Upcoming Events

From meetings to workdays to workshops, here's the place to find out what's coming up in the Society. Unless noted, all meetings are open and free to the public so be sure to bring a friend.

Plan to join us for our meeting on May. Our speaker, Roald Hazelhoff, Director of the Southern Environmental Center, will share 16 demonstration EcoScape outdoor classrooms that are helping to educate visitors in sustainable practices of planting native plants in urban pockets of Birmingham, AL.

Plant Spotlight: Phlox

The Phlox genus is almost uniquely North American, over 60 species in total. Fourteen of them are found in Georgia, ranging in colors from white to pink to blue, blooming in the wild and in our gardens from spring to summer. The early blue species include woodland phlox (P. divaricata) and creeping phlox (P. stolonifera). They are joined by pink spring species like moss phlox (P. subulata) and trailing phlox (P. nivalis), both of which can have white forms.

Mid-spring and early summer species are hairy phlox (P. amoena, shown below), downy phlox (P. pilosa), Carolina phlox (P. carolina), smooth phlox (P. glaberrima) and several others. The last phlox to bloom is the tall summer phlox (P. paniculata) which has been bred by nurserymen into a variety of colors and mildew-resistant beauties. Next time you're looking for something to add to your landscape, give one of these American beauties a try.

It's Monarch time!

There are local reports of Monarch butterfly eggs on milkweed, and it is never too late to garden for their benefit. An exceptionally good brochure about the best milkweeds to use in Georgia is here as a PDF.

Chapter News: Redbud 

This month, the Redbud Chapter participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony at the newly developed Hardman Farms Heritage Trail in Helen, Georgia. The trail provides visitors with a wide variety of native plants found in the Gainesville Ridges district. The one-mile trail winds along the banks of the Chattahoochee River and leads walkers from the Hardman Farms historical site up to the town of Helen, Georgia.

Dr. James Porter, internationally recognized ecologist, educator and environmentalist, spoke at our April meeting on climate change as evidenced by sightings of the tropical Pearly-eye butterfly in regions of Georgia. Lastly, the spring session of our year-long program, Native Plants of the Gainesville Ridges, was held this month and featured Linda Chafin who spoke on spring ephemerals.

2018 Plant Sale

Our Spring Plant Sale was a big success! Thanks to dozens of dedicated volunteers (setting up the fern section below), the talented growing efforts of our SMPP team, hundreds of plant donations from our members and nurseries, and a few well-placed purchases, we sold almost 4000 plants! [We also had a miraculously perfect weather day.] Welcome to our new members who found us through the plant sale. Our next sale will be September 22 at our Stone Mountain (SMPP) location. Start saving your donations now and we hope to see you there.

We STILL need you!

It's possible that you don't notice our calls for members to fill positions in the society. Or maybe you notice, but you don't think you can contribute? Yes, you can! Please give it some thought by checking out the committee page for roles, emailing us at info@gnps.org, or ask about attending a board meeting.