Native plants give us a sense of where we are in this great land of ours.

~Lady Bird Johnson

You may have noticed a slight reduction in the number of posts the last few weeks. A major reason is that I have been busy with a new chapter in my life, a new adventure. It is a long story, but I am returning to full-time employment as an educator at the North Carolina Botanical Garden (NCBG) in Chapel Hill. NCBG is part of the University of North Carolina, and is a 1,000+ acre assemblage of display gardens and natural areas. It is nationally known as a conservation garden with strong programs in research, education, native plant propagation, and habitat conservation.

The entrance to the North Carolina Botanical Garden last year (click photos to enlarge)

I have had a long history with the Garden, having purchased thousands of native plants there that were propagated by their excellent horticulture staff. Those plants ended up in school grounds across North Carolina as butterfly gardens, bird observation areas, and water gardens, as part of the hundreds of workshops I did during my career at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. When I think of native plants in our state, I think of this place. So, it is a natural fit for me to be an educator here, a place I know, with many people that I know and admire, and a mission I can relate to –  to inspire understanding, appreciation, and conservation of plants and to advance a sustainable relationship between people and nature.

The first three weeks have been busy, with a lot of time spent inside working on the computer  (in the nicest office I have ever had it turns out – great view and a window that actually opens!). But, I have had a chance to see a few things in a more natural setting right outside my office door…

A feather mystery on my first day

One of the staff found me on my first day and relayed a feather mystery they had discovered while pulling ivy outside one the display gardens. It was a large pile of red-shouldered hawk feathers. We discussed the possibilities and figured the most likely scenario was that a great horned owl had taken a roosting hawk as prey during the night.

Prescribed burns in the Coastal Plain Habitat Garden

The staff has been busy the past couple of weeks doing prescribed burns both here at the main garden site and at some of the other properties managed by NCBG. It was a flashback to my state park days when I helped with many burns at various parks in the east.

Spotted salamander egg mass

After a heavy rain one night, I was anxious to check the pools in the habitat gardens, which usually produce good numbers of salamander egg masses. Sure enough, there were a lot of spermatophores covering the bottom of the pools. A couple of days later we went over and saw the first egg masses of the season, always a magical moment, and one that I reported on in a blog post a couple of years ago.

Gray fox greeting one morning

I suppose my favorite experience thus far happened last week as I was walking into the building from my car. A gray fox, nose to the ground, came out of nowhere and crossed in front of me. A quick glance my way was all the notice I received, then it was back to trotting and sniffing. The fox disappeared, but I could hear some other people across the grounds exclaiming they had just seen it. Suddenly, it crossed my path even closer as I approached the building, and once again vanished.

Gray fox

I went upstairs and grabbed my camera and came back down on the side deck, hoping to see it again. Just when I was about to go back inside, it suddenly appeared on the path in front of me, sniffing the ground as if intent on finding something. I later heard people saw at least two foxes out there, so maybe this one was looking for the other one. I think we re approaching their breeding season, so this may explain this intense searching behavior.

Not a bad way to start a day. If this is any indication of what’s to come, I look forward to being at this beautiful place, and learning and sharing about the natural world in a new setting. Stay tuned…