FREE PUBLIC PROGRAMS

Monday, August 12, 2024

6:00 pm EDT

green|spaces, 63 E. Main St., Chattanooga TN

FREE and open to the public

Members of the Tennessee Valley Chapter of Wild Ones share their personal experience with growing native plants. These informal talks will focus on what we love about native plants in our landscapes. Growing tips will be included. 

Are YOU interested in sharing about YOUR favorite native plant? We would love to hear about it at this meeting. If your interested, please contact us at tnvalleywildones@gmail.com.

With Sally Wencel

Monday, September 9, 2024

6:00 p.m. EDT

Note different location!

Joseph Glasscock Community Center

3620 Tom Weathers Dr, Red Bank, TN

FREE and Open to the Public

The mantra “sleep, creep and leap” is a good description for the three growing seasons it can take for your native perennials to put on a show in your garden. In the meantime, you can get off to a quicker start using native annuals and groundcovers to provide cover, color, and pollen and nectar in your new planting areas.

This year, the Tennessee Valley Chapter of Wild Ones is presenting Gardening with Native Plants, a series of six introductory classes about how to garden with native plants. These classes, led by experienced gardeners from the Tennessee Valley, are free and open to the public. The classes cover everything from why to use native plants to how to plan and maintain native gardens. 

Join us for all of the classes, several, or even just one. The classes are complimentary and together will greatly add to your understanding of native plant gardening. The next class is on Monday, August 19th.

with Charlotte Freeman & Dennis Bishop

Monday, August 19, 2024

6:00 – 8:00 pm EDT

green|spaces

63 E. Main St., Chattanooga TN

Free and open to the public

Not all valley properties are the same, but they all reside in lowland areas that differentiate them from nearby mountain properties. In this class you will learn about the unique conditions of valley locations and how to select native plants that are suitable for them. You will also learn how to best use those plants in the native landscape. Native plant selection tools and plant lists will be provided.

Do you want to receive a reminder email

in advance of our free public programs?

If so, join our Meetup group.

For event details and Zoom links, visit TNValleyWildOnes.org

Under the Programs & Events tab, click on Calendar.

CERTIFICATE IN NATIVE PLANTS CLASSES

The Certificate in Native Plants program is designed to expand students' knowledge of botany, ecology, conservation and uses of native flora in the southeastern United States. The CNP offers a blend of classroom instruction, hands-on learning and guided hikes. Participants are required to complete four core classes, eight electives, and 40 hours of volunteering for approved native plant projects. Classes are open to Wild Ones members and non-members, whether or not you are pursuing the certificate.

For more info about the Certificate in Native Plants program, click HERE.

We're taking a break during August.

Classes begin again in September.

Saturday, September 14, 2024

ELECTIVE Class for the Certificate in Native Plants

Save the Date! 

More details coming soon.

Instructor: Botanist/Ecologist Gary Kauffman

Saturday, October 12, 2024

9:00 a.m. -12:30 p.m.

Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute

175 Baylor School Rd, Chattanooga TN

ELECTIVE class for the Certificate in Native Plants

$40 for Wild Ones members, $50 for non-members

Join botanist/ecologist Gary Kauffman for a hands-on native grasses workshop highlighting grass identification and grassland communities. We’ll learn to use a Southern Appalachian grasses key derived from Weakley’s Flora of the Southeastern U.S. and other identification tools, look at samples of common native grasses, and learn a bit about grassland communities and the wildlife they support. You should come away from the workshop able to use the key to Poaceae (grasses) groups and genera, recognize a dozen common grasses by sight, and have ample resources to hone your grass skills.

MEMBERS-ONLY EVENTS

Members Only Hike:

Sand Mountain and Town Creek of Alabama

Hike Leader: Zach Irick

Saturday, August 24, 2024

8:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. EDT

Oak Grove, AL

Free for Wild Ones Members & family only

Member hikes are a great way to learn about native plants! Southeastern Grasslands Institute ecologist/botanist Zach Irick will lead an educational tour of the native wildflowers, shrubs and trees of Town Creek as it courses over Sand Mountain in N.E. Alabama. You will come away with ideas for natural rock gardens and rain garden designs, siting and growth patterns, as well as identification of many native plants that are often available for the landscape.  

