Kentucky Native Plant Society, Author at Kentucky Native Plant Society

Monarchs and Milkweed in Kentucky

By Sandra Elliott, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources

Monarch butterfly (*Danaus plexippus*) caterpillar on common milkweed (*Asclepias syriaca*) leaf.
Photo by Sandra Elliott.

Of all the pollinators native to Kentucky, the monarch is likely one of the most recognized. This universally known insect is one of the first to come to mind when someone says “butterfly.” These striking orange and black butterflies will migrate up to 3,000 miles each year, spanning three to four generations.

The starting line of this year-long marathon is in the mountains of Mexico where adult butterflies that have migrated south have overwintered in oyamel fir forests. These monarchs take flight in early spring and reproduce in northern Mexico and the southern US to create Generation 1.

This generation of monarchs will head north as adults and breed along the way. Generation 2, the offspring of the previous migratory parents, will grow and head north as well in early summer. Generations 3 and 4 will be laid in the northern US and southern Canada. This last generation will become adults at the northern limits of their range and will begin their travels south to the overwintering grounds in Mexico in late summer and early fall. These are the butterflies that will kick off the next round of migrations like their great-great grandparents.

Milkweed for monarch success

In order for this year long migration of multiple generations to be successful, monarch butterflies depend on flowering plants to first fuel their own bodies for flight and reproduction, and second to be a breeding ground and food source for their offspring. The most important of these plants are the milkweeds that are the obligatory nursery plants of monarch caterpillars. Monarchs will only lay eggs on the leaves of milkweed, and these are the only plants that sustain the growing caterpillars. Unfortunately, there has been a great loss of monarch habitat and the monarch butterfly is being considered for listing as a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act.

Within the state of Kentucky, there is a great deal of support for the conservation of the monarch butterfly. Both agencies and individuals are putting forth efforts to increase habitat area for monarchs, and for other pollinators native to the state as well. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources set forth by developing the Kentucky Monarch Conservation Plan in collaboration with other monarch stakeholders.

The Plan outlines goals and strategies for the conservation of the butterfly and its habitat. The Kentucky Department of Agriculture developed the Kentucky Pollinator Protection Plan, and a multitude of other state agencies, entities and private organizations participate in the Kentucky Pollinator Stakeholder Group to conserve both monarchs and pollinators in the state. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has had a large hand in developing about 200 acres of pollinator habitat. Roadsides, interstate rest areas, and interchanges are a few places that KYTC has developed for pollinators. You can see these eye-catching Pollinator Habitat Zones on the sides of interstates, and you can even see these bright pops of color bordering elevated lanes in the heart of Louisville.

Even organizations that specialize in native game birds and that have initiatives to restore native grassland habitat for quail and pheasants also have the monarch in mind. There are so many animals that benefit from promoting the regeneration of grasslands native to Kentucky just by virtue of being native; native pollinator plants are able to thrive when lands are managed to maintain these grasslands. These agencies and organizations have the ultimate goal of improving habitats for all native species, not just the few they are targeting for conservation.

Monarchs are also assisted by individuals like you. Planting small monarch gardens wherever there is space for them is one way people help boost pollinator habitat area. These gardens can also be registered with MonarchWatch.org as waystations so all contributions can be tracked and appreciated. In Kentucky alone, there are currently 957 waystations registered! The most crucial part of planting and maintaining a monarch garden is including milkweed. Much of it grows wild across the state! Butterfly milkweed (A. tuberosa), common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), and swamp milkweed (A. incarnata) are three that are common in Kentucky.

Monarchs will also utilize other flowers as nectar sources, and it’s important to provide plants that flower throughout the year so monarchs have sources of energy during both the breeding season as well as during their migration south in the fall. Aside from milkweed, black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta), beebalm (Monarda didyma), mountain mint (Pycnanthemum), goldenrod (Solidago), blazing star (Liatris), ironweed (Vernonia), and smooth aster (Symphyotrichum) are just a few of many native pollinator plants that could be included in monarch gardens to attract a variety of pollinators. The Kentucky Native Plant Society maintains a list of native plant vendors across the state to help those who are looking for plant resources: https://www.knps.org/native-plant-nurseries/.

