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All Blog Posts


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
May 31, 20227 min read


How To Prevent Children From Having Nature Blindness
For most of my childhood I lived with my grandparents. Long before edible landscapes became fashionable, a large chunk of my...
ljmarkson
May 21, 20226 min read


Why We Need to Support Local Native Plant Retail Nurseries
Recently, I drove over an hour in traffic each way to visit North Georgia Native Plant Nursery to buy two one-gallon native mountain...
ljmarkson
May 15, 20229 min read


20 Easy Shade-Tolerant Native Southern Groundcovers
Finding native groundcovers for shady areas seems to be one of the most common scenarios in Atlanta where we still have more tree canopy...
ljmarkson
Apr 20, 20229 min read


Native Plant Habitat Tour Offers Insights for Backyard Habitat Restoration
Bill and Carol Pardue's yard, one of the six properties at the first GNPS Intown Atlanta Native Plant Habitat Tour. is proof that a small...
ljmarkson
Apr 7, 20223 min read


Atlanta Area Spring 2022 Native Plant Sales and Nurseries
Spring native plant buying season is here! It’s exciting to see most of the native plant sales and nurseries are once again in person...
ljmarkson
Mar 16, 20226 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
Mar 6, 20225 min read


Winter Sowing Native Liatris Spicata for a Mini Nature Center
My friend Rita from Botany Yards generously gave me native plant seeds to put in my mini-nature center. I wondered how to ensure success...
ljmarkson
Feb 20, 20222 min read


Why My Family Doesn't Bring Me Flowers Anymore
My family shows how much they love me by not giving me cut flowers. They know I don’t want flowers covered in pesticides that are grown...
ljmarkson
Feb 12, 20223 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
Feb 6, 20224 min read
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