SELLEST OSAST
Host Jessica Leigh Lebos is in the Ship Watch Loft at Tybee Island Marine Science Center with artist and landscape architect Lisa D. Watson of Planet Green Design LLC, who uses salvaged materials in her art and promotes sustainable landscaping with native plants.
Watson shares her early connection to nature, how suburban lawn culture and retail nurseries contributed to invasive species, and defines invasives as exotics that harm native ecosystems, citing nandina (heavenly bamboo) and its toxic berries linked to eastern waxwing deaths. She recommends native alternatives such as wax myrtle, yaupon holly, inkberry, and chokeberry, and discusses conserving pollinators by avoiding leaf blowers and keeping fallen leaves as mulch to protect overwintering insects like fireflies and swallowtails.
The conversation also covers her exhibitions (including “Fur, Feathers, and Familiars”), pitcher plant–inspired work from protected South Carolina sites, her in-progress book “Wild for Wildscapes,” and her advice to convert 10% of a yard into native habitat.
Learn more about the voices and topics in this episode:
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Resources:
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Partnership and Donation Opportunities
Proudly produced by Dee Daniels Media Podcast Network
FIND A FAVORITE SPOT IN THIS EPISODE:
00:00 Podcast Welcome
00:48 Meet Lisa Watson
01:49 Eco Hero Origins
03:50 Native Plant Basics
04:15 Invasives Explained
06:09 Better Plant Choices
08:13 Leaves Not Blowers
11:11 Pollinator Garden Talk
12:23 Milkweed And More
14:45 Pivot To Artwork
15:12 Fur Feathers Show
17:14 Fragile Habitats Inspo
18:36 Roadside Ecosystems
19:05 Mosquito Control Debate
19:56 Roadside Ditch Exhibit
20:35 Wild for Wildscapes Book
22:09 Why Plant Natives
24:13 Native Plants in Public Spaces
24:52 Tybee Berm Success Story
26:59 Propagation and Where to See Natives
28:12 Art vs Gardening Balance
30:21 Seed Packet Greeting Cards
31:05 Easy Steps to Start Today
32:10 Marine Science Center Closing
