In midsummer this year, a visitor may have hardly noticed a small garden outside the children’s room at the John’s Island library except for one showstopper, a Scarlet hibiscus, so lavish in color and stunning in its five-petal design that you couldn’t look away.
Michel Hammes, an adult services librarian at the branch library at Maybank Highway, had chosen the theatrical hibiscus (Hibiscus coccineus) to brighten the plot that she and her colleague, Sheryl Lowry, maintain and use as a teaching tool for daily visitors and for organized programs featuring plant experts. The garden is certified “wild” by the National Wildlife Federation, and it allows children and adults to investigate the life-giving interaction between native plants and insect pollinators, like a bright orange Gulf fritillary butterfly feeding on the nectar of a purple-flowered Ironweed plant (Vernonia noveboracensis). The children who visit are often unfamiliar with native plants, Michel said, but many are aware of climate change and ask questions in that context: Do plants help? (They can absorb carbon, mitigate flooding, and provide critical food and habitat for insects and birds.)
In addition to creating the garden, Michel helped develop a statewide “seed library” program which offers patrons at South Carolina public libraries resources – and free seeds – for growing vegetables, herbs, and wildflowers. The program partners with the Clemson Extension School and Community Garden Program.
Inspired by her mother, Yvonne Michel, who is a committed environmentalist, Michel Hammes began growing native plants about 20 years ago at her home in North Charleston. She said native plants offer her clear benefits – many require little watering, they are pest resistant, they provide the right pollen and nectar for native wildlife, and they’re beautiful. (To prove the last point, she emailed a photo of delicate light blue Carolina wild petunias (Ruellia caroliniensis) in her yard. She and her husband, Cary Jones, don’t use chemicals and fallen leaves serve as fertilizer.
“What I love about the native plants is that it's not just gardening,” she said. “I mean, most of us like to put our hands in the dirt and you can pop a plant in the ground and all you do is give it some water and sunshine and it grows. And then if you add in the native plants, you get all this wildlife coming around. I mean, to me that is just amazing and mystical, and it brings joy to life.”
Native plants are easy to grow and offer a variety of benefits for pollinators and other native wildlife species. Don’t miss your opportunity to learn more about growing your native landscape from internationally acclaimed author, inspirational speaker, and founder of the global movement We are the Ark, Mary Reynolds. Mark your calendar and register now for Designing in Nature with Mary Reynolds on October 19, 2023, at 11 a.m. in the West Beach Conference Center (kiawahconservancy.org/designing-in-nature-with-mary-reynolds). During this event, hosted by the Kiawah Conservancy, guests will enjoy a gourmet luncheon and a virtual visit with Mary Reynolds as she joins us remotely from her home in Ireland to discuss the importance of native plants, her career, and how we can be better stewards of the land. Also included will be a vendor showcase where you can meet with local landscape professionals, native plant experts, and native plant nurseries to have your landscape, gardening, and native plant questions answered.
As an extension of the Designing in Nature with Mary Reynolds event, join the Kiawah Conservancy and the Seabrook Green Space Conservancy for a Native Plant Sale on November 3, 2023, at 3 pm on the green at Freshfields Village. Enjoy refreshments and live music as you chat with local experts about natives to plant in your yard. This event is open to the public and there is no need to register. Pre-sale plant packages will be available to purchase during the Designing in Nature with Mary Reynolds event.