Chapters in Georgia Native Plant Society
History
Over two decades ago, the Georgia Native Plant Society was founded by people based in metro Atlanta. Since that time, their initiative and message around the importance of native plants to our lives and the ability of individuals to make a difference locally in their protection, stewardship, rescue and propagation, has spread across Georgia and in fact across the USA. Today our members are served in other locations across the state where local groups are providing educational information, restoration opportunities and opportunities to learn more.
Realignment
In November 2019, GNPS adopted new bylaws, which implemented a state-wide governing board to set organizational policy, define its strategic vision, and directly support chapter activities. This new organizational structure paved the way for more chapters to form throughout Georgia.
Join a chapter
There are currently 8 chapters of the Georgia Native Plant Society. As a member of GNPS you too can get to work and join like minded people in your area by aligning yourself with one of our chapters.
For current members, login and update your chapter affiliation through the chapter affiliation form. For new or renewing members, select your chapter affiliation on the membership form.
Form a chapter
Let us know if you are interested in learning more about how to join or start up a local chapter near you in the state of Georgia by using the Contact Us form. Current members can also use the Chapter Interest Form. To learn more about the overall process, view the Chapter Quick Start Guide. For a more in-depth guide to forming and running a chapter, see the Chapter Manual.
News & Events
Rivercane vs. Golden Bamboo–how do you tell?
Rivercane (Arundinaria gigantea), found in several Morningside parks, is a native bamboo. Technically a type of grass, Rivercane is nature’s un-rivaled green infrastructure with its extensive underground roots controlling erosion on creek banks and filtering runoff from fertilizers and pavement. When the Europeans arrived Rivercane formed giant canebrakes throughout the southeast–as late as 1820 there is documentation of a 17,250 acre canebrake west of the Flint River in Taylor and Crawford counties in Georgia. Cane provides critical habitat for a variety of wildlife, some of which are dependent on cane for their survival; it was also a central part of indigenous culture. It is now considered a threatened ecosystem, as 98% of the canebrakes have disappeared due to overgrazing and clearing to make way for farms and homes.
Rivercane is most often found in rural areas where it has been left undisturbed, but in Morningside we can find some stands scattered in our parks (most notably Herbert Taylor Park & Daniel Johnson Park, Wildwood Lenox Park, and Morningside Nature Preserve). Where it flourishes, it is home to at least 23 mammals, 16 birds, four reptiles and seven invertebrate species (butterflies and moths). Some of these depend upon Rivercane for their survival. In fact, the virtual extinction of Bachman’s warbler is thought to be due to the disappearance of native cane.
Unfortunately, Rivercane is often confused with non-native bamboo that is prevalent throughout the southeast–here is how you can tell the difference:
1) Size–Rivercane grows much more slowly than Golden bamboo, the most pervasive invasive species. Most native cane is less than an inch in diameter and only 4-10 feet tall. Invasive bamboo grows much more quickly, usually exceeding a height of 15 feet with over 1 inch stems.
2) Stems & Branches–Rivercane puts out one branch per node (ring) each year and adds branches in subsequent years that appear sort of tangled. Bamboo branches occur at the nodes next to each other.
3) Branching angle–when they emerge, native cane branches are almost parallel to the main stem while invasive bamboo branches tend to be almost perpendicular to the stem. Older native cane branches may become more pendulous as they grow heavier with leaves.
Friends of the Parks are working to remove invasive plants so that native species, like Rivercane can thrive. It can protect our parks by holding creek banks to slow or prevent erosion. Its re-emergence will support our native wildlife by providing the nutrition and habitat they need to survive. You can help by volunteering and making sure you are only planting native species in your landscape
From top, L-R:
1 & 2. Rivercane less than 1 inch diameter vs golden bamboo
3 Rivercane branches emerge almost parallel to the stem with subsequent annual branches coming in at the same node almost on top of each other creating a tangle
4 & 5 Golden bamboo branches are almost perpendicular to the stem and grow out from the stem next to each other
Pollinator Picnics – August 20
The GNPS-Intown Atlanta Chapter will be on site at various locations around town to partner with the University of Georgia Extension Program’s 2022 Great Georgia Pollinator Census count. Join us to count the pollinators that are so vital to life on earth. We will have experts on site to help you ID the plants and insects. We encourage counters of all ages to come out.
You can find details about the Census at https://ggapc.org/. We encourage you to come out for the count and bring a picnic lunch to enjoy when you’ve finished counting.
Locations throughout Atlanta including Mason Mill Park; Zonolite Park; GSU Perimeter College Native Plant Botanical Garden; Atlanta History Center
Time: 10:00 a.m. – noon
Free!
Facebook event pages:
GSU Perimeter College Native Botanical Garden – We are excited to add that there will be a native plant sale! held at the site, from 10 AM to 2 PM. Find the garden at the rear of the parking lot that is shared with the Dekalb High School of Technology.
