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Lockerly Newsletter February 2016
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Volunteers of the Month
Our Volunteers of the Month are youth groups from Flipper Chapel AME Church and Northridge Christian Church. Over 30 students and adults came out to the Arboretum for a service activity on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Working together on a very cold day, they spent the morning in the wooded area of the Arboretum clearing debris.
In addition to providing a place to watch birds and wildlife, and enjoy shade-loving plants,
the area also provides a location for teaching during field trips, Boys and Girls Club activities, and adult programs.
The Lockerly staff and Trustees are appreciative of the time and energy the Northridge Christian and Flipper Chapel youth spent improving the grounds. Please come out soon and enjoy the wooded area where they worked so hard.
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Come count with us!
Come out to Lockerly's backyard and be part of the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) on Saturday, February 13th from 9:00-noon The GBBC is a four day
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| Former Trustee David Evans (right) points out some birding locations near the pond. |
event for experienced and beginner bird watchers (and counters) who list the birds they see, or hear, for at least 15 minutes in an area. We will have members of the Ocmulgee Audubon Society here to help look for birds and identify them.
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Spring Plant Sale Details
Staff, Dirt Diggers, and Trustees have shared ideas to make our Spring Plant Sale a great event for our members and the public. Our Member Plant Sale will be held on Thursday, April 21st. On Friday, April 22nd, and Saturday, April 23rd, we'll have plants available for the public to buy.
Special Date for Friends of Lockerly
On Thursday, April 21st we will have a selection of plants for sale to anyone who is a
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| Mark your calendar for our plant sale in April, including a special event for Friends of Lockerly |
current Friend of Lockerly as of Friday, April 15th. If your membership has lapsed, or you've never been a Friend of Lockerly, you can
renew or join here. If you have questions about your Friend of Lockerly status, please contact Vicki Folendore by email at [email protected] or call 478.452.2112.
During our three day plant sale we'll organize our inventory so we have some quantity of every plant for sale each day. No plants will be sold, or set aside, before our plant sale hours on any of these three days.
We're also inviting vendors with yard and garden supplies ranging from pots and garden tools to yard art, to set up a space to sell items that will make your work easier, and your yard unique. Check back to see who will be joining us.
If there is a particular plant you would like for us to try and have for our sale, we'd like to know. Please send your suggestions to our Horticulture Director, Debbie Foster, at [email protected].
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Scouts, field trips, and outdoor education
If you are a teacher, Scout leader, or active in a civic or church group, and want to go somewhere different for a service project or learning opportunity, consider the Oliver Worley Outdoor Education Center near Eatonton.
We offer regular programming for the Life Enrichment Center there once a week from September-May. Local schools use the Worley Center for field trips. Scouts often earn badges and camp at the center. Nine Eagle Scouts have done their projects at the Worley Center. Student groups hold fellowship activities there too.
During the summer we hold two summer day camps for students that allows them to explore outside while they learn mapping skills, work on an archaeology learning center, and get wet studying ecosystems in Rooty Creek.
If you are interested in programming at the Worley Center, find out more about scheduling and use, and then contact us to see if the calendar is open when you would like to be there. Email our Executive Director at [email protected] or call 478.452.2112.
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Grant support for Lockerly
We finished the year with grant funding from the Grassmann Foundation and
Tri-County EMC. The Grassmann Foundation funds are being used for improvements
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Kim Bonner, Tri-County EMC, left, Debbie Foster, Lockerly Horticulture Director, center, Katherine Cummings,
Lockerly Executive Director, right |
in the greenhouses and Woods Museum, and several teaching displays. The Tri-County EMC funds will be used for purchasing plants for the greenhouses.
If you are a Friend of Lockerly or donor to our programs, your support is vital to our efforts for securing funding. Demonstrating financial support from our community is an important part of grant applications.
If you aren't currently a Friend of Lockerly, or if you'd like to make a donation, you can do that through our website. All donations are tax-deductible.
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February Garden Tips
Lockerly Horticulture Director
Birds and butterflies can add color to your yard and garden in addition to your plants. If you are interested in attracting birds and butterflies to your yard, or learning more about birds in our area, come out to Lockerly on Saturday, February 13th from 9:00-noon and participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). We're partnering with the Ocmulgee Audubon Society to count birds that morning in the Arboretum. Experienced and beginning birders had a good time looking and listening for birds, and looking at which plants and trees attracted different species. Last year we saw several endangered brown-headed nuthatches.
How can you create bird habitats in your yard? Birds have three basic requirements in life - food, water and cover. The types of birds in our area and their food requirements change seasonally. In the spring, both migrant and resident birds feed on caterpillars and other insects present on new plant growth. During the late spring and summer, breeding birds continue to feed on insects but also eat fruits as they become available. Insects and spiders are especially important to young songbirds born in the spring and summer because these foods fill the bird's protein and calcium needs for bone and tissue growth. As migrant birds fly south in the fall, they seek out fruits which are high in energy. Winter residents, including cardinals, chickadees, juncos, robins, and sparrows, primarily eat fruits and seeds that persist on plants or on the ground. Yellow-rumped warblers, also known as myrtle warblers, eat the fruits of wax myrtle in the winter.
When choosing plants for your yard, be sure to include early and late-fruiting varieties a
long with plants that produce seeds for late summer, fall and winter. Some soft fruiting trees and shrubs that offer food for birds from August to February are Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.), Passumhaw (Ilex decidua), Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria), American holly (Ilex opaca), and Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana). Seed producing plants that offer food for birds in the fall and winter include Panicgrass (Panicum spp.), Sunflower (Helianthus spp.), Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida), Aster, Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), Tickseed (Coreopsis spp.), Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) and Bluestem grass (Andropogon spp.).
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We appreciate our sponsors
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Lockerly Arboretum 1534 Irwinton Road, Milledgeville, GA 478.452.2112
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