September 21, 2024

Missionary Ridge & East Ridge

Free for Wild Ones Members & Family Only

Landscapes in Progress events were designed as a way for our members to learn more about native plant gardening from the experiences of other members. Like all of our gardens, these gardens are "in progress." They do not have to be perfect, although there are always some really amazing and beautiful things to see! We have found that these garden visits are a great way to learn about a variety of native plants and the conditions in which they thrive. Join members of the Tennessee Valley Chapter of Wild Ones for a tour of two of our members' gardens. 

SPECIAL EVENT

See One of Nature’s Rarest Native Plants

on a Raft Trip on the Middle Ocoee River

Saturday, September 8

2:00 p.m. EDT

Ocoee, TN

Wild Ones members and any others who appreciate viewing native plants combined with a river rapids adventure along the imperiled Ocoee riverscour ecosystem are invited to join Lisa Lemza (past President of Tennessee Valley Wild Ones) and expert paddlers Mike Shillinger and Emily Smoot for a memorable guided raft trip on the Middle Ocoee River to see Ruth’s Golden Aster (Pityopsis ruthii), one of the world’s rarest native plants. Ruth’s Golden Aster, which grows on just a few boulders in the Middle Ocoee and Hiwassee Gorge, with several in the middle of the river, can only be seen from the water. It will be in bloom at this time. 

SAVE THE DATE!

Saturday, October 5, 2025

10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Grace Episcopal Church, 20 Belvoir Ave., Chattanooga TN

Fall — and the best time to plant many of our natives — is just around the corner. 

And so the Tennessee Valley Wild Ones Fall Plant Sale! 

During the sale, we’ll also be honoring our newest members, along with the recent Certificate in Native Plants graduates who’ve worked hard to complete their coursework and volunteer hours.

So SAVE THE DATE and make plans to join us. More details are coming soon!

UPCOMING CALENDAR OF EVENTS

To view all upcoming programs, classes, hikes and members-only events presented by the Tennessee Valley Chapter of Wild Ones, click below:

"WILD ONES PRESENTS"

One of the ways Wild Ones seeks to accomplish its mission of promoting native plants and landscaping is by providing learning opportunities for both seasoned gardeners and those who are new to gardening and/or the native plant movement alike. All of these webinar opportunities are free and open to the public to attend.

“Combating the Biodiversity Crisis with Native Plants”  with Sarah Gray & Coralie Palmer August 22nd at 6 PM (CT)

“The Beauty and Benefits of Hedgerows” with Heather McCargo September 19th at 6 PM (CT)

“Matrix Landscape Design”

with Benjamin Vogt

October at 24th at 6 PM (CT)

TENNESSEE VALLEY MEMBER NEWS

Tennessee Valley Wild Ones members participated in a wonderful pontoon boat outing at Edgar Evins State Park this past May. We were delighted by conversations with Ranger Mark Taylor who was our skipper for a "3 hour tour" of the limestone bluffs along the Center Hill lake. The weather was ideal. 

We were able to witness the toughness of familiar native landscape examples such as golden St. Johns's wort, aromatic aster, butterfly milkweed, fragrant sumac, beautyberry, zig zag spiderwort, and columbine. We viewed the many rare local occurrences as well, such as the western wallflower, Harper's umbrella plant, Wofford's woodmint, and a Glandularia (relative of rose verbena) that has not yet been scientifically described. 

Bonuses of the trip included viewing of young and adult birds in their nests at the heron and cormorant rookery, as well as close up views of the dam and learning its history. After disembarking, we then travelled downstream from the dam along the bluff lined banks of the Caney Fork river and shared some identification tips while viewing over 75 other native species up close.  

