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Posts Tagged ‘Acadiana Native Plant Project’

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

Spring is the season for flowers. A few days ago Denise Krebs wrote about native plants, how a friend was teaching her to cultivate a native plant habitat.

In the fall I attended a native plant habitat workshop by the Acadiana Native Plant Project (ANPP). The next day I traveled to their nursery to buy plants. They helped me to understand that the plants would not do much in the fall and winter, so I needed to be patient. I feel like the word Patience is the definitive word for gardening.

I started small, planting seeds in pots and a few seedlings in a front flower bed. It seems like overnight they have grown and are blooming. This pleases me so much because I have never thought of myself as a gardener.

Gulf Coast Penstemon (beardtongue)
Coneflower

These days with our temperatures starting out in the 60’s and slowly rising into the 70’s, it’s pleasant to be outside piddling around with plants. We’ll see if I can keep it up once the 90 degree mark rears its ugly head.

I also keep a few tropical plants around because I love their blossoms. I’ve decided that it’s okay to love both native and tropical plants. I just need to watch out for the invasive species that don’t belong here.

Desert rose

Are you a gardener or a plant enthusiast?

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Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

In my retirement, I want to be a better gardener. I envy people who seem to be natural gardeners. Rather than pine over other people’s gardens, I decided I needed to be proactive, so I attended a Acadiana Native Plant Project event last week at the Louisiana Wetlands Center.

Leaning over the purple coneflower is Monica, who I discovered later on, I had taught with 20 years ago.

As we toured the grounds, the members of the native plant project talked with us about the plants that had gone to seed. We were given paper bags to collects seeds in. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, but I opened my hand to free seeds.

The miracle of seed pods!

I became enthralled by the miracle of seeds.

Beauty Berry!

One of our leaders sent me home with a cutting of Beauty Berry and a seedling of tropical sage.

My home lab

I spent some time googling each seed and figuring out the best way to propagate them. If I’m 20% successful, that is better than nothing. Some of the seeds are in wet paper towels in the fridge to experience fake cold weather. Some I sprinkled right into a pot.

As the temperatures cool off, I hope to feel more motivation for working outside in the yard. And I will be watching for baby plants, and feeling wonder and awe of it all.

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