Grounded Nature

🌞Summer Solstice Celebration🌞

Join us to keep cool in the sun on the longest day of the year!

We’ll have sprinklers, kiddie pools, and the biggest slip-n-slide we can build with a three day notice!

Suggested donation is up to 20$ per participant. DM to sign up, spaces limited!

Registration for Grounded Nature School, a nature-based homeschool-plus* co-op, will open Thursday for Fall 2024!

*Our co-op will offer programming for homeschool families Monday-Friday, with coordinated instruction and activities on Tuesdays and Fridays (required attendance days). On Saturdays and some Sundays, families doing public or private schooling will be welcome to join us. Membership will be limited due to space and staff capacity.

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Important to know when you spend much time outdoors!💚

Poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac can cause an allergic reaction on the skin of most people who touch them with bare skin. Learn how to identify these plants and their look-alikes.

Learn about these garden friends!

Plant green stuff folks

🙊🙈some people get so upset and defensive about this little fact , but yes there are always better lawn alternatives to European clover! Let’s talk about it 🗣️

This stuff is my best friend lately! Who else can’t stay out of poison ivy?

DM or comment to order!

2oz tin is 20$
4oz jelly jar is 35$

Got leaf cutter bees? 🐝

Container gardening🌱

Attending the Experience Memphis Gardens walk this Saturday, June 1?

Please join us in Germantown for some garden appreciation!

My client’s garden features over fifty species native to the Midsouth and many beautiful (non-spreading) guest species!

Here are a few of the blooms that jumped out at me today, hope to see you there!

I don’t have cabins yet, but I have tents, who’s in?

✨who’s ready for elder flower cordial?🤗

🏕️🪵🔥 Book your Summer Campout today! 🌳⛺️

The Grounded Nature farm is less than an hour north of Memphis, just twenty minutes outside Millington

Let us handle the prep so you can simply show up and enjoy the experience

Optional programming includes campfire cooking, foraging, nature journaling, art projects, and more

DM to discuss rates and dates!

Want to see a gorgeous full sun groundcover that reaches up to about eight inches tall and goes by the name of Frog Fruit? A starter from Dana Sanders has spread to cover a nice little patch and is feeding a surprising variety of tiny fliers!

Want to see a Pale Coneflower in bloom?

These and several other native species in this ~400 square feet full sun bed will be waiting for guests in the Experience Memphis Gardens tour on June 1 in Germantown!

In addition to sun beds, there are multiple shade and part sun plantings to check out. The diversity of these beds is not to be missed!

Check out today’s reel on Grounded_nature_901 on IG for more previews!

The things I do when I can't Sleep

💗my favorite bee balm: Monarda punctata, Spotted bee balm💗

Several days ago I noticed the bracts of my most mature punctata starting to turn pink, so I’ve been watching it pretty closely for those first blooms and today, there they were, hiding underneath.

Punctata is so cool cause it keeps adding more layers of blooms with these yellow petals and their dramatic burgundy ’spots’. Like we get it! You like attention!

And they get plenty of attention, as you can see with this adorable fuzzy top bee going to town at the all-you-can-eat nectar bar there!

Lately—Covid edition🥴😷

Eastern tiger swallowtails are one of our most common butterflys! Add your favorite pics in the comments!

Eat the weeds

Get your tickets now!

The walk kicks off in Cooper Young this weekend!

Get ready to embark on a botanical adventure unlike any other! Experience Memphis Gardens, our highly anticipated 26-day garden tour, showcasing 260+ gardens, is back and better than ever.
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From the lush private gardens tucked away in charming neighborhoods to the stunning public green spaces that define our city, this tour promises to delight and inspire at every turn.
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Imagine spending your Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays exploring a different neighborhood each day, discovering the hidden gems that make Memphis such a vibrant and beautiful place to call home. With your ticket priced at just $26 for 26 days of garden bliss, it's the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in the natural beauty of our community while supporting citywide neighborhood beautification projects.
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But Experience Memphis Gardens is more than just a tour—it's a celebration of our city's rich gardening heritage, a chance to connect with fellow garden lovers, and an opportunity to contribute to the ongoing beautification efforts that make our neighborhoods thrive.
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So mark your calendars, gather your friends and family, and join us as we uncover the beauty of Greater Memphis, one garden at a time. Together, let's make this year's Experience Memphis Gardens the best one yet!
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Purchase your tickets today at https://givebutter.com/EMG2024 and get ready to experience the magic of Memphis's gardens.
Tourism begins at home. See you in the garden!
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Be watching for elder flower, it’s almost time to harvest💚

🌱Juncus tenuis, path rush🌱

Path rush: incredibly low maintenance and durable groundcover, tops out around 12 inches tall, can be cut or left standing, fills in nicely by seed over time, supports several insects (link 1 below), aaaand will be available in my Fall plant sale! Limited preorders are being accepted.

Below is a current pic of a grid I planted about 18 months ago! Once the seed heads are mature, I’ll clip the rush about 6” high.

Pics of more mature specimens will be added in the comments!

Insect associations:
https://w.illinoiswildflowers.info/grasses/tables/table66.html

More about Path rush:
https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/juncus-tenuis/

🌞Blessed Solstice to you🌚

✨🌱🌀🧚🏻
Much love,
tara

Why we leave the leaves 👇🏼

Anybody else addicted to vitamin water and other overpriced bottled waters?

I discovered I can use a few drops of stevia to turn my elderberry syrup cubes into homemade vitamin water!

I don’t actually remember what all is in my syrup but I know it’s a lot of goodness including cinnamon, clove, and spicebush🌱

I’ve been carrying this in my water bottle for weeks now🤗

Where do we turn when we feel poorly?

To the Elderberry in the freezer ofc!

Elderberries ripen in late summer, just in time to make your annual batch of elderberry syrup.

Personally, I love anything I can freeze, so I cubed my syrup, dumped in a ziploc bag, and take them out as needed.

To this mug of tea I added fresh ginger, lemon juice, and honey.