Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens
Healthy Gardens. Healthy Planet
Sue has been actively promoting the use of native plants for over a decade now, as a speaker, writer, blogger, and Volunteer. Her efforts have been exerted on behalf of the Florida and Virginia Native Plant Societies, Audubon of Northern Virginia, and the American Horticultural Society, among others. In addition she is a former gentlewoman farmer; raiser and trainer of horses, dogs, and chickens, and thus, certified in all types of composting. More formal credits include Habitat Facilitator, Master Gardener, and also Master Naturalist in both Florida and Virginia, which, it has been suggested, makes her a bi-polar gardener. Thrilled to be a part of the team at Native Plant and Wildlife Gardens, you can also visit her at at her blog Clean Green Natives
The moment is at hand. You’ve seen the need for more information about native plants in your community. You’ve advertised and promoted your event, you’ve prepared an attractive and easily visible display booth. There’s only one more thing you have to add to the mix to have perfect soil. I mean, perfect conditions, for making [...]
Do you belong to an organization with a message? Perhaps even a mission? Are you passionate about sharing the reasons and the how-to’s for more eco-friendly landscaping? Earlier this month Ginny Stibolt was banging her head against the wall because of a recent poll showing that many Floridians had no idea that what they did [...]
What is it about the Monarch butterfly that inspires such admiration? Is it their striking orange and black coloring? The polka-dotted black wing band? The elegant, upward sweep of their wing structure, so symbolic of their royal name? Or is it the utterly incredible feat of their multi-generational migration that can span of thousands of [...]
Poetry carries a special kind of power: the sparseness of its words give each more weight. This poem, written over a hundred years ago, stopped me in my tracks recently. Binsey Poplars (felled 1879) MY aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled, Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun, All felled, felled, are all felled; [...]
Who would have thought that on a freezing day in January on a bare-tree, brown slope of an urban park you would find an occasion for laughter, joy, and triumph? Not me. I had dressed for the weather including my waterproof boots, and brought along my ivy-fighting tools to fight the good fight against English [...]
One more time, I think to myself, one last walk to see some blooming flowers before the year stretches inevitably to its conclusion and color vanishes from the fields until spring. It is late in November, but I know where some asters, a group well-known for their persistence, are likely to still be in flower. [...]
Doug Tallamy spoke recently to an enthusiastic crowd at a sold-out event held at Greenspring Garden, in Fairfax County, Virginia. Dr. Tallamy, speaking on the topic of creating curb appeal with native plants tackled a series of urban legends currently circulating about their use. He then delivered strategies for how to give natives greater inclusion [...]
Being Bird Lovers of the first order, members of The Audubon Society of Northern Virginia (ASNV) were moved to action by messages of declining bird species numbers, such as the following: “Partners in Flight identified 148 bird species in need of immediate conservation attention because of their highly threatened and declining populations.” Realizing the importance [...]
Yes, Professor Cregg, that is EXACTLY the point. The world as we know it WILL come to an end! This summer a turbulent conflagration arose, neatly summed up here, “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,” in which the value of native plants was denigrated. Deprecated. And diminished. I herein wish to object heartily and [...]
Got Shade? Are you living in a shady spot but craving a beautiful wildlife garden where you can support and enjoy birds, butterflies and interesting pollinators? Are impatiens and begonias the only flowers you know that grow in shade? You know that impatiens and begonias have zero wildlife value, but wonder which native plants look [...]
