Healing the earth, one yard at a time.
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Love the Winter! Get Ready for Spring!
It's the time of year when we begin to look outdoors for the first signs of spring.
We'll still have to wait until late February or early March for the first blooms on
Tennessee Valley native plants, but in the meantime, you can get ready for what's to come.
Today, you can reserve your place at our Plant Natives 2020 Symposium, scheduled for March 14th.
On that day, you can also visit our Native Plant Marketplace & Expo
to start buying new plants for your landscapes.
Look for more information below.
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Plant Conservation & Research
at the Atlanta Botanical Garden
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with John Evans,
Conservation Horticulture Coordinator for the Atlanta Botanical Garden
Monday, February 10, 2020
6:00pm
green|spaces
63 E. Main St., Chattanooga TN
FREE and Open to the Public
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Register Now to Reserve Your Space!
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Saturday, March 14 Symposium
8:00am - 4:30pm ET
UTC University Center
642 E. 5th St., Chattanooga TN
The ninth annual
Plant Natives 2020!
Symposium and Native Plant Marketplace & Expo will be presented on Saturday, March 14, 2020, at the University Center, on the campus of the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. The Symposium will include presentations by Benjamin Vogt, Phillip Juras, and Bodie Pennisi, PhD. While registration and a fee are required to attend the symposium, the Native Plant Marketplace and Expo are free and open for anyone to attend from 8 am till 4:30 pm.
Ticket discounts are available in advance, before March 11th:
Wild Ones members - $60
Non-members - $70
Students with valid ID - $25
All tickets at the door: $75
ALL Symposium tickets include a vegetarian soup and salad bar lunch.
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Basic Gardening Roundtable:
Native from the Beginning
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Monday, May 18, 2020
Monday, September 14, 2020
Monday, November 16, 2020
6:00pm
green|spaces
63 E. Main St., Chattanooga TN
FREE and Open to the Public
Do you want to learn more about gardening with native plants? Bring your questions, victories, failures, your fears and your triumphs, for an informal garden roundtable with experienced native plant gardeners. We will offer pragmatic advice on design, plant selection, sourcing, and difficulties encountered from our combined experience.
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Native Plant Garden Tour
Saturday, September 12, 2020
Save the Date!
More information coming soon!
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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. Visit
www.TNValleyWildOnes.org/CNP
for more information. Classes are open to Wild Ones members and non-members, whether or not you are pursuing the certificate.
REMINDER:
CNP class sizes are limited and registration IN ADVANCE is required.
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Propagating Native Plants
by Seeds
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Propagating Native Plants by Seeds
Instructor: Michael Martin, PhD
Saturday, February 15, 2020
8:30am - 12:00pm
Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center
ELECTIVE Class (4 credits)
Encourage native pollinators, birds, and other wildlife as you save water and other resources by using native plants in your landscape. You can buy them at local garden centers or nurseries, or better yet, propagate and grow them at home. Learn the secrets of native species propagation through seeds in this hands-on workshop. You will take home a flat of seeds for nurturing at home indoors under lights or outdoors.
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Propagation of Native Plants
by Cuttings & Divisions
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Saturday, February 15, 2020
1:00pm – 4:30pm
Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center
Instructor: Michael Martin, PhD
ELECTIVE Class (4 credits)
In addition to growing native plants from seeds, many plants are grown from stem and root cuttings, particularly woody shrubs like Azaleas. Learn how you can use basic methods to grow your own cuttings. Similarly, many native perennials can be divided in the spring to create new plants and this workshop will cover both techniques. This hands-on workshop covers the whys and how tos for native plant cuttings and divisions and participants will take home their classroom work to nurture until ready for planting.
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“The native plant discussion forces us to think about landscapes with a deeper purpose, and especially asks us to consider lives and voices other than our own.”
― Benjamin Vogt
A New Garden Ethic:
Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future
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April is a particularly busy time int he Tennessee Valley, with plant sales and gardening events. The Tennessee Valley Chapter of Wild Ones will have information tables at many events, and we need volunteers to help staff them. We provide all the information and handouts...all we need is YOU!
