Diamonds in the Ditches

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SCIENCE & CONSERVATION

Diamonds in the Ditches: Road trips with botanists Zach Wood, grasslands coordinator I have a love-hate relationship with car rides, but my colleagues and I often find ourselves on the road in the name of conservation. Driving can be time-consuming, dangerous and hard on the body. However, I wish every Georgian could experience one of these long car rides with me because, inevitably, there may be a single stem or a splash of color that ignites an exchange of excitement. “Did you see that?” “What?” “Milkweed, rosinweeds, wild quinine, rattleweed.” If time allows, we quickly turn around to catch a glimpse of what may be a small remnant of grassland before continuing with our work. There are diamonds in the ditches. Have you noticed them? Our native flora tends to persist in the corners and on the outskirts. When you are near urban areas, the roadsides are dominated by non-native invasives, but as you move into rural landscapes, things change for the better.

Who cares about weeds on the roadside? Native plants are groceries for some critters and homes for others. These plants perform ecological services we often do not consider, like preventing erosion and filtering runoff. To top it all off, they are beautiful.

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State Botanical Garden of Georgia


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