WHO WE ARE
Our chapter includes people who believe that just about anyone can use plants to make an outdoor space more beautiful, easier to care for, and better for wildlife whether you have a shady or an open yard, a slope that needs erosion control, or a deck space or small balcony.
We were first brought together by Mary Palmer Dargan (Dargan Landscape Architects) who held a meeting at Cashiers Village Green to work toward that aim. Then at the library in Cashiers more people joined us at another event with Kyle Pursel as the speaker (Stewardship Director at Lonesome Valley who had previously worked at the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust). Kyle had been involved with numerous projects of habitat restoration, native wildflower meadow creation, wetland work, and general natural resource management. With Kyle we explored ideas for providing safe havens for the birds and wildlife that we love. Food and shelter are needed for our favorite regulars but also as pit stops for seasonal and migratory wildlife visitors. Members of the public, plant nursery owners, naturalists, scientists, and representatives of the non-profit sector began sharing tools for finding bird- and other wildlife-friendly plants for where we live.
A steering committee was established with Beth Nathan initially leading the charge to request a new Chapter of the North Carolina Native Plant Society. Our Oconee Bell Chapter of the North Carolina Native Plant Society was approved in November, 2023. A ragtag bunch of landscape design professionals, gardeners, plant nursery owners, naturalists, scientists, and diverse members of the public, young and old (including both seasonal and year-round residents) are now hoping that more people who appreciate the beauty and value of our native plant landscapes will join us to help define future activities for our new chapter.
Everyone is welcome to participate in any of our chapter events, regardless of how much they know about our local native plants. In fact, some very popular traditions that we have established are to raffle plants (donated by generous chapter members), to exchange native plant seeds that we have collected, or to give away native seed packets at all chapter events, which are free and open to the public.
WHERE WE ARE
The Oconee Bell Chapter serves an area “within comfortable driving distance” of the Cashiers crossroads. Surrounding Cashiers, the blue outline in this map shows how the plateau area spans the Macon, Jackson, and Transylvania County lines (purple). At high elevation, this plateau spans the Eastern Continental Divide, with headwaters for seven rivers that are named in this map. Some of these flow toward the Gulf of Mexico watershed while others, including two federally designated “Wild and Scenic Rivers,” feed into the Savannah River basin that drains into the Atlantic.
WHAT WE HAVE
The Oconee Bell Chapter focuses on native plants in our rare temperate rainforest with some of the highest yearly rainfall amounts in the United States. An average of 80-100 inches annual rainfall make this type of region a home to a great natural diversity of evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs in addition to many wildflowers. The Oconee Bell is one of several rare or unusual plants that are adapted to our abundance of moisture, mixture of south-facing slopes, and moderate temperatures. We consider this area to be a precious bioregion where plant and animal communities must be considered together, along with their local geography and the weather that support them.
EVENTS
When possible, links to YouTube videos of past Oconee Bell Chapter events are provided:
29 FEB 2024, Oconee Bell Chapter Zoom talk, “Wildflowers of Southern Appalachia”
SPEAKER: Adam Bigelow
13 AUG 2024, “A story of our rare wildflower, Shortia galacifolia (the Oconee bell)” at Gorges State Park
SPEAKER: Dr. Jim Costa, Executive Director, Highlands Biological Station, Western Carolina University Professor
25 AUG 2024, Preserving the Spirit of Mountain Gardens, Panel Discussion at Cashiers Designer Showhouse, The Village Green, Cashiers. About 70 people plus a special guest (the bear) attended this discussion that was held outdoors.
SPEAKERS: Mary Palmer Dargan, Nancy Anderson, and Arielle McIntyre
28 SEP 2024, the 2024 Mountain Monarch Festival, Gorges State Park, was CANCELLED due to Hurricane Helene
7 NOV 2024 A Doug Tallamy talk was recorded at our Neighbors for Conservation event at Camp Merrie-Woode, Sapphire, NC
LEADERS: Richard Yow, Nancy Carroll, Jenney Perrey, Bill Horton, and Robin & Frost Walker
25 Jan 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM Winter Seed Starting Workshop @ Gorges State Park Visitor’s Center, Click here for the recording.
SPEAKERS: Transylvania County Extension Master Gardeners Cindy Gilbert and Holly Votow
11 FEB 2025, 6:45 – 8 PM Zoom talk about progress with the Jackson County District 4 Conservation Plan ((hosted by Nancy Anderson, Outgoing Chair, and Jenny Perrey, Chair of the Oconee Bell Chapter). Click here for the recording.
SPEAKERS: Dr. Bill Horton and Owen Carson who works for Equinox Environmental.
7 Mar 2025, 10:30 AM – 2:30 PM Hike and Picnic at the falls @ Oconee Station State Historic Site. Hepatica, Trillium, and 28 other native plants photographed. Click here to see our 64 observations of 30 native species on iNaturalist.
LEADER: Oconee Bell Chapter Vice-Chair Cathy Reas-Foster.
15 Mar 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM Winter Workshop on Tree and Bud Identification @ Gorges State Park. Click here for the recording.
SPEAKER: Carrie Blair, Transylvania County Extension Master Gardener, owns Tree Lovers School.
Please FOLLOW US to learn about future Oconee Bell Chapter events.
Oconee Bell Chapter newsletters are archived here. Click here to sign up for the Oconee Bell Chapter newsletter emails or you can follow us on Instagram or Facebook.
For feedback or questions, reach us via email to our Chapter Chair, Jenny Perrey at oconeebell@ncwildflower.org or to our Vice or Outgoing Co-Chairs Cathy Reas-Foster and Nancy Anderson at oconeebellco@ncwildflower.org