Nurture Native Nature

Creating Healthy Local Ecosystems

Welcome to Nurture Native Nature, a blog about my ongoing journey creating a wildlife sanctuary in my own small piece of our precious earth. Hopefully I can help

make it easier for you to do the same.

oakleaf hydrangea, chipola river ticksee

Make Your Yard a Safe Hummingbird Habitat!

Like everyone else who eagerly anticipates their arrival, I’m checking out my yard every day looking for my first “hummer” of the...

ljmarkson

Mar 30, 20248 min read

Ways to Add Water for Wildlife to Your Yard

I didn’t always have over a dozen water sources in my intown (Morningside) Atlanta yard. Back in 2019 when I went through the process to...

ljmarkson

Jul 30, 20237 min read

18 Edible Herb Flowers to Grow for People and Pollinators

I help take care of the two herb beds at my community garden with a goal make it more sustainable. When I took this on a couple years ago...

ljmarkson

Jun 30, 20237 min read

Connecting Grey Treefrogs and Pokeweed to Sustainable Landscaping

A new game I like to play is drilling down on how even the smallest observation in my rewilded yard can connect back to the importance of...

ljmarkson

May 18, 20233 min read

Local Earth Day Activism Needs to be Every Day

The magical Earth Day event at Zonolite Park organized by hosts Steph Johnson and Josh Wayne raised awareness about protecting the...

ljmarkson

Apr 25, 20233 min read

The Value of Edible Native Plants in Public Spaces

The woodland restoration efforts at Zonolite Park can be summed up in four words - remove invasives, plant natives. Many native edibles...

ljmarkson

Mar 20, 20235 min read

Children Care Deeply About Protecting Nature - Let's Nurture This

We pulled into our driveway from an outing and there was a mother with her 7-or 8-year-old daughter at our front door. The little girl...

ljmarkson

Mar 5, 20233 min read

Native Crossvine is a Habitat Plant

I thought crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) was indestructible. It climbs by tendrils then attaches to trees with even more with roots to...

ljmarkson

Feb 2, 20232 min read

Reclaim Nature and Add Habitat with a Brush Pile

I’ve tried to maximize the edge areas of my small, semi-urban, rewilded yard by tucking away a few brush piles behind shrubs and trees to...

ljmarkson

Nov 30, 20225 min read

To Save Insects and Birds the Future is Now

It turned out to be a great idea for the Intown Atlanta Chapter of the Georgia native Plant Society to squeeze one more event into this...

ljmarkson

Nov 18, 20223 min read

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

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

Mar 6, 20225 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

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