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

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 20, 20229 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

Apr 7, 20223 min read

Atlanta Area Spring 2022 Native Plant Sales and Nurseries

Spring native plant buying season is here! It’s exciting to see most of the native plant sales and nurseries are once again in person...

ljmarkson

Mar 16, 20226 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

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 20, 20222 min read

Why My Family Doesn't Bring Me Flowers Anymore

My family shows how much they love me by not giving me cut flowers. They know I don’t want flowers covered in pesticides that are grown...

ljmarkson

Feb 12, 20223 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

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

Feb 2, 20225 min read

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, 20226 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