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Why and How to Coexist With Carpenter Bees, Our Pollinating Superstars

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...

How To Prevent Children From Having Nature Blindness

ljmarkson

May 21, 20226 min read

Coexisting with Nature

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...

Why We Need to Support Local Native Plant Retail Nurseries

ljmarkson

May 15, 20229 min read

Native Plant Nurseries

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...

20 Easy Shade-Tolerant Native Southern Groundcovers

ljmarkson

Apr 20, 20229 min read

Groundcover

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...

Native Plant Habitat Tour Offers Insights for Backyard Habitat Restoration

ljmarkson

Apr 7, 20223 min read

Landscaping for Nature

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...

Just Say No to Spring Backyard Habitat Destruction

ljmarkson

Mar 6, 20225 min read

Local Conservation and Education

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...

Winter Sowing Native Liatris Spicata for a Mini Nature Center

ljmarkson

Feb 20, 20222 min read

Propagation

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...

Winter Sowing Tips for Native Plant Seedlings

ljmarkson

Feb 2, 20225 min read

Propagation

Winter Sowing Tips for Native Plant Seedlings

Last spring, I meant to write a native plant seedling update to my winter sowing posts. I even made notes, but never actually wrote the...

ljmarkson

Dec 26, 20214 min read

Coexisting with Nature

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...

What a Mushroom Eating Squirrel Teaches Us About Nature

ljmarkson

Dec 21, 20213 min read

Coexisting with Nature

What a Mushroom Eating Squirrel Teaches Us About Nature

After a rainy spell a couple weeks ago, mushrooms appeared in a section of my rewilded yard. About a week later I started noticing...

The Future is Dependent on Connecting Children to Nature Every Day

ljmarkson

Dec 17, 20214 min read

Local Conservation and Education

The Future is Dependent on Connecting Children to Nature Every Day

"Today’s children, growing up on lawns and pavements, will not even have nostalgia to guide them, and soon the animals will be not only...

Holiday Light Pollution Shines Brightly at Botanical Gardens

ljmarkson

Dec 8, 20216 min read

Local Conservation and Education

Holiday Light Pollution Shines Brightly at Botanical Gardens

Sometimes I wish I could take off my awareness glasses and go back to ignorantly enjoying things that harm our ecosystem. For example,...

ljmarkson

Nov 29, 20215 min read

Coexisting with Nature

The Squirrel and Acorn Connection

I wish I spoke Eastern grey squirrel on a warm day a couple weeks ago when I saw an industrious young squirrel think he was cleverly...

Connecting the Rodenticide and Backyard Ecosystem Dots

ljmarkson

Nov 23, 20215 min read

Coexisting with Nature

Connecting the Rodenticide and Backyard Ecosystem Dots

My biophobic, eco-clueless neighbor found dead snakes in her driveway and posted in our neighborhood group because she wanted to know if...

Reclaiming My Leaves and Restoring Nature

ljmarkson

Nov 3, 20213 min read

Landscaping for Nature

Reclaiming My Leaves and Restoring Nature

My advocacy for nature puts me outside my conflict comfort zone. I find myself consistently protecting my rewilded yard from neighboring...

A Handful of Late Blooming Fall Native Plants

ljmarkson

Oct 31, 20214 min read

Native Flowering Vines

A Handful of Late Blooming Fall Native Plants

I love profiling native plants but have a growing list of other topics I also want to write about and feel like I’m always running...

Reclaiming Nature and Letting Go of Stress

ljmarkson

Oct 22, 20215 min read

Landscaping for Nature

Reclaiming Nature and Letting Go of Stress

Nature is such a powerful cure-all that ecotherapy uses it as a tool to professionally boost growth, healing and reduce stress. It is...

ljmarkson

Oct 13, 20213 min read

Native Flowering Vines

Rehoming Gulf Fritillary Caterpillars

Last year I posted about not being the only nature lover I know who moves gulf fritillary caterpillars from native passionflower vines...

Don't Overlook Bidens Alba as an Essential Georgia Native Pollinator Plant

ljmarkson

Sep 30, 20213 min read

Native Butterfly & Moth Host Plants

Don't Overlook Bidens Alba as an Essential Georgia Native Pollinator Plant

The idea to profile 30 native plants growing in my yard in September may have been a bit too ambitious. The more realistic number is 10...

White Snakeroot - a Dangerously Pretty Native Plant!

ljmarkson

Sep 19, 20212 min read

Native Pollinator Plants

White Snakeroot - a Dangerously Pretty Native Plant!

Native plant pick #6 for September is white snakeroot (ageratina altissima - previously eupatorium rugosum). The name comes from Native...

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