What can you do if you don’t have the space for a garden? Participating in community science initiatives aids in spreading awareness and education about the current challenges faced by the monarch butterfly. There are opportunities to track monarchs along their migration route (visit monarchjointventure.org and journeynorth.org to learn more). A monarch you help tag in the fall could be recorded in Mexico! Follow us on Facebook at “Kentucky Monarchs” as we share information and links related to monarch butterflies in Kentucky, and remember that no effort is too small to help conserve monarchs!

Sandra Elliott is an at-risk species technician with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

The Life of a Snag

By Joyce Fry

It’s spring now, but neither the oak (Quercus sp.) nor the white ash tree (Fraxinus americana) in our backyard are sprouting new growth; nor will they. Those trees are dead and are now called snags. Most people cut down dead trees, feeling that they have outlived their usefulness. I take issue with that! Let me explain.

When we first bought our house in the rural northern Franklin County, KY area, the oak was already a snag. Being avid birders, we noticed that its dead branches and trunk frequently hosted several interesting birds well within view of our picture window. We determined that the oak snag was far enough away from our house that it should not pose a hazard, so we elected not to cut it down. Instead, after many years of coaxing, we succeeded in training a trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans) to climb up its trunk nearly to its crown, about 40 feet.

trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans) — Trumpet creeper Photo credit: Leslie Saunders via Unsplash.

Trumpet creeper, also known as Trumpet vine, is native to Kentucky. It sports lovely orange, red-orange to red tubular flowers from May through August. Ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) (Kentucky’s most common hummingbird species) visit the tubular flowers to feast on its nectar, and in the process, they cross-pollinate its flowers. A pretty good deal for a plant whose seeds, sap and leaves are toxic. This plant is also known as the “cow itch vine,” because contact with its leaves can cause contact dermatitis, apparently not to hummingbirds, though.

Many insects feed on this plant, including planthoppers, mealy bugs, scale and white flies, all in the order, Hemiptera, and produce “honeydew,” their sweet excrement on which ants feed. Insectivorous birds, and insect predator species are attracted to this microecosystem.

Another phenomenon we observed with Trumpet creeper was the delightful spectacle of Baltimore orioles (Icterus galbula) and summer tanagers (Piranga rubra) slicing open the flower tubes to consume the nectar. We enjoyed the kaleidoscope of orange, red and yellow of the birds and flowers all glowing in the sunshine.

We’ve experienced the excitement of seeing numerous birds alight on the branches of the oak snag, including great-horned owl (Bubo virginianus), bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), and turkey vulture (Cathartes aura). More commonly, though, American goldfinch (Spinus tristis), tufted titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor), Carolina chickadee (Poecile carolinensis), Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) and every Kentucky resident or migratory woodpecker species common to Kentucky use its branches in anticipation of their turn at the feeders below.

Although we don’t know what caused the oak tree’s death and rebirth as a snag, we watched in sadness as our very large and beautiful ash tree fell victim to the non-native emerald ash borer (EAB) (Agrilus planipennis). Much of its once gray, rough diamond-shaped bark peeled off in huge chunks in the aftermath of the beetle’s larvae having fed on the tree’s phloem, killing the tree in the process. Phloem are the structures that transport sugars and protein from the leaves where they are produced, to the rest of the tree. It’s mostly bare, skeleton-like trunk bears numerous s-shaped scars from tunnels produced by the beetle larvae.

Prior to this infestation, the ash featured lavishly green compound leaves during the growing season, which turned a lovely reddish-purple in the fall. The fruit of the female white ash are seeds housed in a flat oar-shaped case, called a samara. Samarae are often referred to as “helicopter keys,” because when they fall from the tree, they swirl like a helicopter. Wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus), Northern cardinal, squirrel (family Sciuridae) and mice (Mus spp,) feed on the seeds of the ash tree.

