SBG 2021 Native Plant Symposium

$35 Registration

Growing and protecting native plants are important for many reasons: they celebrate our state and region, they are well suited to our region’s growing conditions, and they are the foundation of the complex ecosystem that supports insects, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. Native plants can be tough, beautiful garden plants for your home landscape as well as delicate harbingers of the changing seasons. Join us this year as we explore the conservation of monarch butterflies. Learn about the plants that attract monarchs and other pollinators to our gardens, their importance to our ecosystems, and how we can continue to protect them.

State Botanical Garden of Georgia 2021 Native Plant Symposium Wednesday, Feb. 10 

9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (EST) 

Virtual Program 

Growing and protecting native plants are important for many reasons: they celebrate our state and  region, they are well suited to our region’s growing conditions, and they are the foundation of the  complex ecosystem that supports insects, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. Native plants  can be tough, beautiful garden plants for your home landscape as well as delicate harbingers of the  changing seasons. Join us this year as we explore the conservation of monarch butterflies. Learn  about the plants that attract monarchs and other pollinators to our gardens, their importance to our  ecosystems and how we can continue to protect them. 

AGENDA: 

9-9:15 Welcome & Overview 

Jenny Cruse-Sanders, director, State Botanical Garden of Georgia 

Barbara Bourque, president, Garden Club of Georgia  

9:15-10 Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Monarch Butterflies!  Susan Vanderlip, Monarch conservation specialist, Monarch Watch 

Monarch butterflies are considered by many to be the most iconic of butterflies and  captivate audiences of all ages. In her presentation, Susie will discuss the complex life  cycle of monarch butterflies, milkweed options and issues, how to plant a Monarch  Sanctuary, migration, predators, impacts of changes in climate and more. She is  passionate about saving monarch butterflies from further decline and dedicates much  of her time to helping others raise them as well.  

Susie Vanderlip has raised hundreds of monarch butterflies in her Orange, California  garden for the past 12 years. She is a Monarch Butterfly Citizen Scientist, testing and  tagging monarchs, and is the Monarch Conservation Specialist in southern California for  Monarch Watch. She has extensively photographed and videotaped all aspects of  monarch life cycle and written an award-winning children’s photo storybook and  produced a 10-minute movie, both entitled The Story of Chester, the Monarch  Caterpillar/Larva. Susie is passionate about saving monarch butterflies from further  decline and dedicates much of her time to helping others raise them as well.  

10-10:10 Break 

10:10-10:40 Safeguarding Critically-imperiled Milkweed in Georgia  

Emma Neigel, conservation horticulturist, Atlanta Botanical Garden 

In Georgia, four critically-imperiled milkweeds occur throughout the state: purple  milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens), red milkweed (A. rubra), swamp milkweed (A.  incarnata ssp. incarnata), and Savanna milkweed (A. pedicellata). To aid in conserving  these critically imperiled milkweed species, Atlanta Botanical Garden’s Conservation  and Research department received funding in June 2020 from the Georgia Botanical 

State Botanical Garden of Georgia 2021 Native Plant Symposium Wednesday, Feb. 10 

9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (EST) 

Virtual Program 

Society Marie Mellinger Field Botany Research Grant. The project is focused on  collecting wild seed for safeguarding. Emma will talk about the work being done  through this project to protect these four milkweeds in Georgia.  

Emma Neigel grew up in Alberta, Canada where she worked in the garden and a local  plant nursery throughout high school. She attended Mississippi State University where she  received her B.S and M.S. in horticulture. Her thesis project “Mapping potential habitat  for Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) in Mississippi using GIS” enabled her to  further her knowledge of planting milkweed. Emma now works as conservation  horticulturist for Atlanta Botanical Gardens where she takes care of the safeguarding  nursery collection in Gainesville, GA including several milkweed species. 

10:40-11:10 Monarch Conservation Through Roadside Management 

Meg Hedeen, biologist, US Fish and Wildlife Service 

On December 15, 2020, the US Fish & Wildlife Service announced that listing the  monarch as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act is  warranted, but precluded by higher priority listing actions. Starting in early 2019, the  Georgia Department of Transportation collaborated with other state DOTs and energy  groups across the country to develop the Monarch Butterfly Candidate Conservation  Agreement with Assurances, which outlines conservation measures that these groups  can employ to help support the continued existence of this important and charismatic  butterfly. Meg will share details on the Conservation Agreement and what steps we will  be taking here in Georgia under this agreement. 

Meg is a biologist with the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Previously, Meg worked as the State  Environmental Liaison at the Georgia Department of Transportation where she worked  with the University of Illinois Chicago and right-of-way management groups across the  country on building and coordinating the Monarch Butterfly Candidate Conservation  Agreement with Assurances (of which the GA DOT is a signatory). Meg has worked with  the New Jersey Audubon’s Monarch Monitoring Project each fall for over 20 years and  also conducts butterfly surveys across Georgia for the North American Butterfly  Association and Butterflies of the Atlantic Flyway Alliance.  

11:10-11:20 Break  

11:20-11:25 Overview of Certificate in Native Plants and Plants and Pollinators Specialization  

11:25-11:55 Milkweeds, Monarchs and So Much More! 

Henning von Schmeling, senior director of operations, Chattahoochee Nature  Center

State Botanical Garden of Georgia 2021 Native Plant Symposium Wednesday, Feb. 10 

9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (EST) 

Virtual Program 

In this presentation, Henning will talk about milkweeds, monarchs and the habitat needs  for them. He will discuss various propagation techniques for milkweeds, associate plants  the monarch requires as nectar sources and how you can get started growing your  own garden to incorporate these plants and foster monarch butterfly habitat.  

Henning von Schmeling is the Senior Director of Operations at the Chattahoochee  Nature Center. He began volunteering at the Nature Center after moving to Atlanta  with his family and in doing so found a great love for native plants. He later began  working at the center and eventually started their horticulture program. Henning is a  founding member of the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance with most of his work  taking place in NW GA. Recently, he has become interested in milkweeds and  monarch conservation, growing 20 of the 22 species native to Georgia and mass  producing 5 species to be used in habitat restoration and other projects.  

11:55-12:25 Plant Conservation in the Modern World: How Platforms Like iNaturalist Can Help  You Save Rare Species and Natural Communities 

Tara Littlefield, senior botanist, Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves 

The use of online social networks is a part of everyday life for many folks today and  many of these platforms can be beneficial in aiding ongoing plant conservation  projects across the globe. This talk will focus on discussing specific examples of  iNaturalist conservation projects that are happening in Kentucky and the Southeast and  how these projects help in conserving our natural heritage while building our plant  conservation communities. Projects include Botanist Big Years’, documenting roadside  rare plants and grassland communities, bioblitzes on public lands and more. 

Tara Littlefield is the senior botanist and manager of the Plant Conservation Section at  the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves. She serves on the board of the Kentucky  Native Plant Society and coordinates the state’s plant conservation alliance  activities. Tara has had a fascination with the natural world since a small child and has  a B.S. in Biochemistry from University of Louisville as well as an M.S. in Forest/Plant  Ecology from the University of Kentucky. Much of her work involves rare species surveys,  general floristic inventories, natural areas inventory, acquisition of natural areas and  rare plant/community restoration and recovery.  

12:25-12:30 Closing Remarks