Libby Davis

BY DWAIN HEBDA  PHOTOGRAPHY BY NOVO STUDIO

The Little Rock Garden Club is generally more closely associated with roses and rhododendron than bucks and bass, but thanks to a new program the members of the club are playing an integral role in the renewal of quail habitat in Central Arkansas. 

Leading the charge is Libby Davis, a product of Cross County and a 13-year member of the club, who spearheads The Covey project. 

“The Little Rock Garden Club is a lot of old-school families and our club is a member of Garden Club of America,” Davis said. “The Garden Club of America a few years ago started a program called Partners for Plants that gets your garden club involved with different groups or agencies in the community. It can be a restoration of any area in town.” 

Davis, who in adulthood has developed into a crack-shot bowhunter had taken an interest in the work of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. As she began to look around for a Partners for Plants project, AGFC’s ongoing work to improve quail habitat floated to the surface. Davis pounced. 

“Central Arkansas Water had this 12-acre piece of land they were trying to figure out what to do with,” Davis said. “We all went out and looked at the property and decided we wanted to restore that 12 acres to native prairie the way it was.” 

Aided by fellow garden club member Helen Moix, Davis sold the idea to the rest of the club of harvesting native seeds for later sowing on the identified parcel. For more than two years, club members have been collecting and storing up seed, assisted by AGFC botanists. Along the way, Davis secured nearly $5,000 in grants through the Garden Club of America to help pay for the effort. 

“Not everyone in our club is into flower arranging. Not everyone grows stuff,” she said. “This gave us great variety for people, especially those wanting to do conservation and recycling. It really gives them something to be excited about.” 

The accumulated seed will be put down by year’s end to sprout as wildflowers in the spring. This will not only provide cover for quail, but also attract butterflies and pollinators. Davis is already thinking about what comes next. 

“To see those 12 acres restored, we can move along and proceed from there and get another piece of land. I think this can keep going,” she said. “I really can’t wait to see the people come out and see what we planted, to go see it in the spring. 

“People are so excited in our garden club about it. People who dress up all the time have come out in their boots and their hats and gloves and picked seed and loved it. It got people out there who would have never been in the wild otherwise.”