Yellow daisies (Helianthus porteri) atop Arabia Mountain.
GNPS issues statement on cultivars
Much as other conservation-focused organizations have done, GNPS has issued a statement cautioning members about the use of cultivars of native plants, sometimes called nativars. Citing potential "loss of genetic diversity and reduced ecosystem services that plants normally provide," the statement provides guidelines for limited use of nativars in designed landscapes, but encourages the public to seek out straight species for their homes, and to only use straight species in restoration projects. You can read the full statement here.
Plant of the Year nominations open October 11
Georgia has an amazing bounty of beautiful and ecologically important native plants. Each year, GNPS recognizes one of these species as being particularly worthy of public notice. If there’s a native plant (other than a previous POY) that you think is exceptional, we encourage you to nominate it this autumn for GNPS Plant of the Year 2022.
Nominations will open at 7 p.m. sharp on Monday, October 11, 2021 and continue until six acceptable nominees have been submitted. (Premature submissions will not be considered.) All nominated species must be Georgia natives and hardy enough to survive in most gardens. We also encourage you to pick a plant that is not commonly grown in gardens and landscapes.
All nominations MUST INCLUDE a 1) scientific ("Latin") name, 2) common name, and 3) brief reason why your plant would be a good GNPS Plant of the Year. You can find detailed nomination instructions on the GNPS website. Instructions will also be included in an email opening nominations on October 11, and you will need to watch for that email to get the link for submission. Unlike previous years, you do not submit your nomination as email, but instead fill in a very short form.
You must be a member to nominate a plant, so check now to make sure your membership is up to date! If you're not a member, please JOIN and be a part of our native plant community that is making a difference across Georgia.
Georgia has some fantastic species that many people aren’t aware of …yet. This is your chance to introduce one special native plant to the public notice.
The store is open for business!
For many years we have created and sold t-shirts and logo items at our in-person meetings. With the pandemic as well as the increase in broader statewide membership, doing that has not been practical this year. We want our members to be able to get t-shirts and logo items in a more convenient and timely fashion.
We have created a storefront at a digital printing merchant and set up an array of products and apparel styles. You pay on that site and the product is shipped directly to you. GNPS makes a small profit on each item. Our signature item is our 2021 Plant of the Year t-shirt. The shirt features grancy graybeard or fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus), in a design created for us by designer Jenn Smith. It is available in six different styles, which is a broader array than we've been able to offer before. Colors vary by style based on the t-shirt manufacturer for that style (click on the product while on the site to see what colors are offered, only a sample color is shown initially).
Plant Spotlight: Turtlehead (Chelone)
Ellen Honeycutt
 White turtlehead (Chelone glabra), showing the pink tips which sometimes occur.
Turtlehead (Chelone sp.) plants are fairly modest looking perennials most of the year, often overlooked in their preferred moist habitats. The simple, oppositely arranged leaves get lost in what can be a crowded arrangement of other vegetation such as jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) and cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis). Late summer is when turtleheads shine as clusters of fat buds in a compact spike turn into exotic-looking flowers shaped like the head of turtle. Bumble bees are especially fun to watch as they squeeze between the petals to get to the nectar, delighting kids and adults alike.
According to USDA, there are four species of turtlehead, all of which may grow in Georgia, mostly in North Georgia. The range of the most common one, white turtlehead (Chelone glabra), does extend into the upper Coastal Plain. Despite its name, white turtlehead can have a pink tip. Other species have pink flowers, some deeply so. Chelone lyonii 'Hot Lips' is a cultivar selected for its magenta color and dark green leaves and might be found at fall plant sales.
In the garden, include this rhizomatous (spreading) perennial in a spot with good sun and moisture for best results. Pair it with other wet-loving perennials like those mentioned earlier. In my garden I have rain lilies (Zephyranthes atamasco), Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica), and spider lilies (Hymenocallis occidentalis) nearby, and they provide blooms at other times of the year. If it spreads too much, it’s a good plant to share with friends or donate to our chapter plant sales.
Left:White turtlehead (Chelone glabra). Right: Pink turtlehead (Chelone lyonii).
Native Fauna Need Native Flora: Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio polyxenes asterius)
Deborah Ashley
The Eastern black swallowtail butterfly is a lovely addition to any pollinator garden. It has an interesting life history, as well as interesting ways of defending itself. As a larva, it uses the tool of mimicry. This means the larvae look like something much more dangerous or poisonous than they are. In its adult form, the Eastern black swallowtail butterfly resembles the poisonous colors of the pipevine swallowtail, which has a noxious taste and poison. Birds learn this fast!
If you look closely at any swallowtail larvae, they all have reversible horn-like organs behind their heads called osmeteria. In the case of the Eastern black swallowtail, it’s a bright orange-yellow extrusion. This organ is extended when threatened and contains a chemical repellent used to fight off the potential predator.
A few of the native plants the Eastern black swallowtail utilizes are roughfruit scaleseed (Spermolepis divaricata), spotted water hemlock (Cicuta maculata), water cowbane (Oxypolis filiformis), eryngo (Eryngium sp.), Alexanders (Zizia sp.), angelicas (Angelica sp.), and meadow parsnip (Thaspium sp.). Introduced plants that the black swallowtail uses are wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa), poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), and Queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota). Another way to encourage these butterflies to use your garden is by planting caraway (Carum carvi), celery (Apium graveolens), dill (Anethum graveolens), parsley (Petroselinum), and sweet fennel (Foeniculum vulgare). Unlike many of our other plant-specific butterflies, almost any plant in the parsley or carrot (Apiaceae) family can play host to these butterflies.
