by Marypat Ehlmann
Board Member-at-Large and Tabling Events Chairperson, Wild Ones St. Louis Chapter
Q: How many Wild Ones members does it take to spread the word about native plants, about benefits to pollinators and wildlife from gardens growing native plants, and about the good news of the St Louis chapter of Wild Ones?
A: All of us!
Wild Ones is all about learning more about native plants be it at our indoor meetings with a speaker and discussion for the winter months of January through March, or learning more at our monthly outdoor gatherings held April through October as we meet at members yards. We are all in some phase of our native plant education – right where our interest takes us.
Education about native plants is the main goal of Wild Ones. Wild Ones is a national not-for-profit landscaping organization – with local chapters like ours – that teaches about the many benefits of growing native plants in home gardens and yards. The other way we ask you to help Dig In! is by volunteering at our information table at various events sharing enthusiasm for native plants with others willing to learn. Willingness to talk with people is the most needed asset rather than a vast knowledge of natives plants.
Duties when volunteering at a tabling event are easy:
- acquaint people with Wild Ones using our 3-panel display board which explains what our St. Louis chapter does and why we do it and let people know about our local upcoming Wild Ones’ gatherings
- answer questions as best as possible and refer people to sources of information available at our table from several different brochures
- acquaint people with the concept and benefits of landscaping with native plants from your personal experience
Our first tabling event this year is the Preseason Gardening Expo at Rolling Ridge Nursery in Webster Groves on Saturday, February 9, 2019. The Expo goes from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and volunteer shifts are available 9:45 – 12:00 and 12:00 – 2:15.
Sign up now on the Dig In! page
Grow, learn, and inspire this year with us and landscaping with native plants!
When is your next meeting for March 2019. I’m not a member yet but I’m interested. I had a lady buy a birdbath from me awhile back and she told me about the wild ones. Like to attend. Thank you Sheri Noll
Hi Sheri, you can find our upcoming events on our calendar
We have a gathering coming up on Feb 13th about Native Grasses, Sedges and Rushes
and our March 13th gathering topic is Fighting the Bad Bugs with the Good Bugs
We’re excited that the news about Wild Ones is spreading 🙂 and look forward to seeing you soon!
Please join us. We love meeting new people. You can wait to join the club until you have met us. We are really just a little bit wild. On the other hand, sometimes we just go plain wild, like our native plants!