North Carolina Native Plants Society

Chapters

Shelton Herb Farm Trip

Sunday, October 09, 2011

Margaret Shelton led a walk through land that has been in her family for generations and is the site of her nursery, Shelton Herb Farm, where she sells herbs and native plants.

Margaret addresses a large group of participants.

Margaret gave the history of her family's farm which is a NC Century Farm, a farm recognized by the state for continuing in one family for 100 years or more. Recently, DOT began constructing a highway through the farm. We learned of the virtually unchecked power of the DOT to take land and what it is like to have your land condemned for road building.

Greeted by the turkey

Freshwater wetlands

Sugarcane Plumegrass, Saccharum giganteum

Switch Cane, Arundinaria tecta

The three Arundinaria species, our only native bamboos, formed the dominant plant in canebrakes, a habitat that was once common in the southeast. Switch Cane is a SE Coastal Plain endemic and the host plant for these butterflies - Southern Pearly Eye, Creole Pearly Eye, Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper, Reversed Roadside-Skipper, and Carolina Roadside-Skipper.