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

Hemlock Falls Trail – Spring Edition

 

Earlier this month, I led a pair of walks for the Georgia Botanical Society’s annual pilgrimage to Hemlock Falls Trail near Moccasin Creek State Park. I have visited this trail before, but it was a winter walk so I was excited to see what might be blooming there in the spring. This trail leaves from a wooded parking area along a dirt path sprinkled with rocks, roots, and the occasional mud puddle (caused by seepage). The path is bordered by a steep edge (careful!) and landscaped by nature with various plants such as ferns, white wood aster (Eurybia divaricata), yellowroot (Xanthorhiza simplicissima), and poison ivy (more careful!).

Northern maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum)

Cow-wheat (Melampyrum lineare)

Crested iris (Iris cristata)

The bulk of the plants are the trees and shrubs, including a very dominate presence by great laurel (Rhododendron maximum) which was not yet blooming. Other shrubs there: Mountain doghobble (Leucothoe fontanesiana), Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus), Northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin), Smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens), Huckleberry (Gaylussacia ursina), Mountain clethra (Clethra acuminata), and Buffalo nut (Pyrularia pubera). Other trees in addition to an assortment of oaks (Quercus) and maples (Acer): Mountain basswood (Tilia americana var. heterophylla), Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera), Sweet Birch (Betula lenta), Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum), Silverbell (Halesia), and Mountain magnolia (Magnolia fraseri).

Mountain magnolia in bloom (Magnolia fraseri)

Huckleberry flowers (Gaylussacia ursina)

Of course forbs are the stars of the spring hike and there were some good ones as we traversed the 1.2-mile walk to the waterfall. Here are the ones that I made note of: Cow-wheat (Melampyrum lineare), Foamflower (Tiarella austrina), Solomon's seal (Polygonatum biflorum), Solomon's plume (Maianthemum racemosum), Catesby’s trillium (Trillium catesbyi), Vasey's trillium (Trillium vaseyi), Indian cucumber-root (Medeola virginiana), Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), Toothwort (Cardamine diphylla), Violets (Viola rotundifolia, blanda, hastata, sororia), White wood aster (Eurybia divaricata), Lady rue (Thalictrum clavatum), Clustered snakeroot (Sanicula odorata), Goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus), Orobanche uniflora (now Aphyllon uniflorum), Thyme-leaf bluet (Houstonia serpyllifolia), Crested dwarf iris (Iris cristata), and Rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens). Ferns were also well represented and included New York fern (Amauropelta noveboracensis), Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), Intermediate fern (Dryopteris intermedia), Northern maidenhair (Adiantum pedatum), and American climbing fern (Lygodium palmatum).

Trillium vaseyi with Viola blanda

Thyme-leaf bluet (Houstonia serpyllifolia)

Lady rue (Thalictrum clavatum)

Tiarella austrina showing its habit (spreading)

I cannot avoid mentioning invasive plants that we found there. First is Japanese spirea (Spiraea japonica) which can found throughout the parking area and along the early part of the trail. That plant is known to be invasive in Rabun County and the bronze color of the new growth helps to identify it in the early spring. There is also Elaeagnus umbellata in the parking area. A surprise was finding two pieces of autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora) near the edge of the creek close to the waterfall (far from civilization). We pulled both of those and packed it out with our trash; I also reported it on iNaturalist.

By the way, since I led the same walk twice, I was curious if we would notice different plants on the second walk. The answer was yes, we did notice things on the second walk that we hadn't spotted on the first one. So, go ahead and walk the same trail twice, it might be twice as nice.

2025 in Pictures

I take a lot of pictures throughout the year and not all of them make it into a blog post. At the end of the calendar year, it’s a good time to reflect on the beauty of nature as well as share some of the extra pictures. I believe that each day is an opportunity to find and appreciate something beautiful in the native plants and creatures of Georgia. 

In January, we had a bit of cold weather and the seedheads on the native Clematis virginiana in my yard turned into exquisite ice sculptures. February was strangely quiet for me plant-wise, but I found this photo that I snapped in or near the elevator at Kennestone Hospital. My best friend had fallen and broken her ankle and arm; I was there to visit. I found this natural treatment (it looks just like you'd stepped into a Piedmont woodland) quite soothing and thought what a good idea it was to do this in an otherwise stressful environment.

Clematis virginiana

Fake window at hospital

Seeing a favorite flower return is always special. In March, my twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla) bloomed and delighted me just as much as the first time it did. [Honestly, I'm always glad the moles/voles missed it.] This spray of parsley hawthorn (Crataegus marshallii) flowers was just perfect at my friend's house in April.

