Author: lwcmartin@bellsouth.net

In the Conservation Greenhouse at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, where I am lucky enough to volunteer every week, the conversation is almost always about plants. No surprise there! It is such a delight to be able to ask all my plant-nerdy questions and to listen to people who respond both enthusiastically and authoritatively.

The conversation this past week was all about the importance for plants to be able to adapt quickly and smoothly to harsh conditions caused by climate change. The consensus was that the best way for plants to adapt is to have a strong and diverse gene pool. Of course, this means trying to prevent or reduce inbreeding, a concept more easily understood with monkeys and lions (and kings and queens!) than with plants.

Everyone knows that if you’re breeding dogs or horses or cows that you don’t breed siblings. The farther from the family tree you can get, the better for creating a genetic mix that is strong and stable and produces individuals who don’t play banjoes (ha! a quick reference to the movie Deliverance.)

What’s a little more difficult to get your head around is that these same principles apply to plants as well. You can have a hundred endangered plants growing happily in a field but if they are all genetically identical, there will be no depth to the population, no hardy individuals who have just the right gene combination to withstand what may come.

And this is why scientists at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and the State Botanical Gardens in Athens and a hundred other organizations are relentless in tracking the genetic flow of these endangered plants. When placed back into the wild, they need to be put into places where they will increase the genetic diversity to produce offspring that are hardy and adaptable.

In thinking about all this, it occurred to me that even though our own individual gene pool was set at conception, the idea of staying flexible and adapting to varying conditions is as important for us as it is for the plants. With a future that often looks bleak, I think that our best bet to stay off the endangered species list is to find the adaptability to keep our sense of humor and our optimism no matter what happens. These are skills and attributes that will allow us to thrive in a changing world.

There’s an old gardening saying that states, “There’s a plant for every place and a place for every plant,” and for the most part, that’s true in nature too.

The southern United States boasts an incredible diversity of “places” that are perfect for a wide variety of plants. Over eons, our native plants have found just the right niches – places where all their environmental requirements are met and where competition is low enough to allow them to flourish.

Some of these plants are so adapted to a specific environment that any alteration to their habitat causes stress to the population. Think of it in houseplant terms. You are an avid grower of African violets. You’ve set up a place in your home that meets all their specifications. You provide the absolute perfect amount of light, you water from the bottom, feed them regularly, and keep them at an even temperature. You’re an amazing grower!

But what happens when a storm knocks out the electricity? Or you go visit your sister and forget to get a plant sitter? Your plants have become so accustomed to perfect conditions that any alteration – a change in light, moisture, or nutrients – is going to have an immediate and detrimental consequence.

Which is what’s happening to so many of our specialized and endangered native plants these days. Each habitat has developed in a unique way and the plants in it have evolved to thrive in those exact conditions.

When those conditions change, the ability of these plants to thrive or even survive is compromised. What if your world is a tree in a Florida rockland hammock that is cut down to build a condo? What if your world is a puddle on a granite outcrop and someone throws an old tire into your puddle?

While it’s still true that there is a plant for every place, it’s no longer true that there is a place for every plant. Habitat degradation and habitat loss are two of the main threats to our vulnerable and endangered plants.

While we can’t provide for these wild plants as we would for African violets, we can work together to save their habitats and make sure that their place in the world is secure.

Last summer (when there were no leaves falling), in a fit of environmental enthusiasm, I fired the lawn service with their big, noisy gas guzzling leaf blowers and took over the job of caring for our yard myself. Jack, my ever supportive but sometimes skeptical husband, suggested that keeping leaves off the driveway and front yard may be a little challenging in the fall. He wondered (out loud) if I’d be able to do it.

The comment was slightly manipulative and completely effective. Since leaves began falling in earnest a few weeks ago, I have been slightly obsessed with keeping them off the driveway, just in case SOMEONE thought I couldn’t do it.

I have my trusty little battery operated leaf blower but even with this marvelous tool, I’m here to tell you that efficiently blowing leaves is harder than it looks. The first few times I think I managed to blow them from one side of the driveway to the other without ever really getting them into a pile.

