Winterville Native Plant Garden

UPDATE 11/1/23:  We had 17 volunteers at our second workday and added 64 new native plants.  Thanks to everyone who came out and to all the organizations that are collaborating with us on this project including the City of Winterville, the UGA Extension Office, the Winterville Tree Commission, Butterflies & Blooms in the Briar Patch and the Athens-East Piedmont Chapter of the Georgia Native Plant Society.  Also, thanks to the Athens Area Tool Shed tool loan program for the gardening tools.

GETTING STARTED

The Friends of the Winterville Firefly Trail Committee is creating a native plant garden along the section of the Firefly Trail near Adams Alley.  This project is being done in collaboration with the City of Winterville, the UGA Extension Office, the Winterville Tree Commission, the Athens-East Piedmont chapter of the Georgia Native Plant Society and Butterflies & Blooms in the Briar Patch.  

Thanks to the UGA Extension Office, a group of master gardeners came out in July to identify all existing native plants.  The first workday was in early August when three truckloads of invasive weeds were removed.  The plan is to continue removing the invasive plants and fill the entire area with native plants.  It will also have an educational aspect as all native plants will eventually have a marker with the scientific and common name of each plant.  

This project will take a lot of work and several years to reach its full potential.  We will have more workdays soon and a fundraiser where we will sell native plants to the community to help fund the garden.  To keep up with the latest updates on our progress, upcoming workdays and the fundraiser please follow the Friends of the Winterville Firefly Trail Facebook page or email wintervillefireflylac@gmail.com.