Tag: GNPS

Kelly and Sheryl: Georgia Native Plant Society

by Dr. Shannon Finck

Kelly Clarke and Sheryl Varghese volunteered with the Intown Atlanta Chapter of the Georgia Native Plant Society (GNPS) this semester. They worked on various projects, from plant sales to park cleanups, with their community partner, learning about the importance of preserving native ecosystems and local biodiversity.

During their time with this organization, they saw a need to help promote native planting and gardening beyond an audience of homeowners with private lawns and stewards of public parks, so they launched a three-pronged campaign to bring what they learned to a couple of additional communities: their campus community at GSU and renters and other folks with limited space to garden or strict regulations about how they can use the green spaces they have.

Working closely with Dr. Amy Lederberg, Leslie Inman, and Vicki Mann of the Intown Atlanta Chapter, Sheryl and Kelly planned an informational event on campus, where they gathered support to start a campus charter of GNPS (coming in Fall 2024):

 

They also created three infographic fliers to help people access information about the organization, native plants and the ecosystems they supports, and opportunities to make a positive ecological impact:

 

Service Blog Post #5

by kclarke22

Hi Everyone,

I hope your semester has been going well. This blog post will discuss the event preparation details my classmate Sheryl and I completed to host an awareness seminar about Native Plants with guest speakers from the Georgia Native Plant Society that we hosted at the Honors College. This was a great event we hosted and all the participants were able to learn more about local native plant species. 

During March, Sheryl and I have been in conversation with Dr. Amy Lederberg, Vicki Mann, Leslie Mann, The Honors College Staff, and Dr Shannon Finck, to host an awareness discussion after learning what SMPP, local partner with GNPS needed as a request for raising awareness. When we were looking at completing our class project proposal, we asked our coordinators what their biggest concern was regarding native plants, the volunteers, and the vision for the organization. After speaking with Nicki Belmonte, (Executive Director for GNPS) we learned that they needed more awareness. Their concerns stated they wanted more appealing centers consisting of messaging for marketing needs – why people who don’t own and manage property should care about native plants (and be a member/supporter/follower). They wanted to broaden their audience for education and awareness. They also wanted us to create infographics displaying these messages that could be posted either on Facebook, Instagram or potentially their website. This allowed us to think of the idea to host an awareness seminar on campus at Georgia State University so we can make students more aware and help broader our audience.

This consisted of communication with all parties and we coordinated a day, and time for our guest speakers to come and speak to students. Our guest speakers created a presentation, brought brooks and Dr. Finck sponsored food as well. We made sure a room was available in the Honors College, coordinated parking and made sure the technology was available for our speakers. The event allowed for great conservation and allowed students to become involved as well. Thus in return, we were able to get everyone’s contact information and send out the PowerPoint that our speakers designed and discussed. Additionally, we got the Honors College to post our event on the weekly Honors College Newsletter and we printed and posted flyers around campus and the Honors College. This was a fun learning experience because I learned more about how to take care of native plants, and it helped with our event planning skills. Sheryl and I enjoyed hosting the event!! 

 

 

Service Blog Post #4

by kclarke22

Hi Everyone, 

I hope everyone is doing well. During my volunteer experience, my classmate Sheryl and I were working during different service shifts associated with the mission statement from the Georgia Native Plant Society. For my most recent update, I volunteered on Friday morning with the Atlanta Trees from 9 am-3 pm. This volunteer project focused on sorting, organizing, and moving Native Plants for their plant sale held at the Carter Center for the following day. Additionally, while I was volunteering there was a group of 8-9 employees from Delta Airlines who were also volunteering and a few other college students with us. Our group had roughly 20 volunteers plus 5-6 Atlanta Trees workers.  

During this project, I arrived at the Carter Center around 7:45 am and I signed in with the coordinator for my shift. Then, we began unloading several native plants from a large truck to the parking lot. This consisted of us sorting the plants into several categories in the parking lot. We unloaded 3 trucks of different native plant species. There were printed label signs for each species, and we lined our plants up one by one into each category. We had over 30 categories of plants sorted. These pants consisted of flower pots, native trees, and seeds. After moving all of the plants, we had to organize their plants into different categories for purchases. This included adding a specific color of duck tape to each group of native plants. This would determine the price each group would be sold for. This consisted of us cutting and pasting a piece of duck tape onto each flower pant. Afterward, we organized signs and displays for each plant to be added in front of each plant species. We cleaned up each flower pot that may had leaves or trash inside each pot to make each area look neat and organized. 

After completing this project, it was nice to see how this empty parking lot looked very organized and became a learning classroom. As we were moving the signs, I was able to learn more about each plant we were displaying to sell. Each description stated 2 fun facts about each plant, the prime time to grow (April to November) or (June-August), and how long it would take to fully blossom. I enjoyed speaking with the other volunteers as well and I learned that the Delta Employees have a proud connection with Atlanta Trees and that they normally volunteer with them often. The other 2 students I met went to Emory University and they were also volunteering for one of their academic class as well. They Emory students completed the second shift with me as well and I ate the lunch I brought with them inside the Carter Center during our break. The Delta Employees left after the first shift and there were new volunteers with us during the second shift. Overall, this was a great volunteering experience and I’m glad I was able to expand my knowledge of beginning to grow native plants and making them more available for people to buy and grow. 

Update #1

by svarghese5

Hi Everyone! Today, I began my volunteering projects with the Georgia Native Plant Society (GNPS). It did and did not meet my expectations of what I thought volunteering with GNPS would be like. 

At 10 in the morning, I got to volunteer at the Stone Mountain Propagation Project (SMPP). Located behind the parking lot of Stone Mountain is a place filled with rows of pots of native plants that were being nurtured. There, I got to work separating native plants into gallon-sized pots they could grow in. The work taught me that gardening can require sawing apart the soil sometimes. I also learned to pot plants, which I have not done before. While volunteering at SMPP, I also got to meet other volunteers. Most of them were retired and their professions ranged from being a microbiologist at CDC to being in IT, but they all had a passion for gardening. Their level of knowledge in gardening also surprised me because it was not a part of their profession before. From them, I learned interesting things like insects can secrete chemicals that cause a specific plant (I can’t remember the name) to change its growth pattern to protect the insect’s egg; the effect on the plant also depends on the insect. 

At 2 in the afternoon, I volunteered at Mary Scott Nature Park. I would pass by this park every day on my way to my high school, but I never visited it. At Mary Scott, I got to do what I had originally expected to do when partnering with GNPS: dig out invasive species of plants and promote the growth of native plants. I got to remove invasive plants from the ground, allowing the native plants to grow better. There, I got to meet Susan and Marty. They showed me the different plants that were invasive and native. I would follow Marty around and from her, I learned how to separate the “bad guys” and “good guys”. I would point out and help her remove the “bad guys”. The digging up of invasive plants mainly occurred near the parking lot at the entrance. This is because this is the site many people visit first. If visitors saw an invasive species growing at the park, they would assume that those same plants were suitable to buy from a store and to grow in their backyard. To avoid this, once a month volunteers would dig up and trash invasive plants to both promote native plants to visitors and to also allow the native plants to grow without competition. 

In both these opportunities, the volunteers were very welcoming and would help me learn about Georgia plant life. I learned about their interesting and various backgrounds while they learned about mine. Volunteering with GNPS has started on a fun note and I hope that it continues like so. 

I am excited about my future opportunities with GNPS!