Combating stormwater runoff in west St. Louis County just got easier. Residents, schools, churches, businesses, and parks in fourteen participating municipalities can now apply for RainScape Rebates of up to $2,000 to improve their yards with rain gardens, trees and shrubs, soil amendments, or rain barrels, etc. The purpose of…
By Amy Redfield Margy Terpstra’s second home was bought for a song – bird song, that is. She and her husband passed right through the lovely two-story colonial to the back deck, heard the birds singing, took in the mature trees sure to lure migratory birds, and said “sold.” Margy’s…
After last year’s successful Native Landscaping workshop, the partner organizations have decided to hold it again. This year’s workshop will be Saturday, February 23, 2013 from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM at Powder Valley Nature Center. Registration is $20, and includes lunch and a guide to landscaping with native plants. You…
The American Society of Landscape Architects created this animated video entitled “Designing Neighborhoods for People and Wildlife.” It’s good to see another national organization promoting the importance of native plants and habitats. Note: Once the video starts, click the icon between “HD” and “Vimeo” in the lower right corner to…
The Native Plant School, co-sponsored by St. Louis Wild Ones, is a year-round series of mostly outdoor learning sessions in the Whitmire Wildflower Garden at Shaw Nature Reserve. They will cover various aspects of native home landscaping and prairie/savanna/wetland re-establishment. Please bring your questions, comments, photos, drawings, plant specimens, etc….
Members were joined by three guests at our annual potluck dinner and seed exchange, held at the First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood. Copies of our chapter membership list and the 2013 meeting and event calendar were distributed. Discussion Topic Several members described successes and challenges of the year in their…
By Amy Redfield Wielding bypass loppers, hacksaws, anvil loppers, and Japanese saws, Wild Ones members wreaked havoc amongst the tangle of honeysuckle. Trunks as thick as a foot across (are we really sure honeysuckle is a shrub and not a tree??) gave way under the onslaught, only to have their…
By Amy Redfield Ed’s first native garden went entirely to honeysuckle and Euonymus. Not that he thought that was a problem: he figured since he has a very deep lot, why not let the far end of it go back to nature – sort of a wildlife habitat? Less to…
By Bob Kipfer, Springfield Plateau Chapter of Missouri Master Naturalists Have you ever heard of “frost flowers“? If so, you had to get out early in the morning during the first few hard frosts. Frost flowers, also known as “ice ribbons,” are formed by super-cooled water being extruded through plant stems and freezing the minute they…
By Ed Schmidt One of the more unusual things that has happened during my presidency of the St. Louis chapter occurred in late September. I received an email from Wild Ones executive director Donna VanBuecken asking me to respond to an email she received from one Geoffrey Soyiantet, stating that…
