Create a Beautiful Landscape while Conserving Natural Resources
This presentation will review landscape management practices that can help gardeners create beautiful landscapes that conserve natural resources. Many of the practices shared are based on the Florida-Friendly Landscaping Principles taught by Florida Extension Agents.
Mark Tancig has been the Commercial & Residential Horticulture Extension Agent with UF/IFAS Extension Leon County since 2016. In this role, Mark shares research-based best practices for sustainable landscape management with green-industry professionals and residential homeowners. Mark also coordinates the Leon County Master Gardener Volunteer Program.
Prior to joining UF/IFAS Extension, Mark worked for Leon County’s Public Works Department for six years and Growth and Environmental Management Department for three years. His first job in Tallahassee was as a Field Biologist with Florida Natural Areas Inventory.
Mark holds two degrees from the University of Florida, a bachelor’s degree in Botany and a master’s degree in Soil and Water Science.
Native Ferns of the Georgia Coastal Plain
We will focus on the most common and/or available native ferns found in the region to help you learn to recognize them and will provide advice for how to incorporate them into your gardens. This will include an overview of ferns, a review of some unusual natives, and the top invasive ferns in the area.
Connie Gray has been a plant professional for 50 years and has focused her efforts on SE native plants for most of that time. She researched native ferns for her Master’s thesis and ferns have remained a major passion. Connie has been an educator for many years and has also worked to restore native plant communities and promote gardening with natives. She currently serves as president of the Athens-East Piedmont Chapter of GNPS and chairs both the programs and plant sale committees.
Connect to Protect: A Call to Action from a Conservation Botanist
The news about our environment can seem daunting and overwhelming. But we still hold hope, there is time to act, and we must get started. As native plant and insect lovers, we will discuss actions we can all take to help wildlife here in Georgia. Through stories, inspiration, and instructions for actions, Jennifer will share her mission to restore native plants to the land and share her vision on how we all can be part of the solution. No garden space or patio or window-box or right of way is too small. For the plants, the people, and the plenty of species that rely upon them, let’s connect to protect for biodiversity!
Jennifer Ceska is Public Service and Outreach Faculty at the University of Georgia and has served since 1995 as Conservation Coordinator in the Science & Conservation Program of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Athens. This is Jennifer’s 30th year serving as one of the state coordinators for the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance.
Feathers & Flora
Why plant native? For millennia, birds have evolved across all continents and biomes. Within, birds have become specialists – some are even dependent on a single plant species. Sarah will explore the relationships between native plants and southeastern bird species and what you can do to attract them.
Sarah Manning is the Coastal Conservation Coordinator for Birds Georgia. She manages the statewide Wildlife Sanctuary Program, Project Safe Flight, and assists with habitat restoration, monitoring, and other initiatives along Georgia’s coast. Sarah enjoys exploring the natural world.