Across the state, Audubon North Carolina chapters are doing great things for their

communities!

Recently, members of the T. Gilbert Pearson Audubon Society in Greensboro got together with
the Triad chapter of NC Native Plant Society to remove exotic, invasive plants at the local public
“Bog Garden”—and replace them with bird-friendly native plants.

Invasive plants are often pretty, but they have

no natural enemies and can overrun native
vegetation. Invasive exotics are indigestible for
most native insects. Birds need insects to feed
their young, so more invasive plants means less
food for chicks.

The Bog Garden has seven acres of natural

wetlands with an elevated boardwalk to view
the variety of plants, birds and other wildlife in
the area. It is supervised by Greensboro
Beautiful and the City of Greensboro Parks and
The Bog Garden has an elevated boardwalk
Rec Department.
throughout the garden to view the plants and
wildlife in the wetland areas.
To kick off the project, a group of volunteers
came together to start marking the overgrown invasive species so they could be removed and
replaced with native plants.

Ann Walter-Fromson, T. Gilbert Pearson Audubon Society’s former president and graduate of
the North Carolina Botanical Garden’s Native Plant studies program, is leading the effort and
connecting with nurseries in the area.

“I was excited that we were asked

to come up with ideas to help
because the Bog Garden is on the
North Carolina Birding Trail. It’s
very wooded, making it a great spot
for Warblers—the Barred Owl
draws a lot of people to the
garden,” Walter-Fromson said.
“Some of the volunteers have dug
up and donated plants from their
property, like the American Holly
and Eastern Red Cedar. It takes a
community to restore our natural
areas!” A Carolina Chickadee captures a caterpillar to feed to her hungry chicks.
Since the beginning of November, the volunteers
have planted over 350 new plants in the Bog
Garden! The group even rescued and replanted
almost 250 Christmas ferns from a site in Apex,
NC that was scheduled for development.

“This is a very popular garden and it is very

different from the rest,” said Lee Britt, chair of
the public gardens committee of Greensboro
Beautiful. “One of the major challenges for the
Bog Garden is the silt that comes from upstream.
I hope that some of the restoration of native
plants in the right places will help that flow
better,” Britt said.
The Bog Garden Plant Committee and city garden staff
with a truck full of rescued ferns in Apex. From left to
Sharon Day, founder of Mellow Marsh Farms, right: Lynda Waldrep, Diane Laslie, Judy West, Ann
drove in from Siler City to help the group find Walter-Fromson, George Satalino, Deborah Staves, and
fairly assertive native species for the Bog Garden Steve Green. Photo by: Tom Harville.
that would be able to compete with weeds and
invasive species. Her recommendations included plants such as Virginia Iris, Spicebush,
Buttonbush, Hibiscus and more.

Although this is a big project for the

community to take on, Day is excited for
the end result: “People will get to see how
very beautiful a lot of our native plants are,
and that is something people don’t
necessarily understand. There are species
here that are just as beautiful as what we
import from garden centers across the
world.”

This Northern Mockingbird is feasting on native Winterberry.