Twinleaf

Parsley hawthorn

We were in Europe in May and I snapped several dozen photos of wild common daisy (Bellis perennis); it is their most beautiful "weed" and I hope they appreciate how adaptable it is (it looks great in lawns there and loves masonry cracks). Come June, I was admiring the Great Laurel (Rhododendron maximum) blooming in my side yard. I didn't know then it would be our last spring together.

Common daisy, Amsterdam

Rhododendron maximum

July was a glorious bloom event for my devil's walking stick (Aralia spinosa). It had between 14 and 18 flowers this year. August is always a time to appreciate the Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium fistulosum). Those flowers are much beloved by Eastern tiger swallowtails and bumble bees; I always use it for the Pollinator Census counting to illustrate how attractive native plants are for pollinators.

Aralia spinosa

Eutrochium fistulosum

By September I was getting ready to put our house on the market. As I worked in the yard, I was excited to see the Florida fern caterpillar (Callopistria floridensis).  Speaking of Florida, we take more trips to Florida now to visit our granddaughter and in October I begged my husband to stop on the side of the road to admire the late-blooming Helianthus (no worries, he always says yes).

Fern caterpillar

Helianthus angustifolius

As I was walking around the yard with the new owner of our house in November, we found something I had not seen before: a Joro spider laying eggs in the curve of a deciduous leaf (Hydrangea barbara). And finally in December, we stopped by Fort Yargo State Park (just 15 minutes from our new house) for an exploratory visit. I look forward to visiting it and other nearby natural areas in 2026!

Another 100 spiders?

Fort Yargo State Park

Wishing you a good year in 2026 and more native plants and critters in your daily life.

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

 

Fight for Conservation

 

Georgia aster (Symphyotrichum georgianum S3)

Once nature is no longer protected, it is hard or – in some cases – impossible to get back. As environmental stewards process where we are at this moment in America, it’s time to double down. Vital lands and resources are once again at risk, and it’s up to us to protect them. For a preview of the kinds of changes waiting ahead, the folks at Alt National Park shared this impact list compiled from 4 years ago.

Seek out the causes that are important to you: local lands, state & national parks, tribal lands, ocean health, endangered organisms. Join groups that monitor environmental issues so that you have enough notice to take action when needed. In addition to the ones mentioned in the linked article (Earthjustice, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, National Resources Defense Council), I would also mention Southern Environmental Law Center and The Nature Conservancy.

Donate your time, your talents, and money if you are able. As always, convince others that these issues are important. Remember, there is no Planet B and birds, insects, and animals have only us to speak for them. Let’s get busy.

Talk to Your Neighbors about Native Plants

As we learn more about the benefits of using native plants, it is natural to want to spread that information to neighbors, friends, and family about why it matters. What I’ve found is that people are surprisingly open to learning more but usually appreciate help in making changes. Here are some ideas for spreading the native plant message among friends. 

1. Introduce the idea: You might play off areas of interest like birds (“I noticed you like to feed the birds”) and butterflies (“I love butterflies but I haven’t seen many this year, have you?”) and then talk about how native plants support them better. Explain about how you learned that diminishing landscapes with native plants have contributed to declines in birds and insects and that you’ve been swapping out some of your plants to help them. 

2. Validate how people feel if they mention specific plants. “I loved that as a child but now I know that it doesn’t support our insects.” “Now I know that using a native plant is more helpful.” “You know, when we know better, we can do better.” Use my food chart example to illustrate that we don’t have to get rid of all exotic plants.

3. Explain terms like exotic and invasive to convey that only some exotic plants are a problem. Include concepts about how the bad ones can disrupt the ecosystem and that wildlife/wind/water spread your seeds to other places; it's not always obvious to the person who has the plant.

4. Address concerns (Won't it be messy?). We know that we can use design principles to have aesthetically pleasing gardens with native plants. Encourage people to take it one step at a time and not be overwhelmed. 

Example of intentional design

5. Provide information like resources from the Georgia Native Plant Society and Homegrown National Park. Share social media groups (Facebook), people to follow (Instagram, TikTok), blogs, and podcasts that you have found helpful. 

6. Offer to help if you can: help dig up old shrubs for older people or offer to help research some ideas for replacements or where to buy them. Share some of your favorite native plant extras!

Feel free to use my graphics and my blog posts to illustrate concepts or provide recommendations. Spread the word!

Prioritize Removal of Invasive Plants

 

Georgia roadsides are a mixed bag of vegetation but increasingly they are being swallowed up in invasive plants. In Georgia, we’ve all seen mounds of kudzu, stands of bamboo, thickets of privet, choking wisteria, and trees transformed into English ivy monsters. Joining them now are the large-leaved Princess trees, colonies of tree of heaven, thorny ornamental pears, chinaberry, mimosa, tallow tree. All of these are Category 1 invasive plants in Georgia. These plants are literally overtaking native plants, reducing the productiveness of our natural ecosystems, resulting in fewer pollinators, fewer birds, as well as other critters that depend on these.

