Author: grandd7

Celebrate Oaktober in Arkansas!

Why celebrate Oak trees?
Oak trees are a keystone species, meaning that entire ecosystems depend on them for survival and habitat. Acorns from oak trees feed more than 100 different wildlife species. Doug Tallamy found that over 500 species of butterfly and moth caterpillars live on oak trees, more than on any other tree. These insects play an important role in the food web because they are a food source for birds and other animals. Oak trees are also beautiful and can live a long time. Their large branches provide shade, helping to cool down neighborhoods in the summer. They also help reduce flooding and erosion by absorbing rainwater.

Audubon Arkansas Fall Native Plant Sale

The Fall online native plant sale opens on 9/13/24 and ends 9/20/24. Many plants sell out the first 2 days so I encourage you to shop early! Several Arkansas businesses will be offering plants & you will also have opportunities to donate to Audubon so they can continue their important work. I’ll be adding a link to the sale as soon as it opens. Start making your wish list!

Homegrown National Park

Homegrown National Park is a nationwide program to regenerate biodiversity. The founders are Dr. Doug Tallamy, a Professor of Entomology, and Michelle Alfandari a specialist in business development. Individuals, businesses, non-profits & municipal entities can sign up on a map listing their location and describe their planting. It can be in increments as small as 1 square foot up to acres of land. Today the State map shows Arkansas has 164 native plantings with the greatest concentration (58) being in central Arkansas.

Do you want to help restore biodiversity in your neighborhood, city, or state? This is a way that we can take small steps to help our planet. Get the ‘bug’ to get ‘on the map’!

More info at: http://homegrownnationalpark.org

Thank you Pulaski County Master Gardeners!

Thanks for the invitation for Rand to speak about natives at your monthly meeting today. It was like ‘old home week’ with our Master Gardener friends! Master Gardeners hold a special place in our hearts. We are so grateful for all the work they do to make our state more beautiful. Special thanks to Susan Rose and Carol Mendel for the invitation to speak about native plants and to Derrick the tech guru for helping us get set up. We had a blast!

Thanks, Audubon for a great Spring 2023 Native Plant Sale!

We really appreciate our Arkansas Audubon folks. They go way above and beyond the call of duty to promote local native plant vendors. They make a great partner in trying to promote plants that help birds, butterflies, and other pollinators. Can’t wait for the fall sale and more progress toward keeping Arkansas the Natural State!

National Bat Week

We usually don’t think about bats as pollinators but they are! Most of us know they eat insects (that alone gets my vote because they eat mosquitos!) Consider supporting bats in your neighborhood by mounting a bat house. There is great information at the link below: https://batweek.org/why-bats-matter/

If you live in northeast Arkansas there is a ‘Nighttime Pollinator’ event. Find out more information and register at the link below:

Night Time Pollinators

Audubon Arkansas 2022 Fall Native Plant Sale is Near!!

It’s almost here! Beginning on 9/15/22, at 8:00 am you can order your native plants from multiple vendors. It’s an online order/pick-up sale and you need to make your order early. (Last year we sold out of 8 or so offerings by noon on the first day.) Support your local birds and pollinators! Click on the link to Audubon below for additional details and a map.

https://ar.audubon.org/events/2022-fall-native-plant-sale-online-orderpickup