Go Native!

The Tybee Island Beautification Association recommends planting native plants because they are hardy, they require less maintenance than non-native plants, and they are useful to a wide variety of birds and animals. Native plants provide food, shelter, and nesting opportunities to birds and other wildlife that have fewer and fewer places to feed and roost because of increasing loss of habitat due to development.

The following is by no means a complete list of Georgia natives, but it is a start.

There are many native plants not on this list including the beautiful native Georgiaazalea. To learn more about our native azalea, visit Earl Sommerville's page.

Some of the above plants, like the wax myrtle, are more readily available at localnurseries than others. Native plants can, however, easily be ordered by mail fromMail Order Natives, a Florida-based company that can be reached at:

P. O. Box 9366
Lee, FL 32059
Phone: 850 973-4688
monatives@aol.com

The Georgia Native Plant Society. also has a good list of where you can obtain native plants, including some that are rare or endangered. Most recommended nurseries are in the Atlanta and north Florida area, but many have websites and mail-order options. Click on the seasonal bloom chart and follow directions from there.

For information on the Coastal Georgia Certified Naturalist Program sponsored by UGA Coastal Georgia County Extension Offices contact David Moulder, CEC at 912-653-2231 or email at dmoulder@uga.edu.

Another, more local, resource on native plants is the Coastal Plain Native PlantSociety, based at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA. The Coastal PlainNative Plant Society is the group to call if you know of upcoming development thatwill entail the loss of native vegetation. CPNPS organizes plant rescues to dig upand relocate native plants in advance of the bulldozer. Contact CPNPS at:

Phone: 912-871-1114 or 912-764-6329
Fax: 912-871-1117
joiners@frontiernet.net
or visit www.bio.gasou.edu/cpnps/rescue.html