September 14, 2010: Bill McLaughlin, the horticulturist plant curator at the U.S. Botanic Garden, advised members to look to North Carolina native plants when incorporating natives into Capitol Hill Gardens. He said our inner city climate and clay soils were more like the North Carolina piedmont. For more interesting natives, he suggested looking farther afield into Florida, Texas and even Mexico. McLaughlin said closely related plants, despite their geographic differences, tended to serve the same insect and bird populations.
His entire presentation follows:
Vice President Carol Edwards presided at the first meeting of the new garden club year.
Mary Blakeslee introduced the speaker; Bulb Co-Chairs Gail Giuffrida and Sonia Conly gave club members their marching orders for this year's annual bulb sale fundraiser--38 years and counting.