But practice (lots of it) has improved my skills. My battery only lasts 20 – 30 minutes but this is generally enough time to blow off the driveway and make a dent in the moss “lawn” in the back.

Once I have a nice pile gathered together, I get out my electric leaf mulcher. Since I only have a push mower, I have no other way to chop up the leaves to use as mulch and compost. But the mulcher is a great machine. It takes almost no time to pour a trash can of leaves through the mulcher to get a small basket full of cut leaves, particularly if there are no sticks amongst the leaves.

I used some of my newly mulched leaves to put around the pansies I just put out along the street front. Frankly, it’s hard to tell the difference between the oak leaves I just gathered up and the chopped up oak leaves that I just put back down in the same place. I have confidence, though, that the shredded leaves will decompose more quickly and serve to keep down the weeds and provide some protection from the cold, as any good mulch should do.

During my hours of blowing leaves, I have had ample opportunity to make some autumn observations. For example, the crepe myrtle trees were the first to lose their leaves, followed quickly by a large oak tree that has shown signs of stress in past years. The leaves on the water oaks in the back haven’t even begun to turn and fall, though the large sweet gum tree is almost bare limbed now.

There is a certain satisfaction in clearing a path clean enough to get cars in and out of the driveway and an even greater satisfaction in using every leaf that falls in our yard. They either go directly on the planting beds or are cut up for compost.

An unexpected benefit from all this is that I’ve made friends with the other lawn caretakers in the neighborhood. We compare notes and commiserate when leaves turn wet and are hard to get up. And, I have new found respect and appreciation for what they do and how hard they work though I really, really wish they would trade in their horrifically loud gas blowers for relatively quiet electric ones.

Fall is young yet and Jack may prove to be right but for now, I’m happy and energized caring for this piece of land I call home.

Last week our family was fortunate enough to spend three days on Georgia’s coastal island, Cumberland Island. Most of the island is designated as a National Seashore, meaning that it is a rare and beautiful coastal wilderness.

This wilderness area is dominated by one of the most beautiful and majestic of all trees, the Southern Live Oak, Quercus virginiana. With huge limbs dripping with Spanish moss, these trees are an iconic symbol of the South and is the state tree for Georgia.

Though it’s often described as evergreen, it is really. not. During a short span of a few weeks in spring, the live oak will lose leaves and almost immediately grow new ones. In autumn, it drops copious numbers of acorns with can germinate almost immediately.

The Southern Live Oak is a keystone species and is home, food or support for hundreds of mammal, bird, plant and insect species. Acorns feed northern bobwhites and Florida scrub jays, wild turkey, black bears, squirrels and deer. The leaves host any number of moth and butterfly species.

It seems that whole worlds grow on the limbs and in the treetop. In addition to the Spanish moss, resurrection fern, fig vine, lichen, epiphytes and dozens of other plants call the live oak “home.”

On the grounds of the inn where we stayed, one tree, in particular, captured our attention. With multiple trunks coming from a single root system, the tree was huge and was estimated to be over 350 years old. As impressive as it is, though, it cannot compare in size or age to other live oaks growing in the South.

The Seven Sisters Live Oak Tree in Mandeville, LA is estimated to be between 500 – 1000 years old. Measurements taken in 2016 found a circumference of 39.6 feet and a height of 57 feet.

The Southern Live Oak is a beautiful and awe inspiring example of the importance of a single species. To lose even a single live oak tree would impact hundreds of different organisms and would greatly diminish the beauty of our world.

Trilliums, in all their three part harmonies, are some of our most beautiful wildflowers. Worldwide there are 43 different species, 38 of which are native to the United States, primarily in the Southeast. Georgia alone boasts 20 native trillium species, two of which are on the federal endangered species list.

Even though a “rose is a rose is a rose,” the same is not true of trilliums. Though they all have three petals, three sepals and three leaf-like bracts, there is a wealth of variation in color and flower form. They are broadly grouped into two different types: pedicidellate, meaning the flower is attached to a short stem called a pedicel (such as the nodding white trillium above) or sessile, meaning the flower seems to grow directly from the bracts (such as the relict trillium below).

