The Pacolet Area Conservancy (PAC) and Walnut Creek Preserve (WCP) invite the public to attend a free program, “Name That Plant! (dot net),” presented by Janie Marlow, founder of namethatplant.net, a website dedicated to the native (and naturalized) plants of the Carolinas and Georgia.

The program will be held at the Anne Elizabeth Suratt Nature Center at Walnut Creek Preserve on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 10:30 a.m.

The web resource www.NameThatPlant.net is an approachable storehouse of information about native and naturalized plants of the Carolinas and Georgia, inspired by Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s assertion: “People only protect what they love, but they can only love what they know.”

More than a typical “wildflower site” but not intimidating like many university-backed botanical sites seem to be, NameThatPlant.net is a plant identification tool with a local focus that is both technically accurate and user-friendly (even fun!).

Here you can see pictures of plants in different seasons of the year, hear their Latin names pronounced, learn their natural habitats, discover interesting places to visit, and look up botanical terms. You can search for a plant using either its common or scientific name or its family or even by describing it.

The site includes articles of interest, recommended books and links to much more.

For those that are not botanists, NameThatPlant.net is like a window, a bridge, to the body of knowledge that’s there but that we don’t know how to access, inviting the visitor to enter.

Discovering the identity of just one wild plant means that the green blur is now made up of individuals, each with a name. One can allow oneself to become interested, sparking a lifelong passion to learn more about our natural world.

There’s more in the site than is immediately obvious, and the presentation will include a short tour of its features and examples of ways some viewers have put it to use — such as noticing and reporting plants that were previously unknown in their region, including invasive plants that are on the move.

To get to Walnut Creek Preserve’s Nature Center from the Tryon and Columbus area, take Hwy 108 E and turn left on Hwy 9 toward Lake Lure.  Follow Hwy 9 N for 5 miles and turn right onto McGuinn Road (at the Exxon Station).  Go 1 mile to the intersection with Big Level Road; turn left, go 2/10ths of a mile and take the first right onto Aden Green Road.

Follow Aden Green for 4/10ths of a mile and turn left on Herbarium Lane and into Walnut Creek Preserve.  Take the first left onto Conservatory Lane, which takes you to the parking area for the nature center.

For more information or directions from another location, contact the Pacolet Area Conservancy at 828-859-5060 or e-mail landprotection@pacolet.org.

Please note, Walnut Creek Preserve is private property and guests are only allowed on the property by invitation (a planned event or scheduled group).  Thank you.

PAC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit conservation organization (land trust) founded in 1989 to protect and conserve the area’s natural resources (PACs mission).

PAC works with area landowners to ensure the long-term protection of their property through voluntary conservation easements (agreements) which enable landowners to maintain ownership of their property, preserving precious natural resources and potentially obtain significant federal, state and local tax benefits.

This PAC/WCP program is made possible by a grant from the Polk County Community Foundation.

– article submitted
by Pam Torlina