Events

Presentation: 

Taking a Nature Pill to Reduce Stress: Building psychological and ecological resilience

Mary Carol Hunter.  Professor Emeritus, Landscape Architecture, U-M School for Sustainability and Environment will be delivering this presentation.

Interacting with nature - taking a nature pill, makes us healthier, physically and mentally. This presentation describes research on the most effective dose of nature under the constraints of a busy and often unpredictable lifestyle. The results can be interpreted for designing gardens and landscapes to better support human mental wellbeing and also increase ecological resilience.

 Professor Hunter's research focuses on the positive value of nature and gardens in maintaining human and ecological well-being.

By using milk jug greenhouses and winter sowing, your seedlings will stratify during winter's freezing temperatures and be ‘cold’ hardy by early Spring! By stratifying and germinating naturally, you will have strong seedlings by spring. They will be ready to plant in the ground directly after the last frost date.

The biggest benefits are it is so simple to do and no space is taken up in your house by racks, trays, and grow lights!

While we plan on having a number of 1-gallon jugs, plant tags, and native plant seeds on hand, please bring your own, if possible, to add to the available resources. Directions to the MBG greenhouse will be included shortly.

Presentation:

Discussion with William Kirst, co-founder of “Adapt” (https://adaptecology.org/), a non-profit that seeks to build a community network that supports the restoration of native plant and perennial food landscapes on small parcels of privately- and publicly-owned land.  Come learn about the work of Adapt and the efforts to rebuild and sustain our connections to the land around us. 

Why Community Supported Ecology? 

We believe that each of us, and each plot of land, is vital to a healthy future. Adapt exists to sustain and promote the connections between people and the land that supports us through community co-creation of native plant and perennial food landscapes. How do we build this connection? What do we stand to gain through it? Come find out!

Through crowdfunding, education, and volunteer effort, Adapt aims to build a community network that supports the restoration of native plant and perennial food landscapes on small parcels of privately- and publicly-owned land where there might otherwise not be the resources to do so.

Co-founder William Kirst started Adapt in 2020 with a vision that each piece of property, no matter how small, can be a space that sustains life. William is a gardener and ecologist with experience and expertise in ecological restoration, native plant landscaping and perennial food gardening. He likes to dive deep into the cultural, philosophical and spiritual implications of our selves as fundamentally ecological beings.

Plant stratified seeds into trays; Then take the trays home to germinate! This workshop continues from the "Seed Processing and Cold Stratification Workshop", which was held on Dec. 10th. In this workshop, you will take pre-stratified native plant seeds and plant them in propagation trays, then take those trays home to allow the seeds to germinate over the next two months.

A second day to plant stratified seeds into trays; Then take the trays home to germinate! This workshop continues from the "Seed Processing and Cold Stratification Workshop", which was held on Dec. 10th. In this workshop, you will take pre-stratified native plant seeds and plant them in propagation trays, then take those trays home to allow the seeds to germinate over the next two months.

Presentation:

Jim Vallem will describe the experience of using goats as part of an ecological restoration project at Thurston Natura Center.  In 2020, goats were introduced to help in reducing weedy shrubs and the area was then burned and planted with native grasses and forbs.  Jim is one of the volunteer stewards in Thurston Nature Center, located in NE Ann Arbor. 

The presentation will give an overview of the nature center, describe the publicity campaign that was mounted to educate the public and raise funds for the project, outline all the work performed, and show before/during/after photos. There will also be plenty of photos and videos of the goats in action. The information presented (plus the written article appearing in the Spring 2023 Wild Ones Journal) will provide valuable information for anyone considering using goatscaping in their own area.

  Panel discussion with Shannan Gibb-Randall, InSite Design Studio, Patrick Judd of Environmental Consulting & Technology, and Bill Schneider of Wildtype Native Plants/Ecological Services. Bob Grese will serve as the moderator.

  Often native plants are considered challenging to use in more formal rather than wilder garden situations. Is this a matter of aesthetics or is it a matter of choosing the right plant for the specific conditions? What strategies help make native plantings more acceptable in formal gardens?

 Come join in a discussion with a panel of three landscape architects, all
knowledgeable about growing and using native plants in their designs.

 According to the National Association of Realtors, planting native plants can create beautiful and distinctively “green” curb appeal; which in turn, which in turn can increase it’s resale value and decrease it’s time on the market. 

  For our May presentation, Ann Arbor Wild Ones President Marta Manildi, and Patrick McVeigh, Realtor and Manager with Reinhart Realtors in Ann Arbor, will discuss ideas for native plant gardeners who are selling their home and want to attract a buyer who will continue the "living landscape" approach to gardening. 

  Marta and Patrick will offer practical suggestions that draw on common native plant gardening practices and on Patrick’s understanding of what works with home buyers, and what doesn’t.  Learn how to pass on your gardening legacy.