One of our members remarked, "Thanks again for organizing the outing and sharing the plant list. We enjoyed the boat ride and roadside botanizing, as well as getting acquainted with other Wild Ones members."

Grant Funds Available

The Chattanooga Pollinator Partnership (CHAPP), an initiative of the Tennessee Valley Chapter of Wild Ones, has received a gracious donation of $10,000 from the Lyndhurst Foundation for our bi-annual Seeds for Education (SFE) grant. With this money, we can award more grants to close gaps in food resources for pollinators and to broaden our reach of native plant education — especially in underserved communities.

Past sites for SFE pollinator gardens include Lookout School, Fairyland Elementary, Middle Valley Elementary, St. Peter’s Episcopal School, Hardy Elementary, The Howard School, Wauhatchie Forest School at Reflection Riding, Hixson High School, Orange Grove, Avondale Head Start, and Battle Academy. Please help us! Share this news with educators you know at schools, early learning centers, or community centers ... and suggest their names to us. 

Also you can join CHAPP as a mentor to share your knowledge of native plants, make a low-time volunteer commitment to support teachers and help with grant reviews. For more information, email us at tnvalleywildones@gmail.com.



The Tennessee Valley Chapter of Wild Ones has obtained a funding source to bring in native plant experts for our symposium for 2025. We need two volunteers to chair the Symposium Committee. There is always an army who volunteer to help; what we need now are two to step up to leadership. You will have support. Please contact our president, Beverly Inman-Ebel at bie@talklisten.com or text her at 423-400-4241.

Wild Ones Is Looking for Strong Candidates To Serve on the National Board of Directors

Wild Ones is recruiting individuals with a wide range of skills and backgrounds now through August 16 for 8 openings on the board for the 2025-27 Director term. 

If you share our of vision of native plants and natural landscapes thriving in every community, please consider applying.

An effective and impactful board comprises individuals with different perspectives, drawn from diverse cultural or ethnic backgrounds, varied areas of expertise, a wide range of lived experiences and a myriad of skills. We strongly encourage young leaders and members of BIPOC communities to apply.

Wild Ones will hold elections this fall for board directors to serve a three-year term starting on January 1, 2025 and ending December 31, 2027. The deadline for applications is August 16, 2024.

Please consider yourself, or anyone you know who might be good candidates. 

For questions, please email Nominations Chair, Rita Ulrich at secretary@wildones.org. 

Refer-A-Friend and Help Wild Ones Grow!

Between July 1st and August 31st, Wild Ones members who refer five or more new members will receive a free limited edition Wild Ones ball cap. At the end of the challenge, chapters with the most new members will receive $250 to support their mission delivery efforts, as well as bragging rights for their hard work!

More Info

Wild Ones is a community of native planters growing healthier landscapes. This program honors the dedication and hard work of members who actively participate in this transformative journey, recognizing their efforts as crucial contributions to environmental restoration and sustainability.

Wild Ones Certified Native Habitats are symbols of dedication to biodiversity, ecological restoration, and the nurturing of environments where native flora and fauna can thrive. Join Wild Ones in spreading the message and inspiring others, showcasing your habitat as a beacon of environmental stewardship.

PROGRAMS, CLASSES & EVENTS

Online and in the Region

Help make Chattanooga a greener city with healthy places for people, pets and wildlife. Join the grassroots movement to enrich our lives by making Chattanooga the first National Park City.

Click on link below to sign the charter!

Join the Fall 2024 Yale Forest Forum Speaker Series!

Conserving Mature and Old-Growth Forests in a Changing Climate

Thursdays, 12-12:55 p.m. U.S. EDT, August 29 – December 5, 2024

There is broad agreement that protecting and managing forests is critical for meeting global climate mitigation and sustainable development goals. However, there is less agreement on how to determine what is 'best' management to reach these goals in the context of mature and old-growth forests (MOG). This webinar series invites a variety of speakers representing the United States Forest Service, Tribal nations, private forest owners, forest industry, academia, and forest advocacy organizations to share how they are responding to and shaping the discussion on mature and old-growth forests, including as mandated by Executive Order 140752 and the National Old-Growth Amendment.

