Hi all,

Just a little update, due to the storms last week, both Liauna and I were unable to volunteer, however, we were given a task instead and that was to place printed stickers on the plastic stakes for the plants describing when the plants were planted and what the plants are; check the picture below. We were also given the opportunity to help developing an online platform for self-directed learning about Georgia’s native plants. This includes 3-4 hours of using the Educational Platform, which includes logging into the platform, Canvas, and navigating the web portal, reading the materials in a couple of the modules and taking the self-check quizzes. We have not started with that, however we will be in the upcoming week.

For our project, we were inspired to reintroduce the native plant sale at the Decatur campus, as they have a botanical garden and would previously hold these native plant sales through propagation. Instead of just reintroducing the program, we want to change it, as there will be more student involvement from the sustainability club. We would also take inspiration from the SMPP and try to propagate plants that everyday people can have in their yard or at home that are native to Georgia, hopefully with less maintenance. Our project will include a plan that will be given to the university sustainability initiative office and to the sustainability club to gain their insights and hopefully approval for the project. The project will also include a presentation to the class and to the different people involved, also members of the GNPS will be invited as well, to present our findings to the different groups involved.

Our project serves to push the ideals that are most important to the GNPS as we want to promote the spread of native plants over invasives. One of the things I have loved about working with GNPS has been the passion of the members involved to the goal. They also tend to weave in other important ideas within sustainability and native plants, such as environmental justice. Our main source of contact, Kelley Hanada, has shown such a large passion and genuine curiosity about natives and invasives, and seemingly is still continuing to learn things form some of the other members of GNPS, as nobody knows all the answers.

Overall, I hope the weather doesn’t further inhibit our work and we continue to learn from the passionate volunteers and employees of the GNPS

See you next week!