Two of my favorite things are floating in the water and growing native plants–so building an organic swimming pool has been on my wish list for years. We finally finished the project just in time for this year’s swimming season and it is a delight!
We found a pond design that was the perfect fit for both growing native wetland plants and cooling off in the water. This pond combines a deep swimming zone (ours is 8’ deep) with an adjacent shallow planting zone.
Since our soil does not hold water, we used a liner beneath the entire area. The swimming zone is enclosed by a wooden box (ours is 10’x20’) that separates it from the planting zone. Outside of this box is the planting zone–3’ of sand and gravel that slopes towards the swimming area. The wooden box holds the substrate back from the deep area.
Our planting area surrounds the entire pool and varies in depth from 0-1.5’. Ideally you want equal areas for the planting zone and the swimming zone. A perforated pipe is beneath the sand and gravel, and a bubbler circulates water through the plant roots, into the pipe, and back to the pool. The plant roots work together with the substrate to keep the water clean and clear.
The pond is built above grade to prevent run-off from entering the pool (run-off carries nutrients from the soil into the pool and causes algae blooms). This means you have to wait for rainfall to fill the pond–luckily, we have a nearby spring we were able to use to fill the pond more quickly.
It is wonderful to finally have a wet area to plant species like soft rush, lizard’s tail, pickerelweed, rattlebox and blue flag Iris. Blue vervain, foxglove beardtongue, swamp hibiscus, fox sedge, blue lobelia and other species are thriving right at the edge of the pond where they are out of the standing water, but their roots are wet. The plants were put in the ground in May but are already doing their job to keep the water clear. (See the list of botanical names below.)
We are not the only ones enjoying the pool. Tadpoles immediately colonized the pool. It has been fun watching birds drinking from the shallow area and we have a red-eared slider who sometimes basks on a rock between swims.
Margaret Shea has a M.S. in ecology from Indiana University and has worked for a number of Kentucky Conservation organizations before starting Dropseed Native Plant Nursery 16 years ago. Margaret’s past employers include The Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, The Kentucky Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and Bernheim Forest.
Xerohydric Prairie remnant, Russell County, Kentucky, Eastern Highland Rim. @T. Littlefield
Wednesday, December 8, 9AM-1130AM EST, virtual and free
“Coming Together to Discuss Current Botany Projects: Conservation and Collaboration in Kentucky and Beyond”
Kentucky Native Plant Society (KNPS) is hosting our annual botanical symposium on Wednesday, December 8th from 9AM-1130AM EST. For several years, KNPS has organized a botanical symposium in the fall/winter with a goal of bringing together professionals, community scientists, academics, researchers, gardeners and students in order to learn about what’s going on in the world of Kentucky Botany and beyond. Please join us!
To Kentucky Native Plant Society members and general native plant stakeholders! While the symposium agenda will highlight updates from Kentucky native plant society, the office of Kentucky Nature Preserves, and our main speakers from division of water, NRCS/Quail Forever/Southeastern Grasslands Initiative, and the Illinois plants of concern program, there will also be a section devoted to hearing about native plants projects from KNPS members and native plant stakeholders like YOU! If you would like to be included in this section, please send an email to Tara Littlefield @ tara.littlefield@ky.gov about the native plant project you are working on and you will be added to our stakeholder announcements section.
We are very excited to announce the agenda, featuring updates from botanists/ecologists from the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves on state listings, adding plants to the state wildlife action plan, adopting a rockhouse in the RRG, implemented plant conservation conservation horticulture projects, and current monitoring programs; updates from Kentucky Native Plant Society board members on upcoming meetings and projects; Chris Benda, the Illinois botanizer, will be talking about the rare plant monitoring program he leads in southern Illinois, Brittney Viers will discuss working with private landowners to restore remnant prairies, Joey Shaw will discuss the Tennessee-Kentucky Plant Atlas, and Brittany White will provide updates on the Wetland Assessments conducted by Kentucky Division of Water. Click on the PDF below for the agenda.