Black swallowtails are widespread across the United States from Canada to Mexico. They are rare in Florida, possibly due to the lack of plants from the carrot family. Habitats range from flat prairies, family gardens, flat-woods, pine savannas, roadsides, and weedy areas. Males court by waiting near the generally favored host plants on which the females feed.
Left: Caterpillar with visible horns. ( Photo by Susan Ellis, Bugwood.org.) Right: Hairy angelica (Angelica venenosa), one of the host plants for the Eastern black swallowtail. (Photo by Ellen Honeycutt.)
All plant parts of the water hemlock, poison hemlock, and some of the other wild species are extremely poisonous and can cause rashes on the skin of some people. Socrates is believed to have been poisoned by a concoction of hemlock, which was used in ancient Greece to execute prisoners. Black swallowtail caterpillars can detoxify the chemicals in these and other toxic Apiaceae.
The eggs of this species are laid singularly on the host plants. The eggs develop depending on the temperature, but generally take about four to nine days to hatch. The larval stage lasts from 10 to 30 days and the pupal stage nine to 18 days. Like many butterflies, the adult Eastern Black swallowtail butterflies have a short lifespan and usually live 10 to 12 days. Amazingly, some live up to 35 to 40 days.
Chapter News
Coastal Plain Chapter
The annual meeting of the Coastal Plain Chapter will be held on Saturday November 6th from 9 a.m. to noon, and it will be virtual again this year. We have a full agenda. During the business meeting we will elect officers for the next two years and vote on adopting new bylaws. During the educational program, four speakers will share their passions and expertise in protecting and promoting use of native plants in different habitats for different goals.
- Eamonn Leonard - Invasive Plants in the Urban Landscape & How to Treat Them
- Erin Cork - Wildlife Habitat Garden Ponds
- Heather Brasell - Wetland Restoration
- Katie Antczak - Virtual Nature Walk through the Okefenokee Swamp Park.
In order to vote at an annual meeting of a chapter, GNPS members must affiliate with that chapter. If you are receiving NativeScape as a GNPS member, but are not affiliated the Coastal Plain Chapter and would like to be, contact us at cpcgnps@gmail.com for information on how to change your chapter affiliation. Nonmembers who want to attend the educational program can contact cpcgnps@gmail.com for directions.
The chapter will hold a plant sale on October 16th at the Tifton Wiregrass Farmers Market. We need volunteers and a coordinator for plant sales. If you can help, please contact Mary Alice Applegate at maapple@mac.com . See details for ordering and pickup on our Facebook page. We use pots from 3” to one gallon. If you want to dispose of old pots, consider donating them to us for reuse.
Intown Atlanta Chapter
The Intown Atlanta Chapter will be holding their first annual meeting in November, and all affiliated GNPS members will be notified of the specifics as soon as they are finalized. At least two weeks prior to this meeting, sometime in mid-October, the board slate will be presented to chapter members by email. At the annual meeting, the slate will be elected by a simple majority of the members present, after allowing for nominations from the floor and other discussion. And prior to that, the members present will vote to approve the chapter bylaws.
Chapter startup committee members are providing information about native plants at the Trees Atlanta Annual Tree Sale on October 2nd as part of a growing collaboration between Trees Atlanta and GNPS. Visit us there and shop for some trees at this ideal time for planting them. Temporary President of the chapter, Alex Dileo, will be featured in an upcoming video produced by Trees Atlanta, too.
North Georgia Mountains Chapter
The North Georgia Mountains Chapter has nearly finished the formation process! While we are awaiting the final acknowledgment from the GNPS State Board of Directors, we will still need to hear from any additional chapter members that might be interested in serving on the Chapter Board of Directors, or who may be interested in any affiliated management positions, such as membership manager, program director, communications coordinator, and others as become useful. It looks like our next meeting will be on Saturday, November 13, at 11:00, in Young Harris (details awaiting confirmation), with the speaker being Jacob Collins on the topic of Common Problems with Garden Establishment. If you would like additional information on any of this, feel free to contact me at teryn.romaine@gnps.org. And we will keep you updated as the meeting details solidify.
North Metro Chapter
The forming North Metro Chapter will hold its first plant sale on Saturday, October 9th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Old Rucker Farm Park in Alpharetta. The sale will include plants from local member donations, 2020 t-shirts (Mountain Mint Plant of the Year shirt, mostly long-sleeve styles for men and women), and two local vendors: Cottage Garden Natives and Night Song Native Plant Nursery.
Local plant sales by chapters are the new model for GNPS plant sales, helping to bring sales closer to members as well as provide a chance for members to get to know each other. Stop by and get to know your new chapter and pick up some native plants for your garden. Fall is a great time to plant.
We are grateful to the City of Alpharetta for letting us use this space.
Bee on yellow daisy. (Photo by Kerstin Weis, and top photo by Tom Collins.)
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