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All Blog Posts


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 31, 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
May 21, 20226 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 15, 20229 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
Apr 20, 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 7, 20223 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
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 20, 20222 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 2, 20225 min read
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
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...


ljmarkson
Dec 21, 20213 min read
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...


ljmarkson
Dec 17, 20214 min read
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...


ljmarkson
Dec 8, 20216 min read
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
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...


ljmarkson
Nov 23, 20215 min read
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...


ljmarkson
Nov 4, 20213 min read
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...


ljmarkson
Oct 31, 20214 min read
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...


ljmarkson
Oct 23, 20215 min read
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
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...


ljmarkson
Oct 1, 20213 min read
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...
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