This is the first article in a series about native plants in Seabrook, Kiawah, and Johns Island

By Stan Macdonald 

Lee Hurd is small in stature but a giant in determination, and after reading a book last year by  entomologist Douglas Tallamy urging homeowners to transform their yards into more wildlife friendly habitats, she acted quickly. 

First, at her tree-shaded Seabrook Island home along a lagoon, a yard crew removed what she  now realizes was an infestation of invasive plants. A tractor hauled away plants like the dense,  bushy Elaeagnus shrub, a fast-spreading plant introduced in this country from Asia. Elaeagnus,  sprouting up to 25-feet high, shades out native vegetation. Lee was creating space for native  plants because in general they provide more benefits to caterpillars and other insects, which are  essential to all life as pollinators and a main source of food for birds and other animals,  according to Tallamy and other scientists.  

(Unfortunately, Elaeagnus, including a variety called Thorny Olive, is quite common in this  region. The Seabrook Island Property Association (SIPOA) recently removed 280 of the shrubs  from its properties, including undeveloped home lots acquired by the island’s Green Space  Conservancy, but many of the plants remain in private yards.) 

After removing invasives, Lee “jumped right in” planting natives in spring 2022, although in  retrospect, she said, she should have been more deliberate. Her initial efforts produced “varied”  results -- the deer ate some of the new plants, forcing her to narrow the selection. “It’s a learning  process. I wasted a lot of money on things that didn't do well here. But you know, you have to try  it to learn.” 

Lee and her husband Doug have lived at Seabrook for 33 years, and twice a year they host at  their property the Seabrook Lakes Yacht Club Regatta party. Friends and neighbors who attend  have donated plants, money and help in the garden, which Lee appreciates. “At 88,” she said, “I  can only do so much.” When the “regatta” is held this fall, participants will see a changed  landscape – yes, there will still be traditional garden plants, but now mixed in are thriving  natives, including mountain mint, flowering plants in the Pycnanthemum genus that attract  insects; Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), offering berries favored by some birds; Georgia  savory (Clinopodium georgianum), a small shrub with bright flowers (“a perfect shade plant,”  Lee says), and Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium), delicate plants with small blue  flowers that border the Hurd’s garden pathways.  

Lee welcomes visitors to her garden at 2116 Loblolly Lane and she hopes more homeowners will  “think outside the box,” realizing that native plants can be good substitutes for nonnatives.  Scientists say insects and birds are facing global declines because of climate change, habitat loss,  and other forces, and that motivates Lee. “I can't do much, but this is something I can do or at  least try, you know.”