Although the EAB infestations have killed scores of Kentucky’s ash trees (it has been estimated that up to 10% of our forests were made up of ash tree species), remarkably, there is at least one silver-lining, i.e., they have left snags in their wake, offering animal accommodations, and harboring insects behind the still-clinging bark and crevices for insectivores. The populations of woodpecker species, white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis), Carolina chickadee and tufted titmouse, and all cavity-nesting birds, have soared in our area.

“Speaking” of nest cavities, our ash snag possesses one that appears to be highly coveted. Over the span of several weeks one year, we observed a red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), and several red-bellied woodpeckers inspecting it. One red-bellied woodpecker (M. carolinus) we watched began renovating the cavity by throwing nesting material into it. He stopped renovation periodically to drum on the trunk near the hole, most likely to attract a female. Much to our surprise, a seemingly indignant flying squirrel (Glaucomys Volans) suddenly exited the hole, discarding the added nesting material and chasing the woodpecker around the trunk until she scared him off.

Although it may not be wise to leave every snag on your property, especially in an urban or suburban setting, think twice before having one removed. Even in death, trees can be an asset, as well as the source of much entertainment.

Let the Earth Breathe

By Anne Milligan and Stephen Brown

Reviewed by Susan Harkins

When asked how to design a new garden, my favorite response is: Keep your camera with you everywhere you go. When you see something you like, take a picture of it. Later, match the looks you love to your property while considering sun, water, soil, and grading. It’s the best advice I can give because someone with no idea what to do needs a bit of inspiration before they can start buying plants.

If you’re thinking of restoring your property to nature—using native plants—and you need encouragement or inspiration, then Let the Earth Breathe should be one of your first resources. It will complement your stack of pictures because you’re following the authors on their journey while you start your own. This isn’t your ordinary gardening book with lots of information on culture, botany, and so on. The book does include a lot of information about the native plants they chose, but plant culture isn’t the focus of this book. Instead, this book chronicles one family’s journey back to nature.

The book starts with an introduction to the importance of using native plants and why you should avoid invasives. The rest of the book shares the route they took to return their new property to nature using native trees, shrubbery, and wildflowers. Throughout the book, you’ll see patches of gorgeous plants and some hardscapes. In fact, this book has inspired me to assess my yard for hardscape and that intention quality that appeases neighbors. Every fall and winter, I plan better paths but somehow that just hasn’t happened. After working my way through Let the Earth Breathe, I’ve decided that this is the year!

Their journey begins in 2010 when they put in a rain garden filled with native plants that love moist soils. Their reason for the rain garden was to help retain runoff. The book ends in 2016, but trust me, their journey has just started.

You gain the benefit of their decisions and as you turn each page, you get the joy of viewing beautiful swatches of their rebounding yard. So, back to what I said at the beginning—this book will inspire and encourage you. I know that I said, “Ooooo, I want to do that…” every time I turned a page.

Read how the authors did it knowing that you can do it too.

You can purchase this book by visiting lettheearthbreathe.org.

Anne Milligan is a former Clinical Social Worker, an artist, singer/musician, and landscape designer. She and her husband, author and historian Stephen A. Brown, live in Southeast Jefferson County. Their Kentucky native plants sanctuary has been featured in The Louisville Courier-Journal and the Louisville Magazine.

Susan Harkins is the Managing Editor of The Lady Slipper. In real life, she is a technical journalist with 35 years in the IT industry, but her passion is native plants. A long-time member of the Capital Area Extension Master Gardener Association, she enjoys using her publishing skills to share her love of Kentucky’s native flora and fauna.

Reforesting in the Bluegrass

By Beate Popkin, President, Wild Ones: Native Plants/Natural Landscapes, Lexington Chapter

In 2015, I began to visit Hisle Park in northeast Fayette County on a regular basis. Every time I drove out there, I was mystified by a property on Briar Hill Road where a very large number of young oaks grew in a dense plantation. In the winter and early spring, a house became visible at the end of a long curving driveway. What contrast to the surrounding pastures where horses grazed in expansive fields! Who created this planting and for what purpose?

