In the spring, GNPS chapters partnered with local Keep Georgia Beautiful affiliate groups to bring a new program to their communities. “Broadening Community Beautification: How to Get Started with Native Plants” was a pilot program funded by a Microhabitat Accelerator Catalyst Grant from Village & Wilderness, an organization that supports community-based climate adaptation solutions. The purpose of the programs was to increase awareness about native plants and the microhabitats that they create when used in small-scale garden or restoration projects. The program provided information, resources and free plants to participants, focusing on new audiences that GNPS has not always been able to reach.
Getting more people from beyond our choir acquainted with common native plants and easy ways to incorporate them into a landscape has to become simpler. Information and resources are not always easily accessible to all, so this program sought a way to equitably inform and support the wide variety of communities in Georgia. Working with local Keep Georgia Beautiful affiliate groups to offer “Broadening Community Beautification” programs offered a way to begin addressing these issues.
For the pilot, five GNPS chapters – Coastal Plain, Fringed Campion, Intown Atlanta, North Metro Atlanta, and West Georgia – were chosen to partner with one of their local Keep Georgia Beautiful affiliates. Like the GNPS chapter network, Keep Georgia Beautiful affiliates run their own local programs in ways that fit best for their communities, so programs were held at a variety of locations. The Coastal Plain Chapter partnered with Keep Tift Beautiful to make their presentation at the Tifton-Tift Public Library. The success of the first program led to a follow up program and a new pollinator garden. The Fringed Campion Chapter with existing partners, Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful, to combine their program with a tree planting event at the Rosa Jackson Center. Keep Chamblee Beautiful and Keep Roswell Beautiful hosted our chapters at local park facilities, and Keep Carroll Beautiful utilized their partnership with Carroll EMC’s community center. In total, 168 participants attended the programs.
After hearing from the GNPS presenter, participants received customized “How to Get Started with Native Plant” handouts and a plant or two to take home. Plant species that were given away included lanceleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata), whorled coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata), cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), frog fruit (Phyla nodiflora), orange coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida), and black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta). These were sourced from GNPS propagation operations at Stone Mountain Propagation Project, the Coastal Plain Chapter’s propagation site, and Juniper Creek Natives, partner of the Fringed Campion Chapter.
Enthusiasm reported by chapter presenters was high. Participants had good questions to ask and were genuinely interested in the presentation. One testimonial was offered by a participant from the Intown Atlanta / Keep Chamblee Beautiful program:
“You inspired our daughter, Charlotte. She attended the presentation with me and she’s since spent hours in our yard and walking around the neighborhood, trying to identify plants to figure out what we should put in our front yard. It’s been fun to see! …We are committed to a long-term native plant plan!” ~Leslie Freymann
With feedback from the program presenters and coordinators, the pilot program was deemed a success. With some tweaks to the presentation and coordination, this program model can be replicated. All GNPS chapters have active Keep Georgia Beautiful affiliates or similar community beautification groups in and around their region. GNPS is seeking additional funding to offer more of these programs with Keep Georgia Beautiful affiliates in coming years.