This YFF Speaker Series is co-convened by The Forest School at the Yale School of the Environment and the Society of American Foresters. Register to join this free webinar series.

Benjamin Vogt, author, teacher, garden designer and previous speaker at the Tennessee Valley Wild Ones Plant Natives! Symposium, has recently redesigned his website. Formerly called Monarch Gardens, it's now called "Prairie Up! Unlawning America." He offers webinars, educational resources, and 20 online courses, with titles including Cultivars 101, Lessons in Unlawning Suburbia, Using Plant Sociability in Design, and more.

Tennessee Native Plant Society Seminars

The Tennessee Native Plant Society hosts monthly Native Plant Seminars via Zoom on the third Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. Central (7:30 p.m. Eastern) and lasting about one hour. All members, and potential members, are welcome to attend the seminars. Videos of previous seminars are available via the link below.

August 20 – Connie Deegan, Snakes in Your Garden

September 17 – Sara Wittenberg, Pollinators in the Garden

October 15 – Elizabeth Hermsen, Plant Fossils of Tennessee

November 19 – Adam Bigelow, Wildflowers of Southern Appalachia

INTERESTING INFORMATION

Air pollution makes it harder for bees to smell flowers

Contaminants can alter plant odors and warp insects’ senses, disrupting the process of pollination. Scientists are still working out how strong and widespread these effects of pollution are, and how they operate. They’re learning that pollution may have a surprising diversity of effects, from changing the scents that draw insects to flowers to warping the creatures’ ability to smell, learn and remember.

Read more.



Concerns over record-low butterfly and moth numbers

With just one day left to go in the annual Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count, participants have so far recorded the lowest number ever in the 14-year history of the biggest citizen science project in the United Kingdom. The U.K. has 59 species of observed butterflies, and only 2 species of which are migrants, the Painted Lady and the Clouded Yellow. Over half of the U.K. butterfly species are now red listed ,meaning they have declining populations or are endangered.

Read more.



PHOTOS FROM THE FIELD

This month, Mike O'Brien, our chapter's superstar nature photographer, shared a bounty of photos from the field. Mike kindly pointed out several species that often confused, and he noted the differences, so that we, too, can appreciate the diversity of life that is supported by our native plant landscapes.

Thanks, Mike, for sharing the beauty of the natural world with us!

The Silver-spotted Skipper has a white spot in the middle of the hindwing below, not at the edge as in the Hoary Edge Butterfly. The Silver-spotted Skipper has a similar looking upper forewing, but its yellow spots are continuous and are not separated by brown lines.

Photos by Mike O'Brien.

This confusion can be resolved by looking at the row of spots that parallels the margin of the outer hindwing . In Pearl Crescent these dots are solid black; in Silvery Checkerspot they tend to be more crescent- or gumdrop-shaped and to have pale centers.

Photos by Mike O'Brien.

Bumblebees are rounder and plumper than honey bees, which are more slender and oval-shaped. Bumblebees can be 0.4–1.6 inches in size, while honey bees are usually smaller. Bumblebees also have fuzzy hair all over their bodies, while honey bees only have hair on their heads, thoraxes, and abdomens.

Bumble bees are the only bees native to North America that are truly social. Bumblebees live in colonies, have different divisions of labor or castes, and have overlapping generations, usually with multiple broods throughout the spring, summer, and fall.

Honey bees have four wings, with the front pair being the largest. Their wings are also more translucent than a Bumblebee's dark wings. Honey bees are not native to North America. They were imported from Europe by colonists in the 1620s as a source of wax and sugar, and to pollinate crops and make honey.

Photos by Mike O'Brien.

Thread-waisted wasps (Sphecidae family) range in color from blackish brown with yellow legs and clear wings to metallic blue with bluish wings. The common name for this wasp family refers to the very slender stalk or petiole that joins the abdomen to the thorax. The adults range in size from 1.2 cm to 4.0 cm.

