I was very inspired by this video showcasing the work and philosophy of Edwina von Gal. She shares some useful and creative ideas about how to rethink yard “waste” as artistic and functional design solutions for the garden. “Create the conditions conducive to life” by closing the loop on your property. I love the wren […] Continue reading "Close the loop on your property"
On Saturday, January 31st, Sara Johnson hosted a workshop on winter sowing to demonstrate techniques and principles to stratify and grow native plants from seed. Collection ethics were discussed, and we had a fantastic spread of native garden-grown seeds (many local ecotype) shared by members Sara Cline, Denise Woodring and Sara Johnson. Attached are the […] Continue reading "Winter Sowing Workshop"
Elgie’s Walk Greenway opened in 2020. Located in South Huntsville, it is 2 miles of paved trail from Grissom High School in the north to Bell Mountain Park in the south. It was named after the grandfather of John Hays and is part of the Hays Farm development. The Hays Family gifted Elgie’s Walk to […] Continue reading "Elgie’s Walk"
A special guest article by WONA member Annabelle Lee North America’s only native bamboo species is a little known critically endangered plant – cane of the genus Arundinaria. Arundinaria is in the Poaceae family, and contains four distinct species of cane, all of which are found in Alabama! Rivercane, Arundinaria gigantea, is the most commonly […] Continue reading "Alabama cane"
What is a Weed Wrangle? If you have received a letter from WildOnes because your property is adjacent to an area where we are working, this is the place to find answers about Weed Wrangles. As stated on the Weed Wrangle website, “a Weed Wrangle® is a one-day, area-wide, volunteer effort to help rescue our […] Continue reading "Weed Wrangle – Mt Gap Trail"
Dr. Dwayne Estes is an inspiration to all of us who care about native plants and ecosystems and preserving biodiversity. His story is one of perseverance and passion. Check out this short documentary about his work to preserve these endangered ecosystems by forming the Southeastern Grasslands Institute. Continue reading "The Prairie Preacher"
While the time to see native azaleas blooming is long past, this article on native azalea identification is quite valuable to understand the basics of azalea identification. For further information and keys, see Flora of the Southeastern U.S. https://fsus.ncbg.unc.edu/main.php?pg=show-key.php&taxonid=65656 Continue reading "Native Azaleas"
Wild Ones has received a lot of requests to provide information about native spring ephemerals. The video below from the Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia provides a lot of great information about spring ephemerals, their reproduction, ecosystem function and landscape uses. The ephemerals found in Northern Virginia can also be found in Alabama. Additionally, this […] Continue reading "Native Spring Ephemerals"
While not every plant in the following video is a New World native, Thomas Ranier’s work is very inspirational to those attempting to landscape in the naturalistic New Perennialist style (using mostly or exclusively native plants). I especially like the idea that we should strive to plant not what we want to plant, but what […] Continue reading "Gardening in a Post Wild World"
In the 1984 movie Ghostbusters, there’s a scene where Gozer the Gozerian tells the Ghostbustors to, “choose your destroyer.” This is actually what happens every time someone who is uninformed about ecology, botany or horticulture goes to a typical nursery or garden box store to buy plants for their garden. It turns out that the […] Continue reading "Sowing the seeds of our destruction"