Building a More Vibrant Intown Atlanta Native Plant Community
–A big thanks to Intown Atlanta board member Laura Markson for this great write-up and the photos. Cross-posted over at her “Nurture Native Nature” blog.–
On a hot June Sunday afternoon a varied group of around 50 or so people interested in native plants came together for a panel discussion called Adding Native Plants to Your Intown Landscape. The event was co-hosted by the Intown Atlanta Chapter of the Georgia Native Plant Society and Trees Atlanta. It was held at the beautiful and green-centric Kendeda Center at Trees Atlanta.
The peaceful Trees Atlanta space with the easily recognized metal tree sculpture in the middle is a Platinum LEED-certified facility with many green features and perfect for a meeting that focuses on helping restore habitat using native plants in our own yards.
Grace Manning, Intown Chapter board member and my co-partner on the programming and education committee generously did the heavy lifting to make it happen. She works at Trees Atlanta and is on the board of the Intown GNPS so she was able to coordinate the many details needed for success.
Grace was behind the scenes making sure every detail for the event was taken care of!
We were lucky to have a small working group of volunteers helping to plan the event and volunteer the day of the panel.
Intown Chapter volunteers Tom Collins (R), who is also on the GNPS state board, and Matt Westbrook (L) helped make the day run smoothly.
The Jewish mother in me couldn’t help kick my habit of feeding people so I basically helped by bringing a Southern summer selection of home baked cookies, fresh strawberries, lemonade and sweet tea. I’m a firm believer that food is essential at any social event – it builds connections, shows generosity of spirit, and sets the moods.
The bumblebees on the flower cookies were a sweet reminder of the habitat value of native plants!
Grace wisely suggested we start the event with a native plant icebreaker she chose where everyone was given a slip of paper with either a common or scientific name of a native plant. Each person had to get up and pair up with the person who had the other slip. I’m not a big fan of forced social games, but this was such a casual activity and low-key crowd that I played along with everyone in the room. My slip was magnolia virginiana and I searched the room to find someone with a sweetbay or swamp magnolia slip.
My “match” was a young woman who was having an issue with her HOA calling the native plants in her certified Monarch Waystation pollinator garden “weeds”. She came to the right place for support and guidance from sympathetic audience members and from the panel who discussed her question about what to do to help HOA’s understand what native plants are. If we didn’t do the ice-breaker I wouldn’t have made this connection and learned about something I don’t know much about because I have never lived in an HOA community. I imagine there were many other interesting conversations and connections around native plants made during this activity.
This photo was snapped as the directions were given for the icebreaker…I can see the slips in everyone’s hands.
Our affable panel moderator was Baker Owens, one of our Intown Chapter board members.
Baker was such a natural moderator he may have just added this to his board role as chair of the communications committee!
The three panelist were varied in expertise and experience to give different perspectives and help support everyone who came to the event from newbies to the audience experts. Jane Trenton who has been a GNPS member for over 20 years brought seasoned expertise in adding native plants to the landscape, Alex Dileo our Intown Chapter’s fearless leader is relatively new to adding native plants to the landscape and was able to give confidence to others just starting out by sharing her experience converting her own yard to a GNPS Gold Certified Native Plant Habitat, and Kelly Ridenhour who is a licensed professional landscape architect, conservation ecologist, creator of the Atlanta Firefly Project, and a homeowner with a yard filled with native plants was able to pull from her interdisciplinary experiences to offer unique perspectives to benefit both people and nature.
Jane on the left and Alex on the right look like they’re listening and thinking about Kelly’s answer to a question.
The questions were varied and included: I have a lot of grass in my yard how do I begin to start adding native plants? Is it better to start planting natives or eliminating invasives? If you could change one current yard maintenance practice, what would it be? Is there any safe mosquito spray I can use on native plants? (the answer to this was no, with suggestions for wildlife friendly ways to manage mosquitoes and a reminder from Kelly that mosquitoes are part of the ecosystem), Should I be planting something that is native to the US and maybe even to a neighboring state, but not endemic to my region? The more casual, interactive format made it easy to answer all the planned and submitted questions. The discussions were collegial and collaborative and the answers were given as suggestions not rules. I learned different perspectives on a few things and enjoyed listening to the ideas of all the panelists.
This graphic from Diane Benson of Bee-Friendly Gardening perfectly illustrates the moving-the-needle-in-the-right-direction approach the Intown Chapter is taking to helping folks add native plants to their landscape.
I’m sure everyone would have stayed to the end of the panel discussion, but we offered just a little enticement to keep the sense of community in the room by giving everyone who came a raffle ticket for a chance to win a free native plant at the end of the panel. One of our chapter goals is to help get native plants into the yards of as many people as possible so giving a plant or ten away is a start.
The healthy, ready-to-go native plants raffled off included purple coneflower/echinacea purpurea, blue sage/salvia azurea, liatris aspera/button blazing star, and smooth ironweed/Vernonia fasciculata. The labels included growing conditions needed for success.