Sale of a wide variety of hard-to-find perennials and native plants, as well as annuals, trees, and flowering shrubs. Master gardeners on hand to answer questions. Bring a wagon or box to hold your plants, if you’d like. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. (or until sold out), Monument Park gazebo, Dexter. Free admission. 673-9100.

The goal of Member-to-Member garden visits (aka Show Me-Tell Me), is to allow members to share experiences, ideas, and challenges with maintaining native plants in our landscapes. The location of the member hosting these visits will be shared privately with the A2WO members and invited guests.

The Native Plant Expo & Marketplace (NPEM) offers one convenient location to shop for Michigan native plants from several Michigan native plant growers, learn how to establish and maintain native landscapes and connect with companies specializing in planning native landscapes for residents in Washtenaw County and the surrounding areas. 

* This event was external to Ann Arbor Wild Ones.

Matt and Bob will give tours of their yards in the Virginia Park neighborhood of Ann Arbor.  Both their yards are constantly evolving.  Bob has been working on his yard for over 30 years while Matt’s is much more recent.  We will also look at Bob’s recent efforts helping neighbor Kathy Schroeder to bring more native plants into her yard. 

Matt is the founder and owner of Feral Flora and is extremely knowledgeable about the use and care of native plants.  Bob is past president of our Wild Ones chapter and is retired from the landscape architecture program at UM and is the former Director of Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum.  
 

The goal of Member-to-Member garden visits (aka Show Me-Tell Me), is to allow members to share experiences, ideas, and challenges with maintaining native plants in our landscapes. The location of the member hosting these visits will be shared privately with the A2WO members and invited guests.

The goal of Member-to-Member garden visits (aka Show Me-Tell Me), is to allow members to share experiences, ideas, and challenges with maintaining native plants in our landscapes. The location of the member hosting these visits will be shared privately with the A2WO members and invited guests.

The goal of Member-to-Member garden visits (aka Show Me-Tell Me), is to allow members to share experiences, ideas, and challenges with maintaining native plants in our landscapes. The location of the member hosting these visits will be shared privately with the A2WO members and invited guests.

The goal of Member-to-Member garden visits (aka Show Me-Tell Me), is to allow members to share experiences, ideas, and challenges with maintaining native plants in our landscapes. The location of the member hosting these visits will be shared privately with the A2WO members and invited guests. All embers are encouraged to bring guests who might be interested in landscaping with native plants.

This tour will be shared with the North Oakland chapter! The goal of Member-to-Member garden visits (aka Show Me-Tell Me), is to allow members to share experiences, ideas, and challenges with maintaining native plants in our landscapes. The location of the member hosting these visits will be shared privately with the A2WO members and invited guests. All Wild Ones members are encourage to bring a guest(s) who might be curious in landscaping with native plants.

We've re-scheduled the tour of St. Joe's nature areas, including Shanghai Prairie for Wednesday, August 23rd at 6:30 pm.  We'll again meet in the picnic pavilion north of the hospital complex.  Will Jaquinde and John Metzler have kindly agreed to join us on this tour.  

Here are directions:
Follow the McAuley Drive around the hospital complex to the north side of the main hospital.  There will be a sign that points to "Emergency" towards the hospital and "Child Care Center" to the north.  Turn there and take an immediate left towards the picnic area (service buildings are at the end of the picnic area parking).  Park here and walk over to the picnic pavilion from where we will be beginning our tour.  We'll walk both through the prairie (known as "Shanghai Prairie") and woodland areas along the bluff.  Dress for walking through tall grass (I would suggest long pants and possibly a long-sleeved shirt) and bring bug spray if you would like.   Attached is a map of the location where we'll meet.

Update: The September A2WO Meeting is Canceled, due to the sudden illness of the program's presenter. We'll try to reschedule this presentation for a future date.

In our September meeting, Brad Ruhfel to give a combination lecture/workshop on basic botany and plant identification. Brad has been reviewing commonly used apps and will tailor the program to what skills/knowledge is useful for using those apps without deep botany backgrounds.

We’re going to try to have a variety of plant specimens on hand for folks to try dissecting/identifying plant parts and using apps to identify.

Ann Arbor Wild Ones will have a table at this event. Stop by and chat!

Stroll local exhibits and learn innovative ways to live sustainably and take climate action. Dozens of nonprofit, governmental, and other exhibitors will be on hand to answer your questions. Find resources and communities for sustainable action, including: the circular economy, solar technologies, green transportation, plant-based foods, climate resiliency, environmental education, clean water protections, and energy waste reduction.​

The goal of Member-to-Member garden visits (aka Show Me-Tell Me), is to allow members to share experiences, ideas, and challenges with maintaining native plants in our landscapes.

The location of the member hosting these visits will be shared privately with the A2WO members and invited guests. If you are a A2WO member, please invite a non-member as your guest to the event!