Roadside English ivy, spreading towards neighbor

In this post I present 3 ideas that we could implement to help slow up these invasive plants.

I used to think that development would at least help clean some of this up. But that is not always the case; several newer neighborhoods near me kept all those road edges intact. New homeowners there appear to like the buffer that these thickets of privet and tree of heaven provide. The fruits and seeds from these plants continue to infest new areas, creating an even bigger problem.

Building approvals that should require developers to remove Category 1 invasive plants as a condition of the permitting process. With a smart phone in every hand, identifying invasive plants is not hard to do and should be part of the cost of development just like water management, roads, and utilities.

Kudzu, despite our knowing how bad it is, is actually worst now that before. Infested areas are spreading rapidly to new properties and seeds are dispersed even further. Why should property owners have to deal with the neglect of others? I am aware of one Georgia community that is drafting a ‘control of vegetation’ ordinance to require owners to manage invasive plants, especially when they move into adjacent properties due to lack of control: “An invasive plant owner shall not allow an invasive plant that is capable of spreading by runners, roots, vines, stems, bulbils, or rhizomes to spread from the invasive plant owner’s property to any public right-of-way or any adjoining property not owned by the invasive plant owner.”

Municipalities that manage their roadsides are capable of exerting the effort to actually remove invasive trees that grow into utility lines; unfortunately my personal observation is that they just prune them, ensuring that they will need another round next year while also allowing them to set seed and shade out native plants.

In summary: 1) require developers to remove invasive plants during construction; 2) create ordinances that require owners to contain any spreading invasive that they have; and 3) remove invasive plants in the right of way as part of regular roadside maintenance.

Kudzu overtaking a wooded park (those trees all have kudzu)

Reconnect with Local Nature

We don’t have to go far to reconnect with nature: no expensive trip to a national park or road trip to another part of the state; no corralling the kids with juice boxes and snacks to get in the car; and no pricey admission fee. Just get out and walk around your neighborhood.

Tortoise Beetle in my yard in 2014

I have found so many cool things in my yard and within walking distance and it gives me a quick uplift to refresh my sense of natural things. More and more data is coming out that time in nature is good for your health - both your physical and mental health. An article came out recently (and this is a gift link to it) that specifically talks about the impact on developing youngsters: “Time outdoors — even a walk around the neighborhood — helps children’s cognition, stress levels and general growth.”

“The average American today spends nearly 90 percent of their time indoors, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Yet research indicates that children benefit greatly from time spent in nature; that not only does it improve their cognition, mood, self-esteem and social skills, but it can also make them physically healthier and less anxious.”

This is not a new concept; Richard Louv has written about it before in his book “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.” I have reviewed his other book in the past, “Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life.” Between screen time and outsourcing the yard work to a lawn service, at-home outdoor time consists of going to the mailbox and filling the birdfeeder. We need to do more!

A new frog to explore

Pileated woodpecker near my driveway

So apply a little sunscreen, add a spritz of bug spray and get out there to see what’s happening. Snap photos of unknown critters and then research them together to see what you found. Tools like iNaturalist and helpful online resources/identification groups can help you figure it out.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail are common visitors

Keystone Plants Maximize Small Spaces

Yards are getting smaller and the conversion of natural habitat to residential communities is shrinking the availability of native plants to support native insects. While we should protect native habitat as our first choice for supporting native insects, we have learned that we can make a difference in our designed landscapes by choosing the most productive plants. 

“Keystone” is the term for the most productive plants in terms of how much they support insect herbivores such as caterpillars, the larval form of butterflies, moths, and sawflies. The more insects a plant can support, the more productive it can be for the local ecosystem that depends on those insects (like birds).

Native Clematis

It’s too hot and dry to plant now, but you might be thinking of what you’ll buy and plant in the fall so now is a good time to make a list. Including some keystone plants would help you take your efforts further than without them. 

I had a hard time finding a good list so I created one using Doug Tallamy’s early resources. You can download and print my list from here. Of course you’ll want to first take stock of what you might already have – for example you might already have an oak tree or a maple (or if your neighbor has those, you can usually consider them close enough to count). If so, plant for maximum diversity by choosing something new like a river birch, a willow, or a hawthorn.

If you have very little space, you might consider choosing keystone herbaceous plants (these are your perennials, see the back side of my handout for them). Homegrown National Park has some nice resources for using keystone plants in containers; here is a link to the Southeastern one. You’ll notice them using the keystone plants goldenrod, asters, and sunflowers – those are the top 3 keystone perennials. I've included links to earlier blogs about those 3 plants so you can see some of the choices available.

So walk around and see what you've got and make plans for adding new ones in the fall to amp up the biodiversity in your garden and in the ecosystem.