Then, in the summer of 2020, I met Ann Whitney Garner, the owner, and she invited me to her farm. On that first visit I drove through the opened gate with intense expectation and followed the driveway in awe at the extent of the plantation. The trees growing in rows stretched almost up to the residence. Ann Whitney showed me the garden, chicken coop, barn and small tree nursery behind the house, then took me through a small natural woodland to a substantial creek, David’s Branch, that forms the rear border of the property.

She and her husband Allen Garner bought this 20-acre lot in 2006. In 2008, they moved with their three school-aged children into their newly constructed home and engaged a landscape contractor to design and install the plantings typical of Bluegrass residences: many boxwoods, cherry laurels, which are now dead, and more than 500 liriope plants, which Ann Whitney has since dug up and discarded.

The Garners do not come from farm backgrounds, yet they wanted to use their land for some kind of agrarian activity that would reduce the amount of mowing on their empty space. They knew that they did not want horses. They considered a vineyard but found out that their land was too alkaline. They played with the idea of growing corn or organic tobacco but had to acknowledge that they would get no return on their investment of money and effort.

They knew that they cared about nature, and Ann Whitney anticipated the moment when her children would go to high school and then college, and she looked forward to a new kind of work. She couldn’t exactly define what it would be, but she wanted to work on her property. In 2010, she had an epiphany: “Why don’t we grow what’s supposed to be here,” she asked herself and her family. She had walked her property almost daily pondering what she observed: the way bush honeysuckle and winter creeper intruding from the perimeter suppressed the regeneration of plants, and the possibilities offered by the large expanse of open space. It occurred to her that the property called for trees, because that is what Nature would plant on it. Trees would create wildlife habitat, beauty and—in the very long term—financial value.

The Kentucky Division of Forestry helped her move forward with her project providing several forest management plans, offering tree seedlings for a very reasonable price and eventually loaning her a mechanical tree planter. During the first year she ordered and planted 100 trees: many redbuds, some pecans, sycamores, and bur oaks. Then she put in an order of 300 trees, including many bald cypress for a low-lying area.

Oaks planted with the help of a mechanical tree planter.

Then, in 2013, the Garners took a big plunge ordering 5,000 oak seedlings, 1,000 each of swamp white, bur, northern red, Shumard and chinquapin oak. They chose oaks knowing that they would be slow-growing and not immediately overwhelm them with labor-intensive management tasks. They also assumed that an investment in oaks can provide a financial return in the distant future when selective harvesting for some kind of a niche market may become feasible. Also, Ann Whitney had taken note of Doug Tallamy’s argument in Bringing Nature Home, that oaks are immensely valuable as habitat trees and a food source for a huge variety of caterpillars thereby sustaining a large bird population.

When they ordered their 5,000 oaks, the Garners knew from experience that this number could not be planted with shovels, and that is where the mechanical tree planter came in. Hitched to a tractor, it carves grooves in the ground where individual workers riding on the machine place bare root plants at regular intervals. The entire Garner family participated in planting the oaks which turned into a surprisingly efficient and gratifying project.

Encouraged by their success with the oaks, they embarked on their last large planting endeavor two years later by installing 1,000 tulip poplars in a remaining empty space behind the house. Ann Whitney had observed how fast the poplars grew and decided she wanted to speed along the development of a canopy cover on at least part of the property.

With the restoration of the Bluegrass underway, birds became more abundant, and the soil began to absorb water more readily due to the expanding roots that channel it into the ground. But with the planting done, new questions arose: How does one live as a good steward on a property into which one has invested so much time, energy and money? Does the property lend itself to other uses that are still compatible with the goal of sustaining Nature?

In 2019, Ann Whitney started a tree nursery. Having handled thousands of tree seedlings over almost ten years, she concluded: “I can do this myself.” She studied up on propagation techniques and collected seeds of native trees growing in the Bluegrass.

She wants to inspire other property owners to follow her example restoring the Bluegrass, creating habitat for wildlife and helping the soil heal. She would like to make resources available to help them get started, and first and foremost among these are young trees. At this point her nursery has a number of native species available in 3- and 5-gallon containers. Her website is at https://www.fieldstoforest.com/.

