top of page
All Blog Posts


Native Plants to Winter Sow for Summer Blooms This Year
I thought I was done winter sowing in the first week of January when I planted 100 different native plant seeds and put the trays outside...

ljmarkson
Jan 23, 20227 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 11, 20222 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
Jan 9, 20225 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 30, 20215 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 26, 20214 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 21, 20213 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 17, 20214 min read


Fresh Gift Ideas for the Backyard Nature Lover
If you know someone who buys native plants by the carload, creates a safe backyard habitat space for wildlife, has seeds stratifying in...

ljmarkson
Dec 10, 20215 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
Dec 8, 20216 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 29, 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 23, 20215 min read


Update on My Mini Nature Center
I appreciate how social media can connect me to so many like-minded people who are also working to restore nature where they live. It’s...

ljmarkson
Nov 19, 20215 min read


Create Local Change by Building Community Support for Native Plants
The native plant community in Atlanta grew stronger yesterday with the first event of the newly minted Intown Atlanta Chapter of the GNPS...

ljmarkson
Nov 9, 20214 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
Nov 3, 20213 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 31, 20214 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 22, 20215 min read


I'm Done Tidying Nature For an Outdated Aesthetic
I’ve recently had a paradigm shift about spending so much energy making my rewilded yard more approachable, neater, or more traditionally...

ljmarkson
Oct 17, 20215 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 13, 20213 min read


Native Georgia Aster is a Rare Southern Belle
October is aster time so I’m starting off my list of ten October native plants with the stunning Georgia aster (Symphyotrichum...

ljmarkson
Oct 6, 20215 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...

ljmarkson
Sep 30, 20213 min read
bottom of page


.jpg)
