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

Plant a Glorious Goldenrod Garden This Year!

OR Do You Think Growing 19 Varieties of Goldenrod is Enough?! I currently have more varieties of goldenrod than any other native plant...

ljmarkson

Jan 10, 20213 min read

Nine Bright and Easy Native Goldenrods to Add to Your Atlanta Naturescape (Natural Landscape)

OR Add Biodiversity to Your Native Plant Habitat with More Goldenrod` OR Can You Ever Really Have Enough Goldenrod? (Edited 12.3.22 to...

ljmarkson

Jan 5, 20214 min read

Why Goldenrod is Native Plant Gold

OR Goldenrod's Many Charms. In my previous post I explain why everyone in the native plant world is talking about goldenrod (solidago). A...

ljmarkson

Dec 31, 20202 min read

Goldenrod (Solidago) is Trending!

OR If You Only Add One Native Plant to Your Yard, Make it Goldenrod! Keystone plant species are what native plant guru Doug Tallamy calls...

ljmarkson

Dec 29, 20202 min read

What Do Pest Control Companies Want to Teach Our Kids?

OR Teach Kids About Butterflies Before Termites. I try hard to focus on positive ways to nurture nature, but when I learn about nature...

ljmarkson

Dec 23, 20202 min read

Can Pest Control Companies Help You Coexist with Nature?

When I found a beautiful spider in the middle of cobwebs on my rarely used garden rake, I started searching the internet to learn more...

ljmarkson

Dec 19, 20202 min read

Triangulate Cobweb Spiders Are Our Friends

OR My Rake Is a Now a Spider Habitat. My rake is used so often that when I recently went to take it out of my gardening storage area it...

ljmarkson

Dec 16, 20202 min read

In Defense of Grasshoppers

OR Without Grasshoppers We Won't Have Birds. On a recent balmy winter day, I walked down a path in my yard and a handful of grasshoppers...

ljmarkson

Dec 12, 20202 min read

I'm An Eco Bag Lady

OR I'm a Naturescape Organic Matter Scavenger Part Two. Much to the embarrassment of my sweet husband, I’m an eco bag lady. When we walk...

ljmarkson

Dec 9, 20203 min read

Essential Native Perennials for a Winter Seedhead Bird Garden

OR How to Intentionally Let Your Yard to Go To Seed Winter has descended on Georgia and I'm ready for it! Thanks to my ongoing...

ljmarkson

Dec 3, 20202 min read

Plant a Winter Seedhead Garden to Nurture a Natural Bird Habitat

OR Birdseed isn't the Only Way to Attract Birds in the Winter Butterfly gardens are wildly popular because flowers are beautiful and...

ljmarkson

Dec 1, 20202 min read

Passionflower Vine Drama: Protective Ants, Life-Sucking Soldiers, and Intoxicated Bees

I’m typically an all-in kind of person when something interests me, and passionflower vine is a striking attention grabber. I won’t be...

ljmarkson

Nov 28, 20202 min read

Native Passionflower Vine is a Popular Butterfly Host Plant

In Georgia, native passionflower vines (passiflora incarnata or lutea) are the only host plant for gulf fritillaries, but it’s not an...

ljmarkson

Nov 27, 20202 min read

Is That a Leaf or Chrysalis?

OR Please Don't Cut Down Your Plants in the Fall! One of the golden rules of nurturing native nature is the same as the golden rule in...

ljmarkson

Nov 25, 20202 min read

The Ticket to a Front Row Seat Watching Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar's Become Butterflies

Or Why Pollinator Gardens Need Native Host Plants The people who tell me their pollinator garden doesn't need native plants invariably...

ljmarkson

Nov 23, 20201 min read

The Very Hungry Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar - From Youthful Defoliation to Chrysalis

Watching generations of gulf fritillary caterpillars go through multiple stages as they defoliate the native passionflower vines...

ljmarkson

Nov 22, 20202 min read