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Do you want to learn more about rain gardens, gardening with native plants, supporting urban wildlife, stormwater pollution, green infrastructure design, plant i.d., or exotic invasive management? Are you interested in low impact exercise, more time outside, earning volunteer hours, picking up a new skill, or meeting people with similar interests?
Come visit on a Rain Garden Guardian Day for an educational tour or to volunteer!
Upcoming dates:
2/6/20 Patten Rec
2/27/20 Renaissance Rain Garden
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Local & Regional Happenings
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New Directions in the American Landscape with Larry Weaner & Dwayne Estes
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February 17-18
Nashville TN
Demand for high performing, ecology-based landscapes is increasing faster than the availability of the specialized knowledge needed for practitioners to achieve them. This intensive two-day workshop will provide concrete, real world guidance for designing and documenting native meadows, shrublands, and woodlands. We will also discuss adapting these wild landscapes to the “fine garden” scale for smaller projects and properties
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Saturday, February 22, 2020
9:00am - 2:00pm
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
822 Belvoir Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37412
Presented by the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs, District III
A variety of topics will be covered, beginning with a panel discussion on how to help your garden survive the hot dry summer and fall in our area.
Other presentation topics will include:
- Vines, such as Clematis
- The Rose Rustlers
- Volunteering as a Way to Increase Gardening Skills
- Plant this! Not this!
- Creating Color in the Garden Throughout the Seasons
- Medicinal Garden for Good Health and Beauty
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February 29
Macon GA
This year’s Georgia Native Plant Society symposium will keynote Doug Tallamy, who will have just released his new book: “Nature’s Best Hope: A new approach to conservation that starts in your yard”.
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Chattanooga Arbor Day Celebration in Alton Park
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Saturday, March 7
Southside Park, Chattanooga
The Chattanooga Tree Commission and Trust for Public Lands Tennessee is celebrating Arbor Day March 7 at the Alton Park neighborhood park.
8:30-9:00am: Tree planting instructions
9:00-11:30am: Tree planting
11:30-Noon: Ceremony
Noon-2:00pm: Food and Music
Tree Pruning 101 with Jon Nessle
Tree Climbing Expo
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Southeast Partners in Plant Conservation
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March 2-6
Atlanta Botanical Garden
Southeastern Partners in Plant Conservation will bring together government agencies, land managers, botanical gardens, university programs, experts, professionals, and other interested parties to build capacity and promote novel partnerships for plant conservation in the Southeast. Working with a wide range of stakeholders that represent diverse interests and perspectives, this effort seeks to stimulate collective successes in local, state, and regional plant conservation.
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Friday & Saturday, March 20-21
Tennessee Tree Day 2020
is the largest community tree-planting project of its kind in America taking place on March 21, 2020! You and other Tennessee residents will collectively pick up and plant more than 100,000 native tree-seedlings in all 95 Tennessee counties during the weekend of March 20th, 2020. The trees are yours to
plant on your own property
and will enhance our environment and communities for generations to come!
Tree Pickup Locations include:
UT Extension Office - Hamilton County
6138 Adamson Circle, Chattanooga TN
Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center
400 Garden Rd., Chattanooga TN
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Reflection Riding
Spring Plant Sale
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April 16-18
Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center
400 Garden Road
Chattanooga TN
Save the dates! More information coming soon.
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Trails & Trilliums Festival
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April 17
Monteagle TN
The 17th Annual Trails & Trilliums Festival will be held at the Dubose Conference Center in Monteagle. A fundraiser for the Friends of South Cumberland State Park, featured will be over 25 guided hikes in and around the South Cumberland State Park, a native plant sale and great line-up of programs, author talks and workshops. This year will feature the first Trails and Trilliums Family Campout with garden and outdoor vendors and music on stage.
Registration opens February 24 to the general public and February 10 to members of the Friends of South Cumberland State Park.
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"Master Your Garden"
Garden Expo
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April 18-19
Camp Jordan Arena
East Ridge, TN
Presented by the Hamilton County Master Gardeners
Focusing on gardening and the outdoors, the Expo brings together an array of exhibits, demonstrations, educational activities, and vendors of interest to experienced gardeners, gardening enthusiasts, browsers, and children.
