Discover the beauty of gardening: Why I garden
A blog and forum for those who love nature and enjoy exploring the joys of gardening
Welcome to Tom Oder's gardening website
Gardening
Garden writing
Garden writing
I hope this site, including a curated calendar of garden-related events in metro Atlanta, in Georgia, and the Southeast, will enhance visitors' knowledge and enjoyment of gardening, nature, and the environment.
Garden writing
Garden writing
Garden writing
I am an award-winning journalist who retired from a major US metro newspaper who has become a global garden writing influencer. The government of Taiwan invited me there twice to write about their orchid industry.
My Audiences
Garden writing
My Audiences
My audience ranges from casual to serious gardeners to Gen-X farmers, and includes academics, authors, publishers, directors of horticultural associations, and public sector leaders in the US. Europe, and Asia.
Where to read Tom Oder's garden and related writing
Threatened status proposed for monarch butterflies / The New York Times
The New York Times was among news organizations and other groups reporting recently that federal wildlife officials have proposed that monarch butterflies receive protection as a threatened species. The monarch is the iconic orange and black butterfly with white dots that makes the most epic spring and fall migration of any insect. Those migrations cross parts of three nations: Mexico, the US, and Canada. Monarchs are beloved in children's literature and by gardeners across the country. Sadly, the butterflies have been in significant and well-documented decline in recent years. They are still prevalent enough that, if the proposal goes through, they would become the most commonly seen species to receive federal protection, according to the Times. There are two populations of monarchs in the United States, one on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains and one on the western side. The eastern population is overwintering in Mexico now and will begin migrating through successive generations to Canada in the spring. The western population is over wintering in California. Scientists are conducting counts of both populations to estimate of the numbers of each. Look for my blogs about these counts when results are released early in 2025. You can help monarchs on their migration by planting nectar producing flowers -- especially milkweed, the only genus on which monarchs lay eggs -- in your gardens. The photo at left is published courtesy of Garden for Wildlife. Check out this link on their website for the types of milkweed to plant in your area.
It's soil, not dirt, and how the boll weevil did Georgia agriculture a favor / Georgia Grown
I have two stories in this year's issue of Georgia Grown magazine, the flagship publication of the Georgia Department of Agriculture. One is a story about understanding the importance of the soil in which we plant our gardens (it's not dirt!). The other is a history of the Georgia Department of Agriculture, the first state Department of Agriculture in the nation. Among the things I learned in researching this story is that the boll weevil, despite its destruction, did Georgia farmers and the state economy a favor of sorts. It forced farmers to move away from King Cotton and diversify their crops. The result is that agriculture, which was and today remains the state's largest industry, contributes approximately $83.6 billion annually to Georgia's economy, according to the UGA Center for Agribusiness & Economic Development. The state leads the nation in the production of peanuts, eggs and broilers. Many companies – including Pilgrim's Pride, Chick-fil-A, Coca-Cola and Tyson – source their products directly from Georgia farms and operations.
https://editions.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?m=46753&i=829044&p=1&ver=html5
Feeding food insecure Georgians / Georgia Grown
Every week more than 156,000 Georgians experience food insecurity and visit a food kitchen or a food pantry. Hunger hurts. State and USDA programs help relieve the pain. https://editions.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?m=46753&i=801539&p=26&ver=html5
FrogLog helps frogs and other creatures escape pools / Treehugger
A wildlife biologist invented a simple but ingenious method to help frogs and other creatures escape pools. First published by Mother Earth News, then Treehugger (2018) and still popular.
https://www.treehugger.com/pool-owners-froglog-device-save-animals-4863821
The cooking sisters of South Georgia/ Georgia Magazine
A story that touched me most deeply is a cooking piece about two sisters who connected family, friends and even strangers through food. Sadly, one sister has passed unexpectedly. I now think of this piece as a tribute to a lovely person whose legacy leaves lessons for us all. https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gemc/georgia_202402/index.php#/p/30
Mossin' Annie: An Appalachian folk hero / Mother Earth News
The ancient Latin writer who authored the proverb “A rolling stone gathers no moss” surely never met anyone like Annie Martin. Rescuing an obscure plant group (with permission! of course ... ) drives the spirit of this Appalachian folk hero.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/how-does-moss-grow-zm0z22onzawar/
Audio link available on the Mother Earth News site
Other voices: gardEns, nature, the environment
Exciting news about summer bumble bee observations/Xerces Society
If you love to see bumble bees in your garden (what gardener doesn't?) you'll probably be interested in knowing that Bumble Bee Atlas has published the initial results of its summer bumble bee observations. This summer more than 900 volunteers across the United States looked for and took pictures of native bumble bees. Nearly 21,000 bumble bee observations, from across 20 states, have been shared so far. Submissions are still coming in. Several highlights: 163 observations to this point of the rare and at-risk southern plains bumble bee, and the yellow-banded bumble bee was sighted again in South Dakota after 70 years. A takeaway for gardeners everywhere: Plant choices you make for your garden can and do make a difference for pollinators. https://xerces.org/blog/exciting-finds-from-2024-bumble-bee-atlas-field-season
Project FeederWatch starts Nov. 1 - sign up now/Cornell Lab, Birds Canada
Attention backyard birders! Project FeederWatch begins November 1. Project FeederWatch is a November-April survey of birds that visit backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. It is operated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada. Despite the name, you don't need a bird feeder to participate. All you need is an area from which you like to watch birds. Plus, the schedule is completely flexible: you can count every week or once all winter, for as much or as little time as you like. Last season the bird abundance across all FeederWatch sites was lower than it has been in at least the past 10 years. A goal of this year's count is to see if the trend continues this season or if birds rebound. The Cornell Lab and Birds Canada are non-profit organizations supported primarily by participant and membership fees. To support Project FeederWatch, there is an annual participation fee of $18 for U.S. residents. Canadians can participate by donating any amount to Birds Canada. Sign up at this site to participate. Since 2016, Project FeederWatch has been sponsored by Wild Birds Unlimited.
