ljmarkson
Reframing Cues to Care for a Rewilded Yard
A service person recently showed up for a non-essential task that would involve a significant disruption to my rewilded yard. He put his...
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All Blog Posts
ljmarkson
Mar 308 min read
Make Your Yard a Safe Hummingbird Habitat!
Like everyone else who eagerly anticipates their arrival, I’m checking out my yard every day looking for my first “hummer” of the...
ljmarkson
Jul 30, 20237 min read
Ways to Add Water for Wildlife to Your Yard
I didn’t always have over a dozen water sources in my intown (Morningside) Atlanta yard. Back in 2019 when I went through the process to...
ljmarkson
Jun 30, 20237 min read
18 Edible Herb Flowers to Grow for People and Pollinators
I help take care of the two herb beds at my community garden with a goal make it more sustainable. When I took this on a couple years ago...
ljmarkson
May 18, 20233 min read
Connecting Grey Treefrogs and Pokeweed to Sustainable Landscaping
A new game I like to play is drilling down on how even the smallest observation in my rewilded yard can connect back to the importance of...
ljmarkson
Apr 25, 20233 min read
Local Earth Day Activism Needs to be Every Day
The magical Earth Day event at Zonolite Park organized by hosts Steph Johnson and Josh Wayne raised awareness about protecting the...
ljmarkson
Mar 20, 20235 min read
The Value of Edible Native Plants in Public Spaces
The woodland restoration efforts at Zonolite Park can be summed up in four words - remove invasives, plant natives. Many native edibles...
ljmarkson
Mar 5, 20233 min read
Children Care Deeply About Protecting Nature - Let's Nurture This
We pulled into our driveway from an outing and there was a mother with her 7-or 8-year-old daughter at our front door. The little girl...
ljmarkson
Feb 2, 20232 min read
Native Crossvine is a Habitat Plant
I thought crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) was indestructible. It climbs by tendrils then attaches to trees with even more with roots to...
ljmarkson
Nov 30, 20225 min read
Reclaim Nature and Add Habitat with a Brush Pile
I’ve tried to maximize the edge areas of my small, semi-urban, rewilded yard by tucking away a few brush piles behind shrubs and trees to...
ljmarkson
Nov 18, 20223 min read
To Save Insects and Birds the Future is Now
It turned out to be a great idea for the Intown Atlanta Chapter of the Georgia native Plant Society to squeeze one more event into this...
ljmarkson
Jul 7, 20226 min read
Nurturing a Firefly Habitat Also Helps Restore Nature
In the context of creating a healthy yard ecosystem fireflies are just another insect we need to provide habitat for. Yet 2,000 firefly...
ljmarkson
Jun 10, 20225 min read
How to Attract Bluebirds of Happiness to Your Yard
This year I’ve been documenting the joyful journey of a darling Eastern bluebird duo and their precious offspring finally choosing a...
ljmarkson
May 30, 20227 min read
Why and How to Coexist With Carpenter Bees, Our Pollinating Superstars
The responses to a recent post on a neighborhood forum about carpenter bees was horrifying. One person gleefully suggested torturing the...
ljmarkson
Mar 6, 20225 min read
Just Say No to Spring Backyard Habitat Destruction
There were no happy birds in my yard on a warm spring day last week. On Friday I watched them flitting around my neighbor’s yard...
ljmarkson
Feb 5, 20224 min read
Gardening Advice Turns a Corner
Out of curiosity I visited a popular gardening guru’s FB page. Winter lawns, various Roundup products and a flowering (invasive) mahonia...
ljmarkson
Jan 11, 20222 min read
If Nature Was Predictable, It Wouldn't Be So Fascinating
My tiny, semi-urban, rewilded yard surprises me. Every. Single. Day. This past Sunday it was deathly quiet in both the front and...
ljmarkson
Jan 9, 20225 min read
Red-Winged Blackbirds are Special
Years ago, when I had a lawn with a sad, lonely bird feeder in the middle of it, I would senselessly chase away flocks of Red-winged...
ljmarkson
Dec 30, 20215 min read
Cedar Waxwings Reveal How Pervasively Disruptively Invasive Nandina and Honeysuckle are to Wildlife
Soon after I started working on a post focused on invasive nandina (Nandina domestica), I went down a rabbit hole and ended up in a...
ljmarkson
Dec 26, 20214 min read
A December Butterfly Brings Hope
In the middle of the brown landscape of winter a flash or orange and silver movement caught my eye. It startled me and when I looked a...
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