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The Cullowhee Native Plant Conference
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July 22-25
Cullowhee NC
The purpose of the Cullowhee Conference is to increase interest in and knowledge of propagating and preserving native southeastern plant species in the landscape.
The conference is held at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. Cullowhee is located between the Great Smoky and Blue Ridge mountains, approximately fifty miles west of Asheville. Close to both the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cullowhee is in an ideal location for anyone with an interest in nature.
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Wild Ones Awards Nine "Seeds for Education" Grants
This year, the Wild Ones "Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education" (SFE) program awarded 9 "Seeds for Education" grants out of 39 applications from 25 states. Since it began in 1997, SFE has connected thousands of children with nature close to home in educational native gardens and habitats.
Thank you, Wild Ones members and chapters, who have given generously to this worthwhile outreach program. Through 2020, Wild Ones SFE has funded for 272 natural learning landscapes involving preschool -12
th
graders. Winning SFE projects receive up to $500 for native plants and seeds.
Each SFE application is evaluated by three judges who score the proposal and provide comments to improve the landscape plan and native plant selections. To be funded, an educational project must incorporate active learning by youth that includes ecological concepts, regional native plants/seeds, a designated planting site, sustainable plan, and community involvement.
We wish to thank the 27 Seeds for Education judges who volunteered significant time and expertise to evaluate this year’s SFE applications. There were 5 judges from Tennessee – three from The Tennessee Valley Chapter (Lisa Lemza, Wanda DeWaard, and Sally Wencel) and two from the Smoky Mountains Chapter (Marti Alger and Joanne Overstreet).
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It's amazing "how cold hardy plants do not freeze and or die in the winter. If plants are comprised of so much water, how do they not freeze solid or burst apart?"
Read more
in this post from the Southern Highlands Reserve
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Why Trees Are the Most Reliable Historians of Early America
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Increasingly, American researchers are turning to trees, and reading them to fill in the gaps. A new study, published in the
Journal of Biogeography,
looks at the tree rings of West Virginia’s historic log cabins and other wooden structures to better understand the period in which they were built. It’s just the latest example of what the science of dendrochronology can tell us.
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How to Identify Wildflowers Without Bothering to Get Off the Highway
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According to a scientist’s satirical guide, flowers are even more beautiful when you can only kind of see them. An e-booklet, “
A Field Guide to Roadside Wildflowers at Full Speed
,” blurrily documents the different species of wildflowers one might encounter near highways in the central Great Plains. “Technically there’s nothing untrue in the book,” the author says. “And 99 percent of people understand that it’s a joke.”
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In these cold winter months, it can be difficult to easily find good subject matter
for nature photos, so one just has to be more observant and look around for the unseen.
Here are a few photos of items that Wild Ones member Mike O'Brien
discovered during the last few weeks of January.
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Jelly Fungus on dead oak branch.
This Agaricomycete is saprophytic and is commonly found on dead and decaying wood around our area. This is its brown-colored fruiting body that will swell up during rainy days. Lichens surround this one.
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Moth cocoon on small Tulip Poplar tree.
Six cocoons were found on this small tree.
Various moths host on Poplar leaves.
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Woolly Bear Caterpillar.
It is the caterpillar of the Isabella Tiger Moth.
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Joining or Renewing
Your Wild Ones Membership?
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Join a community of native plant enthusiasts – novices to experts – making a difference by establishing and preserving communities of native plants in home landscapes, schools, businesses, and communities.
AND receive benefits, including discounted admission for our annual Symposium and Certificate in Native Plants classes. As a member, you'll also be invited to members-only hikes, garden visits and social events.
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Join our Meetup group to stay current about upcoming programs, classes and events.
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"Like" our public Facebook page, and stay up to date on our events and interesting information about native plants and natural landscaping.
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Join our Facebook GROUP, where you can ask questions about native plants, join discussions and learn more about native plants and natural landscaping.
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