Hi all! It's been a few weeks, I know. I can explain. It's the weeds. They captured me and took me to their leader, and she said I couldn't go back to work or write any new blog posts until I signed a contract, in blood, stating that I would never again associate myself with any product designed to bring about herbicide. Evidentally they found out that I had recently been involved in herbicide on a massive scale at the Sylvan Heights waterfowl center in Scotland Neck, and they wanted to make me pay. I tried to explain that those had been invasive exotic weeds, and that I had simply rid that site of wanted plant thugs, but they were unimpressed. Queen privet called that ethnic discrimination, and threatened to bury me neck deep in Kudzu, so I crossed my fingers and pledged to never harm another weedy plant, invasive or otherwise. Whew!

Anyway, the summer is slowing down a bit now, and i have a chance to breath a bit. The invasive removal trip the Duke Gardens staff took to Sylvan heights was alot of fun. We got rid of a good bit of chinese privet, along with some other wanted plants, and then got a tour of the facilities from Brad, the curator. We'll be going back this fall at some point to work again- check this blog in the coming months for more info.

Three of us just returned from the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=27540747836> -see this link for a conference facebook page. It's a great chance to learn more about what's happening in the native plant landscaping and conservation community. Check it out.

Finally, someone put me in front of a video camera the other day for a very short film about interesting plants in the Blomquist Garden. You can check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fB7jU2A-kA. Enjoy!