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Nurturing a Firefly Habitat Also Helps Restore Nature
In the context of creating a healthy yard ecosystem fireflies are just another insect we need to provide habitat for. Yet 2,000 firefly...

ljmarkson
Jul 7, 20226 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
Jun 10, 20225 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 30, 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


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 5, 20224 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


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


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


I'm Done Tidying Nature For an Outdated Aesthetic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


White Turtlehead Spreads Slowly But Steadily
My Georgia native plant pick #8 for September is called white turtlehead (chelone glabra) although I haven’t ever seen white flowers...

ljmarkson
Sep 22, 20213 min read


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...

ljmarkson
Sep 19, 20212 min read


Boneset is a Thoroughly Valuable Native Plant
My September native plant pick #4 is common boneset (eupatorium perfoliatum), also called thoroughwort because of the way the stems go...

ljmarkson
Sep 13, 20212 min read


Native Climbing Boneset is Loved By Pollinators!
My #3 September native plant pick is a rambling perennial vine I've only noticed growing at a nearby nature park in my intown Atlanta...

ljmarkson
Sep 8, 20212 min read


Frog Fruit Is a Valuable Native Groundcover!
My September native plant pick #2 is a fantastic low-growing, semi-evergreen groundcover called frog fruit (phyla nodiflora, formerly...

ljmarkson
Sep 4, 20212 min read


Flowering Spurge is an Overlooked Native Plant
I just realized the summer is disappearing and I haven’t shared much about the native plants growing in my little wildlife sanctuary...

ljmarkson
Sep 3, 20212 min read


Robber Flies are Ferocious Insect Hunters!
Yesterday, when a robber fly landed on my backdoor window I felt like it wanted to say hi and have its picture taken because it...

ljmarkson
Jul 31, 20212 min read
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