How to help hummingbirds in their 2024 fall migration/Georgia Wild
All summer I've enjoyed watching the hummingbirds and their antics around my high shade backyard feeder. A special pleasure is watching them zoom upward and over the house to the sun garden and the nectar-producing flowers in the front, south-facing garden. Now, the feeder and the late-summer, early fall flowers are not just a source of entertainment but a matter of life and death. The small birds need the nectar and the gnats, mosquitoes and other insects around them to fatten up for the migration to Mexico and Central America. The adult males have already left. They bugged out in August. The adult females will leave next and then the birds born this year. In Georgia, we won't see any ruby throats (with the possible exception of some that may overwinter along the coast) after Halloween. Leve your feeders up until then. Don't worry about feeders encouraging hummers to hang around. They know when to migrate. Terry Johnson, a former Nongame program manager with the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division, a noted backyard wildlife writer and expert, offers an excellent explanation about hummingbirds in Georgia and their full migration in a recent "Out my backdoor" column. The column appears monthly in the Georgia Wild e-newsletter. Georgia Wild is a free newsletter focused on wildlife not legally fished for or hunted, native plants and natural habitats. Subscribe to Georgia Wild.
Help track the monarch butterfly fall 2024 migration/Journey North
The spectacular annual fall migration of both the eastern and western monarchs has begun in North America. People in the United States, Canada, and Mexico can participate in a citizen science project with Journey North to help track the migration. Journey North is a nonprofit that inspires people of all ages in North America to track wildlife migrations to understand environmental awareness and seasonal change. You can help them track this fall's eastern and western monarch migration by going to their Monarch Migration & Milkweed Phenology Project site. The site includes guidelines for participating and a link to submit your monarch observations. Be sure to click on the observations link to register to participate.
Islands in a Common Sea/Jenny Jefferies/United Kingdom
A look at a fascinating new book by a talented British author that features stories of farming, fishing, and food from around the world. Jenny Jefferies' gift for story telling brings together the remarkable lives of 25 next-generation farmers and fishermen/fisherwomen and their traditions and cultures all linked by a universal quest to feed a hungry world. One of those pioneering farmers is a friend from Paris who took an unlikely path to becoming an olive and almond farmer in rural Spain. Read her story in my blog above and in Chapter Two in the book. A portion of the sales of this beautifully illustrated book will be donated to the World Food Program (WFP) through Share the Meal.
The Search for Lost Birds project/The New York Times
Birders and others in various countries have long searched for lost birds. In the United States, the best known of these is the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Its last universally accepted sighting was in Louisiana in 1944. The only reason the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has not declared it extinct is because of grainy videos that could be the bird. A story in There New York Times pointed out that it is one go 144 species of birds a study by three groups concluded are lost to the scientific world but that may still exist. The groups are the American Bird Conservancy, Re:wild and BirdLife International. Researchers from the groups published a paper in June with a definitive list of birds that need finding. A major goal of the list, according to The Times' story, is to persuade bird watchers and others to look for these birds as they go out into the field, and to bring back evidence the birds have not gone extinct. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/23/science/lost-birds-list.html?searchResultPosition=1
You may not know: The orchid genus Oderara is named for me
Career highlights/Tom Oder
- Produced keepsake newspaper with It's Atlanta! headline when city won 1996 Olympics
- Phoenix award: export project, Metro Atlanta Chamber
- Invited to Taiwan twice as visiting journalist
- Edited international orchid journal
- Service awards: Atlanta, American orchid societies
- Three plant society boards, Atlanta Press Club member