The larger Sphecidae family, also known as sand wasps, mud daubers, or thread-waisted wasps, have an elongated abdomen that's attached to the thorax by a long, narrow, petiole-shaped structure, giving the body a "thread-waisted" appearance. They are usually solitary, predatory wasps that prey on insects and spiders for their larvae. They nest by digging unbranched tunnels in sandy soil.

The golden-white spots on the sides of the body of the Golden-marked Thread-waisted Wasp are hallmarks for this active species.

Potter wasps and mason wasps are the same thing, a group of solitary wasps in the Vespidae family (subfamily Eumeninae ). They are known for their unique mud and plant nests, which are often built in holes in wood or in higher locations around homes, such as in chimneys. The name "potter wasp" comes from the shape of the mud nests, which can look like they were thrown on a potter's wheel.

The Vespidae is a large family of wasps with over 5,000 known species, often in temperate climates worldwide. The Vespidae family includes social wasps, which live in colonies and have a caste system, as well as solitary wasps, which do not form colonies.

Photos by Mike O'Brien.

False Sunflower or Oxeye Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides)

A common, 3-5 ft. perennial with stiff, branched stems; sunflower-like heads; and opposite, toothed leaves. It resembles a small version of a yellow sunflower with a cone-shaped central disc and opposite, toothed, simple leaves. The yellow flower heads are 2" across and have raised, yellow centers.

This plant looks like true sunflowers, which are in the genus Helianthus. Unlike sunflowers, its rays persist on the flower heads; the rays of sunflowers wither and fall away; both its disk and ray flowers are fertile, unlike the usual sunflowers. It is placed in Heliopsis due to its cone-shaped central disc. It is hardy and easily grown as a showy garden perennial in dry sites and is a good choice for clay soil. The plant is native the Eastern 2/3 of the U.S.

Photo by Mike O'Brien.

Feather-legged Fly

Notice the “feathers” on its hind legs. This insect is a native ally in the fight against the invasive brown marmorated stink bug.

Photo by Mike O'Brien.

JOIN WILD ONES

Becoming a Wild Ones member shows your commitment to the native plant movement and is a great way to connect with a helpful and knowledgeable native plant community that will prove invaluable in your native garden journey!

Benefits of a Wild Ones membership include:

• Access to the current electronic issue of the quarterly Wild Ones Journal
• Invitations to workshops, garden tours, seed exchanges, plants sales, and stewardship project
• Discounts for partner educational webinars such as NDAL, etc. and Wild Ones chapter programs
• Participation in an annual national photo contest
• Access to the Wild Ones Member Center for learning resources
• Participation in Wild for Monarchs and Native Garden recognition programs
• Involvement in citizen science and networking with conservation partners
• Receiving Wild Ones National e-Newsletters
• Invitation to Wild Ones' private Facebook discussion group and the national Wild Ones Annual Member Meeting
• Networking opportunities and camaraderie with like-minded people who care about native plants and our planet

Additional benefits for members of the Tennessee Valley chapter:



• Discounted admission to all Certificate in Native Plants classes year-round.
• Free admission at members-only programs, including local and regional guided hikes, garden visits (Landscapes in Progress), the annual meeting, an annual plant swap, and other member social events.
• Annual Welcome Party and Orientation for new members.
• Monthly email Member Update, with news about chapter activities.
• All members of the family who live at the same address are entitled to member benefits!

Your membership dollars help forward our mission of promoting the restoration of native landscapes by allowing us to:

• Provide free, educational resources and learning opportunities that are open to the public from respected experts like Wild Ones Honorary Directors Doug Tallamy, Neil Diboll, Heather Holm and Donna VanBuecken
• Support the efforts of over 65 local Wild Ones chapters in 23 states
• Publish a quarterly, award-winning, online journal featuring current native plant information and resources
• Share free, professionally-designed native garden templates for multiple regions in the United States.

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