Ann Arbor Wild Ones will hold three Zoom calls, one each in Oct, Nov, and Dec, to talk about current activities and plans and get your input.  I believe these will be the first Zoom calls involving our entire membership, so these three meetings could be a model for future meetings and presentations with our membership!

All members are invited to participate, and other people who have expressed an interest in fostering a WO “hub” or “cluster” presence in their communities are also invited.  While we intend that the remote meetings will not be longer than 1 hour, I have scheduled an additional hour, as a buffer, in case we happen to run a bit over - we won't be dropped! 

The first of three Zoom Meetings over the next three months:

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Thursday, October 5, at 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Zoom Link - Will be provided to members in a separate email

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The specific agenda items for our October 3 discussion are:

1. More distributed WO activities across communities where we have members

       > How to jump-start these “pods”, or “clusters”

       > discussion, level of interest, invitation for ideas

       > Participation, intersection of interests and location, and cross-community action welcomed 

2. Short reports: Status of Pocket Forest, Grower Support, and Seeds to Community activities

3. What motivates you? How do we reward our volunteers?

4. Forecast for Nov. and Dec. meetings

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Ann Arbor, County Farm Park (off Medford Road on the West side of the park)

·  1pm - 2pm : Prairie Seed Collection Hike in Fox Hollow

·  2pm - 3:30 : Seed sharing at Medford Pavilion

·  https://www.facebook.com/events/4274649702760773?ref=newsfeed

Can you help us with seed ID and species investigation at the event??? Maybe you or someone in your organization could spend an hour sharing some of your knowledge during the seed share. Newbies could use some help with names and plant characteristics. Come armed with your most generous spirit.

Amos Ziegler, from MISIN, will be discussing the  MISIN (Midwest Invasive Species Information Network) program, and how that program is working within Michigan.

The Midwest Invasive Species Information Network (MISIN) is a regional data aggregation effort to develop and provide an early detection and response (EDR) resource for invasive species in the Midwest region of the United States.

This effort is led by researchers with the Michigan State University Department of Entomology Laboratory for Applied Spatial Ecology and Technical Services in conjunction with a growing consortium of supporting partners. 

The goal of this regional resource is to assist both experts and citizen scientists in the detection and identification of invasive species. Data collected will allow for the development and implementation of effective control strategies in the region.

Join Wild Ones Honorary Director Heather Holm as she explores the nesting habitats, life cycles, pollen collection, brood rearing, and general characteristics of some of the most common native bees in eastern North America, while highlighting the pollination of native plants and the mutualism between native plants and native bees.

When creating and managing thriving habitats for native bees, many factors such as seasonal phenology, nesting strategies, and flower preferences must be considered—and with approximately 3,600 species in North America (north of Mexico), there are many unique aspects to keep in mind when managing successful landscapes for bees. 

For our November Meeting, we will be expanding on the following topics:

 1. More distributed WO activities across communities where we have members
     > How to jump-start these “pods”, “clusters”, or "community groups"
     > discussion, level of interest, invitation for ideas
     > Participation, intersection of interests and location, and cross-community action welcomed 
2. Short reports: Status of Pocket Forest, Grower Support, and Seeds to Community activities
3. What motivates you? How do we reward our volunteers?
4. Forecast for Nov. and Dec. meetings

Update / Change of Presentation!

The bad news is that our speaker for tomorrow night’s monthly A2WO meeting, Chris Oesterling, is under the weather and will not be able to give us his presentation.  We hope to reschedule with Chris for a meeting next year, and we wish him a speedy recovery.

The good news is we have a great back-up in hand!  We had already planned to follow Chris’ presentation with a celebration of thanks and farewell to our founder, long-time leader, naturalist, native plant historian, teacher and friend, Bob Grese.  We will now expand that celebration.  Bob has spent his career, among other things, giving talks.  Planned talks, featured-speaker talks, talks while pulling weeds in the Great Lakes Gardens, award recipient talks, impromptu talks, green roof talks. It seems only fitting that we now give recognition and honor to Bob - by asking him to give us a talk!   We did, and he said yes.  

Join us for an enlightening webinar featuring authors, Neil Diboll and Hilary Cox, as they present their latest book, "The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants." This comprehensive compendium is a treasure trove of knowledge for gardeners looking to incorporate native prairie plants into their landscapes. Neil and Hilary will delve into the making and application of this essential guide, sharing rich historical and ecological insights about prairie ecosystems, all while showcasing stunning images of prairie flora. 

Come see how we can all grow native plants from seeds! Understand the series of upcoming public workshops wherein we all can: overwinter seeds at home;  transplant robust seedlings as they begin to sprout; collaborate with other community members to take home free native plants for your yard and for your community; experience first-hand the joy of making a positive difference and expanding biodiversity.

Speaker is Jonathan Parker, City of Ann Arbor Park Steward at Molin Nature Area, and sponsor of Seeds to Community program in partnership with WildOnes.

The evening will also include a celebration and recap of 2023 activities and accomplishments and an awards presentation.