Trillium reliquum, a federally endangered species, grows in only a few places in Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama. It is part of a mature hardwood forest ecosystem. Unfortunately, much of its native range has now been taken over by timber companies for growing pines for pulpwood.

Trillium persistens is a gorgeous white blooming plant native to a tiny slice of rugged land that spans the Georgia, South Carolina border in the Tallulah -Tugaloo River drainage. This species has probably never been abundant so losing even a small percentage of the population has devastating effects. The primary threat to the species is an altered habitat due to the continued demise of the hemlock ecosystem.

Our very common and charming little toad shade trillium, T. cuneatum, grows abundantly throughout the south and is a great trillium to include in a garden. It has a musky scent that attracts pollinators such as beetles. As charming as it is, the toad trillium wouldn’t win any beauty contests when lined up with such stunners as the snow or painted trilliums.

Seeing a wild hillside covered with trilliums in bloom is thrilling. It will stop you in your tracks and offer the gift of awe and wonder. We should be full of gratitude for such a gift of nature and should work unceasingly to protect the threatened and vulnerable of these species.

To learn more about Georgia’s endangered trilliums and other species, go to my exhibit, Imperiled Beauty at the gallery of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. The exhibit will be up until December 3, 2023.

For a couple of hours, every few weeks this past summer, my driveway smelled something like a jar of pickles. Though odd, it proved to be worth every strange look I got from the neighbors. The reason?

In my never ending search to have and maintain an earth friendly landscape, I sometimes need to rely on commercial “organic” products. One of these times was this past summer when Jack (ever patient husband) suggested that the weeds between the paving stones in the driveway were looking a little, well….weedy.

What! Weedy? For weeks I had convinced myself that these small green plants were like “steppables,” those low growing mat spreading plants that you plant on purpose. But, as the summer progressed and these little plants kept growing and spreading, even I had to admit that they looked weedy.

My first plan was to dig them up by hand but after twenty minutes I knew that was going to be far too time consuming. My next thought was to pour boiling water on them but after heating a pan of water on the stove and then pouring it on the weeds I knew that was going to be even slower than pulling them out by hand.

And then I thought of vinegar which I knew is sometimes used to kill weeds. Vinegar is a natural product, made when yeast feeds on the sugar or starch of plants such as fruits and grains. The liquid ferments into alcohol which, when exposed to oxygen and the acetic acid bacteria Acetobacter, produces vinegar.

I found a commercial grade vinegar called “Green Gobbler” which is 20% pure acetic acid (household vinegar is usually 5 – 8%) with a pump spray and tried it out. Within a few hours, the weeds turned brown. Success! But I was left with several questions.

1. Would it last? Did it really kill the weeds? No. It kills the leaves but not the roots but it took about a month for the plants to begin putting out leaves again and another couple of weeks for them to look weedy so that was okay by me.
2. Is it really a natural product? I’m not sure. A quick search determined that vinegar is natural but the process to get it is not always so. Petroleum is sometimes used to process vinegar. I could not determine whether or not petroleum is used to make “Green Gobbler ” but I suspect the answer is yes.
3. How does the vinegar effect the pollinators, other insects and soil microorganisms ? Vinegar is lethal to bees. But, I was spraying directly on paving stones so I think few of the fumes became airborne. And, I think there is really no soil life under the driveway. It could impact the runoff from the driveway but I think this is a minimum risk.

In a world in which we all have to “pick our poisons” from politics to cocktails, I think this particular poison is a good choice, in spite of smelling like a pickle!

Jack and I had the great fortune to spend last weekend with supporters and staff from the Southern Environmental Law Center. The conference was held in a beautiful lodge adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and there was no more beautiful place to talk about the goals of SELC – place based action.

I was a little unsure just what “place based action” entailed so a quick search provided this definition: targeted action to a particular locality with combined actions to improve social, economic and environmental conditions.