The plants were donated to our Chapter by Stolen Farms Nursery. I also made a “patio planter” with a coneflower (echinacea purpurea) as the center plant surrounded by other native plants from my yard to be more inclusive of anyone who may want to add native plants in a space that isn’t a yard. On our list next year is a native plant patio or balcony garden workshop.
The native plants mostly from my yard I put in the patio planter I made in a terra cotta pot I scooped up in my local Buy Nothing Facebook group included self-heal/prunella vulgaris, blue-eyed grass/Sisyrinchium angustifolium, partridge pea/Chamaecrista fasciculata, and river oats/Chasmanthium latifolium
When the event was over some people lingered a bit with old friends or new “plant friends” they met. Hopefully, everyone took something away from the panel and felt a little more connected to the growing Intown Atlanta native plant community. Our idea is some of the same people who came to the panel will help plan or come to the Pollinator Picnic at various intown parks in August, our epic native plant swap in September, a winter sowing workshop next January. or our show up for one of our ongoing restoration and advocacy activities. Over time, we’re working to nurture relationships and build a strong, dynamic community of people dedicated to using native plants to reclaim and restore nature.
Native plants including coneflower and river oats were added to even small strips along walkways at Trees Atlanta. We’re working to help everyone think like this!
Athens-East Piedmont Chapter Plant Sale
May 4, 2024 – Saturday – 10:00 am – 2:00 pm at Sunrise Nursery – Our First Chapter Native Plant Sale!
Choose from a wide selection of native perennials, grasses, ferns, shrubs, and trees grown locally by Chapter members or by regional native plant nurseries. Many of these plants are not commonly available commercially. Plants offered will largely be straight species and have all been grown without neonicotinoids. Proceeds of the sale will be used to support local conservation and restoration projects, provide educational programming, and promote the use of native plants to increase biodiversity and support native pollinators and wildlife. A plant list will be posted online in advance of the sale. GNPS members will receive a 10% discount.
**For all of our plant/seed swaps, please leave your plants in your car. All plant swaps are held outside after the Chapter meeting concludes.
Event: Native Plants of the Cherokee
Join the North Metro Atlanta Chapter for an educational event, Native Plants of the Cherokee on August 13th at 10:30AM at the Alpharetta Library featuring author Mark Warren talking on how some of the most common native plants and trees were used by the Cherokee for food, medicine, insect repellent, crafts, shelter and fire. Mark Warren is the owner of the nationally renowned Medicine Bow Wilderness School in Dahlonega, GA, has been teaching nature and survival skills of the Cherokee to adults and children for half a century.
About the program
Mark believes today’s society can — and should — learn some valuable lessons and skills from those native people who inhabited this continent hundreds of years before European explorers ever landed on its shores. He will be discussing how some of the most common native plants and trees were used by the Cherokee for food, medicine, insect repellent, crafts, shelter and fire. Mark will bring along some plants and handmade crafts for viewing and discussion.
“All of us who live in Southern Appalachia reside on land that once belonged to the Cherokee. While these native people led lives of intimate daily interaction with their natural surroundings, most folks today have reduced nature to a backdrop of scenery. The great deficit in this scenario is our lack of understanding that we still depend upon nature. That dependency is largely hidden to us, especially to the new generations that come along to take over the ‘rules’ of how we behave with nature — air to breathe, water to drink, energy to consume for our daily actions. These are commodities that are easy to take for granted. If taken for granted, humans will have no reason to respect and conserve the pieces of the puzzle we call ecology.” – Mark Warren
About Mark Warren
Mark Warren is a graduate of the University of Georgia. At Medicine Bow, his nationally renowned wilderness school in the Southern Appalachians, he teaches nature classes and survival skills of the Cherokees. The National Wildlife Federation named him Georgia’s Conservation Educator of the Year in 1980. In 1998 Mark became the U.S. National Champion in whitewater canoeing, and in 1999 he won the World Championship Longbow title.
Warren has written extensively about nature for local and national magazines. He lectures on Native American history and survival skills, and Western Frontier History presenting at museums and cultural centers around the country. He is a member of the Wild West History Association, and Western Writers of America. His Wyatt Earp, An American Odyssey trilogy was honored by WWA’s Spur Awards, The Historical Novel Society and the 2020 Will Rogers Medallion Awards under the original hardback editions, Born to the Badge (2018) and Promised Land (2019.)
His published books include: from Lyons Press, Two Winters in a Tipi and Secrets of the Forest (a four volume series on nature and primitive skills), from Five Star – Gale Cengage and Two Dot, Wyatt Earp, An American Odyssey (an historical fiction trilogy on the life of Wyatt Earp), from Five Star – Gale Cengage, Indigo Heaven, The Cowboy, The Librarian and the Broomsman from the anthology Librarians of the West: A Quartet, Westering Trail Travesties, and from Speaking Volumes, Song of the Horseman and Last of the Pistoleers.
**Note: The Alpharetta Library prohibits the sale of books at events. If you would like to purchase from the author, please visit his website at www.markwarrenbooks.com