Kentucky Botanical Symposium 2021 Speakers and Facilitators :
Brittney Viers, QF/NRCS TN State Coordinator/Southeastern Grasslands Initiative Liaison will be discussing Remnant Grassland Restoration on Private Lands in Kentucky and Tennessee.
“I’m originally from Northeast TX, which historically was the Blackland Prairie region. My parents and I moved to southern Indiana since my Mother is from there. I spent the rest of my childhood growing up on a row crop and cattle farm, but realized that natural history and ecology was my passion. While in college at Murray State University studying Wildlife Biology I started working for IN DNR Div. of Nature Preserves and fell in love with the glades and barrens of southcentral IN. I stayed at MSU to acquire a masters degree in Botany. Because of my native plant and natural communities knowledge, I became a quail biologist in KY and later in TN working with private landowners desiring to restore habitat and improve their quail and other upland wildlife populations. In 2019, I got the chance to have a strictly grasslands and quail focused position through a specialized Farm Bill grant in both KY and TN. I will always strive to merge private lands work with restoration practices in degraded remnant grasslands since they are in desperate need of our recognition, care, and attention”.
Brittney Viers, QF/NRCS TN State Coordinator/Southeastern Grasslands Initiative Liaison, in a grassland remnant.
Chris Benda, Botanist and former president of the Illinois Native Plant Society will be discussing Monitoring Rare Plants of Southern Illinois (Plants of Concern program).
Chris Benda is a botanist and past president of the Illinois Native Plant Society (2015-2016). Currently, he works as a Researcher at Southern Illinois University, where he coordinates the Plants of Concern Southern Illinois Program and teaches The Flora of Southern Illinois. Besides working at SIU, he conducts botanical fieldwork around the world, teaches a variety of classes at The Morton Arboretum and leads nature tours for Camp Ondessonk. He has research appointments with the University of Illinois and Argonne National Laboratory, and is an accomplished photographer and author of several publications about natural areas in Illinois. He is also known as Illinois Botanizer and can be reached by email at botanizer@gmail.com. Visit his website at https://illinoisbotanizer.com/
Chris Benda in a native grassland showing off a rare orchid in Illinois.
Brittany White, Division of Water Wetland Biologist, will be discussing Wetland Monitoring in Kentucky.
Brittany is a wetland biologist with the Kentucky Division of Water’s Wetlands Program. After spending several years working in wetlands across the southeast, she is happy to work in Kentucky searching for salamanders, admiring soil profiles, and of course, looking at plants. Although not in her job description, she also specializes in performing terrible nature-based parodies for her coworkers. When Brit is not at work, she enjoys meandering the woods with her best mutt Evelyn, hanging out with her two kiddos, and having far too many hobbies than is reasonable.
Brittany White, Division of Water Wetland Biologist
Dr. Joey Shaw, Associate Professor @ University of Tennessee, will be presenting on the Kentucky Tennessee Plant Atlas Project.
Tara Littlefield, Botanist and Plant Conservation Section Manager at the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves and President of the Kentucky Native Plant Society, will be co-facilitating the meeting and presenting updates on on a few priority plant projects from OKNP.
Tara Littlefield is the senior botanist and manager of the Plant Conservation Section at the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves. She serves on the board of the Kentucky Native Plant Society and coordinates the state’s plant conservation alliance activities-a public private partnership working on rare plant and community conservation. She grew up on the southern edge of the cedar creek glade complex in Hardin County, Kentucky and has had a fascination with the natural world since a small child. Tara has a B.S. in Biochemistry from University of Louisville and a M.S. in Forestry/Plant Ecology from the University of Kentucky. Much of her work involves rare species surveys, general floristic inventories, natural areas inventory, acquisition of natural areas, and rare plant/community restoration and recovery.
Tara Littlefield in her happy place along the river scour in the Big South Fork.
Vanessa Voelker, botanist at OKNP, will be discussing the adopt a rockshelter program and other volunteer opportunies.