Wow. That’s a goal I can fully and unconditionally support. Though the primary concern of SELC is the environment (obvious from the name), they are also advocates for social and economic justice within the southern states where they work – Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. And what makes them so effective is that they know the South with all our quirks and glories. They know the big companies and the small town mayors, they know the government agents and the legislators. And they know how to get things done.

A great example is their work in Adel, Georgia to provide greater protection from the impacts of wood pellet production. The Spectrum Energy plant is located next to primarily Black and Hispanic residential neighborhoods which, for years, have withstood the noise, pollution and traffic caused by the plant.

Along with the Concerned Citizens of Cook County, SELC filed a federal Title VI Civil Rights Act complaint. The settlement now provides protection for public health and limits any future expansion of the facility – both an environmental and social justice victory!

From fighting the proposed titanium mine that would have tremendous detrimental impact on the Okefenokee Swamp to securing protection for our wetlands, to working hard for clean energy for the south, SELC works tirelessly. They are dogged in their determination to protect our environment for the future.

I left the conference impressed, enthused and surprisingly optimistic. I have to admit, though, that the highlight of the weekend for me was an early morning hike up to Hemphill Bald in the National Park. It was a tough climb and when I got to the top I just stopped and took in the spectacular view, relishing being in this place.

Perhaps to best defend a place you have to know it and perhaps the best way to know it is to be in it. And then you’re ready for the fight because then you are defending home and for me, “home” will always be the South.

For more information about the Southern Environmental Law Center and the excellent work they do, go to https://www.southernenvironment.org

So, I failed. The kind ladies from the Georgia Native Plant Society came this morning and strolled through my garden. And, much to their disappointment – and my surprise – I do not qualify as a native plant habitat. No one likes to fail but if I had to do it, I couldn’t have failed with a nicer group of people.

The problem isn’t that I don’t have enough native plants, the problem is that I also have too many non-natives. And by non-natives I don’t mean weeds. They assured me that if I took out the hostas, lenten roses, variegated Solomon’s seal, the liriope, zinnias, dahlias and marigolds, I might pass. But why would I do that?! That seems like a lot of work, effort and money, to say nothing of the fact that all that tearing out and replanting would be detrimental to the organisms in the soil and the overwintering insects. And, I like those plants. Would my garden be any more appealing and useful to pollinators and wildlife if I simply removed them? Would it help a greater environment? I think not.

But this certification is not about the worth of a garden, it’s based simply on the percentage of plants found on your property that are considered native to Georgia or the Southeast. For example, poison ivy (which is native) counts but zinnias do not. I have a beautiful garden with a lot of native plants in it, just not in the right proportions for certification purposes. For the gold standard, 2/3 of all the plants on the property have to be native.

Additionally, they found ivy – not in a pot, I had removed ALL the potted ivy. But I haven’t been able to get rid of all of it on the property and they found it growing under the deck and in the way back part of my yard. The fact that I’ve removed 98% of the ivy from my yard doesn’t count, just what’s there now.

But it all made me stop and ponder about why I wanted certified in the first place and how I felt about not getting that certification and, more importantly, why I garden. It’s been a good conversation to have with myself.

I wanted the certification because I am always trying to encourage people to grow more native plants and I thought a certification sign out front might help. I love our native plants and feel that they greatly contribute to the overall health of the environment. But I love my non-natives as well and there are certain landscape needs that I can’t fill with native plants, or at least I haven’t found them yet.

But I don’t garden for certification or recognition. I garden because I love to dig in the earth and help make things grow. I garden because the flowers I grow are beautiful. I love being an unexpected spot of glorious color along a neighborhood street. I love watching pollinators flock to the flowers. I love sharing my garden and have given away hundreds of cut flowers this summer. I love working in my garden and chatting with my neighbors who stop to admire the flowers. All in all, it’s been the best gardening season of my life.

I think native plant habitats are wonderful and useful and great for the environment and hooray for those who choose to garden this way. As for me? I’m happy and satisfied with what I’ve created. Certified or not, it’s a garden to love.