Many landowners in Kentucky live on properties that they do not imagine ever returning to agricultural use. In Fayette County a single residential house can be built on 20-acre lots outside the urban service boundary with the official explanation that it serves agricultural activities, even though there is rarely any evidence of them. Instead, one drives past large lots with a house in the distance, possibly a few trees here and there, but otherwise with the ground covered in turf grass subject to a relentless mowing regime. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Ann Whitney Garner let her land speak to her. She walked on it and she worked on it. And she reflected on what she saw. She considered agricultural ventures. She became interested in ecology reading about plants and the animals they sustain. She sought professional advice and consulted with local arborists and biologists. Now, more than ten years after the big decision was made to reforest her land, she says: “I just know this is what we are supposed to do on this kind of property.”

Plants Mentioned in this Article

Buxus sempervirens – boxwood

Carya illinoinensis – pecan

Cercis canadensis – redbud

Euonymus fortunei – wintercreeper

Liriodendron tulipifera – tulip poplar

Liriope muscari

Lonicera maackii – bush honeysuckle

Platanus occidentalis – sycamore

Prunus laurocerasus – cherry laurel

Quercus bicolor – swamp white oak

Quercus macrocarpa – bur oak

Quercus muehlenbergii – chinquapin oak

Quercus rubra – northern red oak

Quercus shumardii – shumard oak

Taxodium distichum – bald cypress

Beate Popkin is the owner of Living Gardens, a Landscape Consulting business in central Kentucky. She is also the President of the Lexington Chapter of Wild Ones, Native Plants/Natural Landscapes, an environmental advocacy group. She lives in Lexington where she manages a number of native plant gardens on public and private ground.

Creating an organic swimming pool

By Margaret Shea, owner Dropseed Nursery

Two of my favorite things are floating in the water and growing native plants–so building an organic swimming pool has been on my wish list for years. We finally finished the project just in time for this year’s swimming season and it is a delight!

We found a pond design that was the perfect fit for both growing native wetland plants and cooling off in the water. This pond combines a deep swimming zone (ours is 8’ deep) with an adjacent shallow planting zone.

Since our soil does not hold water, we used a liner beneath the entire area. The swimming zone is enclosed by a wooden box (ours is 10’x20’) that separates it from the planting zone. Outside of this box is the planting zone–3’ of sand and gravel that slopes towards the swimming area. The wooden box holds the substrate back from the deep area.

Our planting area surrounds the entire pool and varies in depth from 0-1.5’. Ideally you want equal areas for the planting zone and the swimming zone. A perforated pipe is beneath the sand and gravel, and a bubbler circulates water through the plant roots, into the pipe, and back to the pool. The plant roots work together with the substrate to keep the water clean and clear.

The pond is built above grade to prevent run-off from entering the pool (run-off carries nutrients from the soil into the pool and causes algae blooms). This means you have to wait for rainfall to fill the pond–luckily, we have a nearby spring we were able to use to fill the pond more quickly.

It is wonderful to finally have a wet area to plant species like soft rush, lizard’s tail, pickerelweed, rattlebox and blue flag Iris. Blue vervain, foxglove beardtongue, swamp hibiscus, fox sedge, blue lobelia and other species are thriving right at the edge of the pond where they are out of the standing water, but their roots are wet. The plants were put in the ground in May but are already doing their job to keep the water clear. (See the list of botanical names below.)

We are not the only ones enjoying the pool. Tadpoles immediately colonized the pool. It has been fun watching birds drinking from the shallow area and we have a red-eared slider who sometimes basks on a rock between swims.

You can learn more about the process of building one of these ponds on David Pagan Butler’s YouTube channel.

Common Name	Botanical Name
soft rush	Juncus effusus L.
lizard’s tail	Saururus cernuus L.
pickerelweed	Pontederia cordata L.
rattlebox, seedbox	Ludwigia alternifolia
blue flag Iris	Iris virginica
blue vervain	Verbena hastata
foxglove beardtongue	Penstemon digitalis
swamp hibiscus	Hibiscus moscheutos
fox sedge	Carex vulpinoidea
blue lobelia	Lobelia siphilitica L.

Kentucky native plants that like moist soil.

