have ferns in the lawn at the new place too

The trees and shrubs that I’ve planted over the years will remain: bigleaf magnolias that shade the swimming pool; thick and lush mountain laurel at the front of the house; fragrant native azaleas; graceful snowbells; tasty blueberries and pawpaws; thorny hawthorns; red and bottlebrush buckeyes; and that amazing devil’s walking stick.

It’s been a journey here, and while I’m done in Cherokee County, it’s a journey that I will happily continue in Jackson County. During the transition I may not have time to post on the blog every week – something I’ve done weekly since late 2010 – but I’ll post when I can. 

If you’re looking for a house in the woods (2 acres!) with native plants, the listing for this property should be available in early to mid-September. Here is what it looked like in 2016, but of course some things have changed. If you are looking for native plant friendly homes in Florida & Georgia, there is a Facebook group for that.

July 2025 Moment in Nature

A thriving plant, blooming its head(s) off, is this month's #momentinnature because it just makes me smile every time I see it! This is devil's walkingstick (Aralia spinosa).

This shows about 4 of the flowers

I wrote about this exact plant in 2014 when it bloomed for the first time. Shortly thereafter it broke in a thunderstorm. Thunderstorms have broken branches 1-2 more times since then, but each time the remaining branches got stronger and now I have 15-18 of these giant flowers.

The photo below more accurately reflects the pale cream color of the blooms. The tiny individual florets are opening and equally tiny insects are visiting it. It will eventually bring in even larger butterflies and in general be a joy to watch from the deck where I have a birds-eye view.

Aralia spinosa as viewed from the deck above it.

Not many people are willing to have this thorny plant in their landscape. Most often you see it on the side of road where it is free to be as thorny as it wants. But I enjoy having it and will definitely take a sprout of it whenever I move.

This photo from 2020 shows 3 butterflies enjoying it

Feel Good Stories

 

As you drive around, you probably see what many of us see: new construction sites showing Georgia red clay where trees once stood, new plantings of ornamental exotic plants, and prolific stands of invasive plants choking our roadsides. It can be depressing and so I offer a selection of fairly recent stories to help spotlight some good in this area.

Remember that we can also do our part to help improve the plant landscape in Georgia: educate your friends and neighbors; talk to your community (HOA, city, county, schools, churches, garden clubs) about the benefits of native plants and the harm of invasive ones; at all levels, vote for people who support conservation of land and environmental protections; and donate to organizations that educate about these issues, fight for these issues, and that help to conserve habitat.

Okefenokee view: saw palmetto and longleaf pines

In Georgia, Okefenokee land purchase: “Thanks to the incredible work of The Conservation Fund, the site of a proposed mine on the doorstep of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is permanently protected. The Conservation Fund announced the purchase of Twin Pines Minerals’ mine site near the border of the refuge. In addition to the land, the group is also acquiring the underlying mineral rights.” Read the linked article for background and details on why this is such a great achievement. Donations to land conservation organizations make achievements like this possible.

In North Carolina, there is a new promotion effort by the NC Department of Agriculture for native plants. It is part of the support for the NC Native Plants Act. They created point of sale kits that contain a four-foot banner, a yard sign with support, and 50 North Carolina Native Plant plastic plant labels with logo and area for plant name.

Point of sale kit (Photo from link above)

In Alabama, a popular native plant influencer got national recognition for his work. “Kyle Lybarger built a loyal following online by talking about native plants and why biodiversity matters.” The article shares the story of what changed him and some of the other ways he has been able to make a difference, including land conservation.

In Virginia, invasive plants will get the label they deserve. “Gov. Glenn Youngkin has signed a bill to require many invasive plant species to be labeled in stores. […] The law will go into effect in 2027.” Gardeners deserve to know what they’re getting into: “The list of plants included in the legislation does not include every invasive species found in Virginia. It does include 39 of the worst offenders and species that can be commonly found in stores like English ivy, Bradford pear trees and periwinkle. Oftentimes, gardeners purchase these plants without knowing the damage they cause to the environment as a whole or the extent of their impact on their property and neighborhood.”

And in West Virginia, there is hopeful news about cleaning waterways polluted by years of coal mining. “Mine reclamation has also historically been more focused on land: moving mountains back into place after surface mining or filling in hollowed-out spaces underground to prevent collapse. Water and biodiversity concerns often went unaddressed, even though acidic runoff can corrode pipes and threaten drinking water for many residents of rural West Virginia who rely on backyard wells.” In addition, some of the efforts allow them to extract some rare earth minerals that can be reused.