Win a 2024 Front Yard Native Plant Makeover!

by Sue Leahy   Board member and Chairperson, Outreach Committee The Landscape Challenge is sponsored by Wild Ones and Grow Native!. The winner will receive a front-yard garden with up to $600 worth of plants, designed by a professional landscape designer, and planted by Wild Ones volunteers. Applicants must live in…

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September 2023 Garden Gathering Highlights

post and photos by Donna Short, Chapter member and volunteer   Home of Matthew Broderick and Barb Cason Wednesday Sep 13 (55 attendees) Saturday Sep 16  (48 attendees) Prior to the native plant movement, Matt was involved with horticulture at a few for profit businesses. Later, he joined MOBOT’s Shaw Nature…

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1998: Keystone Member Susan Lammert

A Life in Conservation   Susan wrote, “Conservation has been my main interest since graduating from college.  I have been in leadership positions on the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. the Open Space Council, the Nature Conservancy, Audubon Riverlands, and Tower Grove Park.  “Attending Prairie Conferences years ago I was…

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1998: Keystone Member Penny Holtzmann

Long Time Member, New Garden   As some Wild Ones members know, Penny Holtzmann discovered her love of native plants during a rainy camping trip where she happened upon a beautiful bloodroot bloom. Since that trip, her love of all things native flourished, resulting in her dedicated involvement with Wild…

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1998: Keystone Member Kathy Bildner

A Lifetime of Supporting Native Plants   “My earliest days of native plant gardening started many years before I joined Wild Ones. When I bought my first and current house in 1976, I brought a few plants back from my family’s 40 acres in Miller County MO and added them…

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1999: Keystone Member Ana Grace Schachtman

A Family Affair   Ana Grace Schactman’s mother, Pat Grace, was one of the original Wild Ones St Louis chapter members. Ana joined her mother at the second meeting. Pat was a huge influence on Ana’s love of nature, because after Pat joined the Webster Groves Nature Study Society in…

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Congratulations to Besa Schweitzer for MONPS award

The Missouri Native Plant Society (MONPS) has recognized St. Louis Chapter Member Besa Schweitzer for her native plant writing! Besa received the Erma Eisendrath Memorial Education Award. Besa’s recent book, The Wildflower Garden Planner has introduced many new gardeners in the St. Louis area to native plant landscaping and she…

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August 2023 Garden Gathering Highlights

post and photos by Donna Short, Chapter member and volunteer   Nee Kee Nee – The East Stream at Tower Grove Park Saturday Aug 12 (33 attendees) Wednesday Aug 16 (42 attendees) We visited the East Stream at Tower Grove Park –  Nee Kee Nee, or “revived water” in the language…

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2000: Keystone Member Jane Schaefer

Jane Amid Her Purple Poppy Mallow   I was excited to get the chance to interview Jane Schaefer but I didn’t quite realize how much she has helped the native plant movement in University City. Jane and Mary Ann Shaw started the organization, U City in Bloom in 1985. At…

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2000: Keystone Member Barbara Brain

A Native Plant Lover from Abroad   Barbara grew up in England where she learned an appreciation of nature and native plants from her mother who loved wildflowers.  She moved to the U.S. when she was 21. She and her husband moved a couple of times before settling in St….

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