Vanessa Voelker is a botanist with the Plant Conservation Section at the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves. Originally from central Illinois, Vanessa worked as a lab tech for the USDA before fleeing the lab for the woods, and honed her skills as a botany technician in Missouri and Indiana before coming to Kentucky in 2020. When she isn’t in the field, Vanessa is active on iNaturalist (@vvoelker) and is always happy to help with plant identification and offer pro-tips for differentiating between tricky species
Vanessa finding a heart shaped leaf in limestone barrens.
Kendall McDonald, OKNP botanist/lichenologist will be presenting on the forest biodiversity project and lichen assessments.
Kendall McDonald is a KY native who researched lichens at Morehead State University. Since 2017, she has been a botanist and lichenologist with the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves. She is the lead on OKNP’s Forest Biodiversity Assessment Program and lichen monitoring
Kendall excited to find lungwort lichen, an old growth forest indicator.
Rachel Cook will be discussing the Kentucky Native Plant Suppliers database. Rachel Cook is a botany technician with the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves. Rachel is a Kentucky native, growing up on a farm in Perryville, Kentucky. She graduated from the University of Kentucky with a B.A. and a B.S. in Environmental Sciences, but botany was always her passion. As a botany technician, she helps on rare plant surveys and floristic inventories throughout the state. When not working, Rachel is tending to her house plant collection, hiking around Kentucky, or cuddling her cat.
Rachel and the state endangered small white ladyslipper.
Heidi Braunreiter will be presenting the KNPS updates and upcoming events. Heidi is a botanist and burn boss for the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves. She is originally from Wisconsin and has done botanical surveys across the eastern United States. Heidi received her B.S. in Biological Aspects of Conservation and a certificate in Environmental Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2011, she met Dr. Ronald Jones on a KNPS Wildflower Weekend hike and decided to pursue a graduate degree at Eastern Kentucky University. She received her M.S. in Biology at EKU and finished her master’s thesis on A Vascular Flora of Boyle County, Kentucky.
Tony Romano will be providing an update to the states roadside pollinator habitat project. Tony is a botanist with the Plant Conservation Section at the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves. He is the project coordinator for OKNP’s roadside pollinator habitat project. Originally from Illinois, Tony received a M.S. in Geography from Southern Illinois University. Tony spent several years working in land management and botany in Colorado before moving to Kentucky in 2019. When not botanizing he can be found climbing in the red river gorge and fly fishing on Elkhorn Creek.
As we send out our last newsletter of the year, I wanted to give thanks to all our membership for supporting Kentucky Native Plant Society over the years and to all of the new members who continue to give me hope for our growing organization. We have been able to accomplish a lot this year as an organization, from organizing several virtual meetings, hosting a few in person hikes as well as contributing to native plant documentation through our inaturalist projects and plant atlas and distribution efforts. Our grants program continues to fund important native plant research conducted by students at universities and has expanded to include rare plant restoration efforts. The ladyslipper continues to be a monthly resource to find the latest native plant news and our website is continually improving as we provide compile native plant resources such as native plant sales, nurseries, herbariums and general native plant information . Our last organized event of the year, the annual Kentucky Botanical Symposium, is next Wednesday, December 8th, 9am-11:30am EST, and I encourage everyone to join in and learn about some current native plant projects programs occurring across our state and also learn from nearby state partners on existing programs that we could network or model here in Kentucky. I hope that everyone has had time to see the beautiful fall colors and the first glimpse of the frost flowers here in Kentucky, I know my family has enjoyed the first frost flower finds! Please check our website for any updates, upcoming planned events, visit our gear shop for gifts for friends and family, and visit a nearby natural area to view all of our wonderful native plants as they transition into winter. One of my favorite winter native plant activities is moss and lichen hunting, native plant wreath making, and reviewing the bud and bark characters of our many native trees.
Have a great December and upcoming Holiday fellow native plant enthusiasts!
For the love of Kentucky Plants,
Tara Rose Littlefield
Littlefield Berry Family Enjoying the first frost flowers (from wingstem, Verbesena occidentalis) of the year in Anderson County, Kentucky,2021-11-06.
