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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.
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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
Native Aquatic Milkweed Is a Pretty and Petite Monarch Host Plant for Damp Areas
My September native plant pick #5 is white swamp milkweed or aquatic milkweed (asclepias perennis), one of many native milkweeds in...
ljmarkson
Sep 17, 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
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Atlanta, GA
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