Uhm, I guess I had too long of a day already. I extended this swap but it was supposed to go in a different one. I just wish I could get my act together. I am trying though. LOL

I will go post at the right place. Sorry about that.

Not to worry, Margo, we needed this thread anyway!

I think there is only one more package to be received; I could be wrong!
Shirley!

You were just testing me, right? See if I could find a Caroline in the mix somewhere?! That was a good one, Margo! You had me scared for a minute and yes, we needed an extension (glad you know how to do it because I don't).
Heidi

Okay, I had my laugh for the weekend. It's time to head up to bed. LOL
Jeanne

I also need to post my package from Annie and what a package it was. Annie sent 3 re-blooming iris's,
A flower fairy and I already have in a potted plant,
of course candy,
Snapdragon "Purple Twist"
Gaillardia "Golden Goblin"
Columbine "Tequila Sunrise"
Columbine "Dorothy Rose"
Salvia "Blue Angel"
Schizanthus "Angel Wings"
Sweet Pea "Flora Norton"
Thank you Annie for a wonderful package.

Ellie

I also need to post my package from Annie and what a package it was. Annie sent 3 re-blooming iris's,
A flower fairy and I already have in a potted plant,
of course candy,
Snapdragon "Purple Twist"
Gaillardia "Golden Goblin"
Columbine "Tequila Sunrise"
Columbine "Dorothy Rose"
Salvia "Blue Angel"
Schizanthus "Angel Wings"
Sweet Pea "Flora Norton"
Thank you Annie for a wonderful package.

Ellie

I also need to post my package from Annie and what a package it was. Annie sent 3 re-blooming iris's,
A flower fairy and I already have in a potted plant,
of course candy,
Snapdragon "Purple Twist"
Gaillardia "Golden Goblin"
Columbine "Tequila Sunrise"
Columbine "Dorothy Rose"
Salvia "Blue Angel"
Schizanthus "Angel Wings"
Sweet Pea "Flora Norton"
Thank you Annie for a wonderful package.

Ellie

Shirley, I would imagine that the non-native plants got to the islands in all the ways you mentioned, depending on the seed dispersal mechanisms of the species in question. Also, cormorants are known to carry in vegetation for nesting material, so they could also be a source. There were some previous veg surveys done on the islands in 1998, and it is obvious that the natives have declined and the exotics have increased. Many of the exotics are considered noxious or invasive, and that is because of their ability to persist or thrive under poor conditions. The bird colonies can get that way - poor conditions. Nothing is being done to promote the native plants at the moment. Only one of the islands is public land, it is part of the Gravel Island NWR, but is designated as "wilderness" so I don't know if vegetation restoration will be attempted. The other islands are all privately owned, and I doubt the land owners are very interested in restoring the native veg and eliminating the exotics. But, as part of our study, we did plant an elderberry Sambucus nigra in the center of each of our test plots to see if it would survive. None of the ones in the control plots survived, and a few in the exclosures survived. We do sometimes talk about conducting some more studies to look at restoration, so we will see what the future holds.

Heidi, we were cataloging the plants to answer a couple questions. We wanted to know species composition and biodiversity. We also wondered if excluding the birds would affect species composition and biodiversity, so we will compare our data between control plots and exclosure plots. So we wrote down every species present. We also clipped and weighed every species to determine biomass, to get an idea of abundance of the different species. Finally, we also took a birds-eye-view photo of every plot, which we will later use to estimate percent vegetation cover. The vegetation does not have a negative effect on the cormorants or gulls, rather those birds damage the vegetation.

Katie

Thanks for the info, Katie!
Have a great day tomorrow!
Shirley!

A note to say that everyone has sent and received their Angel Packages and this swap is closed. Thank you everyone for an angelic swap!
Heidi

Katie, very interesting info!!!

Heidi, thanks to you for hosting this very angelic swap!! FUN!!!

Annie

Thanks again for hosting, Heidi!
You are such an Angel! Good Job!
Shirley!

Loved this swap Heidi !!!

Thanks for all your time and effort you put into it :)

Dianne

Very late to my own party! Thanks for the birthday wishes. I've been lurking but I guess I should pay better attention!

Happy harvesting everyone
Becky