Margaret Shea has a M.S. in ecology from Indiana University and has worked for a number of Kentucky Conservation organizations before starting Dropseed Native Plant Nursery 16 years ago. Margaret’s past employers include The Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, The Kentucky Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and Bernheim Forest.

Follow a growing trend and organize your own seed swap

A variety of seeds grown and collected from native species, at just one of the regional mini-swaps in 2021. Photo: Louisville Central region swap host Deany Collard.

By Anne Milligan

When I was asked to write a summary of our Kentucky native plants and seeds swaps in Louisville, Kentucky, I was excited to share, but I also felt a bit of trepidation. How does one adequately describe a project that seems to have tapped a societal nerve, so to speak, and taken on a life of its own over the past few years? With three swaps under our belts, I want to share how this project began, and just a hint of how it is evolving, as more people come on board. I’m hopeful that our experience will help others establish swaps in their own communities.

2010

Stephen Brown and I moved to Louisville after having lived in the middle of the woods for three years in “employee housing” at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Hodgenville, Kentucky. We loved the woods so much that we decided to look for a house surrounded by trees. We moved to a property abutting some woodland acreage and began our 12-year creation of a Kentucky native plants sanctuary.

2010-2019

That first decade involved a whole lot of physical labor on our part, creating a series of connected rain gardens flowing gradually downhill across our back, front and side yards. These gardens (plus some drier areas) are now populated with over 80 Kentucky native flowers, ferns, shrubs, and trees.

From the very beginning, we have carefully documented the project in photos and daily journal logs at Let the Earth Breathe, Inc. Please refer to our 2021 book Let the Earth Breathe for a more detailed narration of our home project, what we’ve learned so far, and some delightful surprises we encountered along the way.

2019

When we had established about 60 varieties of native species, we realized that we were running out of room to expand our “yarden” and decided to form a Facebook native seed swap group to share some of the abundance. We had a grand total of six people at our very first swap meeting in November of 2019. We were small but mighty though, because the Facebook group began to expand dramatically in a very short time after this swap.

2020

As you probably know, the Covid pandemic forced many people into quarantine, which catapulted many of us into home landscaping projects. Our annual swap was cancelled. We then divided the original group into five regional “socially distanced,” mini-swaps that covered most of the Louisville area. Besides our own swap in the southeast region of Louisville, four leaders stepped up to host their own regional swaps.

A lot of seeds were exchanged by mail and porch pick-ups. Our primary inspiration for creating home native plants sanctuaries (or “yardens”) was, and still is, Dr. Douglas Tallamy’s book Bringing Nature Home. Another very helpful book for beginning native gardeners is Wildflowers and Ferns of Kentucky by the late Dr. Thomas Barnes.

2021

Unique seed display from a regional swap group.

On November 6, 2021, regional swaps took place again at the hosts’ homes. I think everyone will agree that the regional swaps are here to stay, because smaller communities are developing in local neighborhoods within these regional swaps. Together, many of us are gaining more courage to remove those tidy, but unsustainable, grassy lawns and replace them with landscaped native plants, shrubs, and trees.

November 27, 2021

Three weeks after the regional swaps, our annual “citywide” swap took place at the Louisville Nature Center. We held this citywide swap to further distribute the extra seeds, plants, and tree saplings that were left over from the regional swaps. As I posted in our Facebook groups after this citywide swap, “I have never seen such a marvelously biodiverse collection of native seeds, plants, and trees in my entire life.” The people were equally diverse by age, gender, culture, and even in the unique ways we packaged our seeds.
Labeling the seed packages with name, bloom time, and year collected, was stressed as very important in the weeks preceding the swaps. Some of the species were even brought over the river from New Albany, Indiana. From 1:00-4:00 PM, a steady, but never overwhelming flow of people swapped native seeds and plants.

We organized the seeds by placing tables in a large semi-circle according to the bloom times of individual seeds and plants, beginning with early spring ephemerals, all the way around to late summer and fall. We had to add extra tables to handle the generosity and abundance.

All of the regional hosts were present to greet our visitors, many of whom were surprised that all of these seed packages, plants, native grasses, and trees were free. And yet that is part of the magic of what I feel will become an annual event. My vision is that our swaps will always, first and foremost, be neighborly and welcoming, without the trappings and competition of buying and selling.