I am trying to get my garden certified as a native plant habitat. The very excellent organization, the Georgia Native Plant Society offers this certification and the committee is coming to my yard and garden next week. I’m pretty certain I will fail. Not because I don’t grow enough native plants, which I do, but because one of the questions on the registration form was “Do you cultivate invasive plants?”

While filling out the form I gleefully and arrogantly put in a big red NO. I fight invasive plants in my yard. Every day I pull up English ivy, vinca, privet, mahonia…..the list is discouragingly long. Why would I grow these on purpose? But as I left the computer to go outside, I passed the pots on the porch and there, right in the middle, spilling over the sides was English Ivy, one of the most offensive and damaging of all invasive plants. It has a variegated leaf but still, it’s English ivy, the bane of my existence.

I thought about pulling it up (or hiding it under pine straw!) but that seemed silly. It looks nice and poses zero threat of invasion. I didn’t buy it, I stuck a small rooted leaf in the pot years ago. So I told myself, what’s the harm?

But what message does that convey to the many people who come to see my garden? I would hate for anyone to think that I support growing invasive plants. So maybe I should pull it out (before next Tuesday!). Because I know how much damage invasive plants do to our fragile ecosystems, I’m beginning to think that I should not grow it under any circumstance.

Many of our threatened and endangered plants are being smothered by non native plants that spread like a plague. Just imagine a roadside full of kudzu and then try to imagine some tiny native plant, gasping for air, desperately trying to find enough sunshine and moisture to survive. It’s a disturbing image.

What is our responsibility to this issue, as gardeners and conservationists? Of course the first step is to not grow any plant considered potentially invasive (okay, even in a pot.) The next would be to find out if your favorite nursery and plant stores sell invasive plants (ivy, privet….you’d be amazed at what they sell.) And cultivars and varieties are not okay, most of them soon revert to their origins and become a problem. If the stores DO sell them, say something to the management and consider shopping at a store with a higher moral ground. And finally, volunteer to help remove invasive weeds in sensitive areas or to rescue plants being crowded out by invasive weeds. The Georgia Native Plant Society . https://gnps.org. often has volunteer days so this would be a good starting point.

And, wish me luck on Tuesday. I want my garden to not only be a safe haven for native birds and other pollinators but also to serve as an example of how we as gardeners are increasingly responsible for the stewardship of our planet .

THE most endangered plant in Georgia looks like nothing more than a tuft of grass and grows in a puddle. Mat forming quillwort, Iosoetes tegetiformas is endemic to Georgia, meaning it grows nowhere else in the world. There have been only 15 documented populations found, 12 of which have been confirmed during the last 20 years.

Quillworts won’t win any beauty contests – they are non-flowering and tiny – the leaves only grow to 3 inches or less. But value and beauty are not synonymous and I am a firm believer in the worth of every species, no matter how small and insignificant looking.

Mat forming quillwort is sometimes called Merlin’s grass and this, along with a close relative, Black spored quillwort, grow in shallow, flat bottomed pools formed by natural erosion on granite outcrops. Historically, these are seasonally flooded with winter and early spring rains and receive additional moisture through seepage from surrounding habitats. Though Merlin’s grass is a perennial, it disappears during the dry season, reappearing only after a summer rain.

Like a tempest in a teacup, any disturbance (no matter how small) to these pools causes havoc for the species trying to make a living there. With increasing sporadic and violent weather patterns, water fluctuations are not as predictable. With invasive plants changing surrounding habitats, even more changes occur.

Other threats abound. Quarrying on the outcrops, off road vehicle traffic, trampling hikers and cattle – danger is everywhere. No wonder this little plant is considered globally endangered.

How can we help? The best way is to support the many organizations who are doing research and propagating this little plant. I have faith in the scientists and am optimistic that this – and all of Georgia’s endangered plants will be safely secured for our future.

Go by the Gallery at the Atlanta Botanical Garden to see Imperiled Beauty, showcasing quillworts and other federally endangered plants species in Georgia.