I hope that, as you read this, you will consider forming your own swap group, and hold fast to a primary rule, which is to share only species native to your region. If you are a Facebook group administrator, please know that a successful swap group also requires that you keep people engaged throughout the year, sharing books, articles, and so on and that you clarify again and again that our pollinators depend on native species for their very survival, and thus, human survival on the planet.

Most of all, keep it fun. As Margaret Shea, of Dropseed Native Plants Nursery, once told us, “It’s fun to put things in the ground.” And it really is.

Citywide swap on Nov. 27, 2021.
Photo: Deany Collard.

Final Notes

On a personal level, I am happy to say that these swaps have given many participants a much-needed social connection with people who care about our planet and love gardening. We need these connections, sometimes more than we need extra money or material goods. Making positive social connections around native-plant gardening keeps us well and helps strengthen our resolve to free ourselves of our addiction to non-native grassy lawn care and help restore our planet to its natural goodness.

Lastly, please consider donating to the non-profit foundation created by Anne Milligan and Stephen Brown called “Let the Earth Breathe, Inc.” to help fund other small native species projects around our area. You can do so by visiting Let the Earth Breathe, Inc..

Happy planting!

Anne Milligan is an artist, singer/musician, and landscape designer. She lives in Louisville, KY with her husband, author and historian Stephen A. Brown.

Unusual naturally occurring variant or escape from cultivation?

Lonicera sempervirens f. sulphurea, a yellow-flowered form of the red native honeysuckle

By Alicia Bosela, owner of Ironweed Native Plant Nursery

The native species of trumpet honeysuckle is a deciduous woody vine that typically grows to about 15 feet. It produces red tubular flowers with a yellow throat and is pollinated by hummingbirds and a variety of insects. Ornamental uses include trellises, fences and as a ground cover. Trumpet honeysuckle differs from native yellow honeysuckle (Lonicera flava) in that L. flava is not known to occur in Kentucky and has distinctly different shaped flowers.

Yellow trumpet honeysuckle — *Lonicera sempervirens* f. *sulphurea*; Photo Credit A Fothergill

*Lonicera sempervirens* f. *sulphurea* , @ Tara Littlefield

While much of our wild flora is at risk from various human activity, the beautiful, red-flowered trumpet honeysuckle can still be found if one is doggedly persistent in searching. One such pursuer of native plants, Neville Crawford, located what was clearly a trumpet honeysuckle that was completely yellow and appeared to be growing in natural habitat within Mahr Park in Madisonville, Kentucky. John Swintosky, Senior Landscape Architect at Louisville Metro Public Works, discovered a yellow trumpet honeysuckle growing in Iroquois Park at least 15 years ago and confirmed its presence again in September 2021. This yellow form was reported in Iroquois Park in 1945 by P.A. Davies. Botanist Julian Campbell also encountered the yellow form in Boyle County, Kentucky.

Julian Campbell and Tara Littlefield under an arbor of the regular red trumpet honesuckle and the yellow variety that Julian collected from Boyle county, at Julian’s Botanical Garden in Lexington, Kentucky, May 2021. Photo by Christy Edwards.

Were these plants naturally occurring color variants of the red trumpet honeysuckle or an escape from cultivation? Britton and Brown’s Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States mentions the yellow form as early as 1913. The yellow form has been noted for sale in catalogues as early as 1938 and is likely “within the range of phenotypic plasticity for the species,” according to the New York Botanical Garden (personal communication). Therefore, this is almost certainly a natural yellow form of the typically red trumpet honeysuckle. How interesting!

Editor’s Note: You can see the yellow variety at Salato Native Wildlife Education in Frankfort, Kentucky at the headquarters of Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources in the backyard exhibit.

Alicia Bosela owns Ironweed Native Plant Nursery in Columbia Kentucky, a certified woman-owned business. Before opening her own nursery, she was the Assistant Director of Clay Hill Memorial Forest Environmental Education Center. You can contact her at www.ironweednursery.com.