By Marsha Gebhardt
President, Wild Ones – St. Louis Chapter
In the interest of promoting landscaping with native plants, our Wild Ones – St. Louis Chapter has an increasing collaboration with the GrowNative! program of the Missouri Prairie Foundation (MPF).
Our Board of Directors voted late last year to become an Institutional Member of GrowNative! We paid $250 for the membership to support GrowNative! and for which we also receive several individual and organizational benefits.
- Wild Ones members are eligible for a reduced fee for GrowNative! workshops. If you are a Wild Ones member, simply identify yourself as such when registering, and the discount will be applied. They will use the honor system so you don’t need to show proof. In addition, many of their events are free. Upcoming Grow Native! events list
- The current GrowNative! Resource Guide lists the Wild Ones – St. Louis Chapter under Institutional Supporters, along with all of the professional nursery/landscaper members.
- Wild Ones is given tabling space at any GrowNative! event.
Probably more broadly important is the increasing collaboration between GrowNative! and our Wild Ones – St. Louis Chapter.
- Both organizations provide links to each other on our websites.
- We partner on the annual Partners for Native Landscaping workshop each spring.
- We share GrowNative! materials when we table at events if they are not going to be present, and they share our materials at events when we are not present.
- Both organizations alert our members, via our websites, to events and materials of interest that the other is providing.
Here are two new materials from GrowNative! that are likely to be of interest to Wild Ones members and followers:
Grow Native! Native Plant Database: a searchable tool for choosing native plant species adapted for Missouri and lower Midwest ecoregions. The database contains 284 plant species, and may be searched by flower color, wildlife benefits, soil moisture, and many other attributes.
Three native plant experts—Mervin Wallace, founder and owner of Missouri Wildflowers Nursery in Brazito; Scott Woodbury, curator of the Whitmire Flower Garden at Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, MO; and Alan Branhagen, former director of horticulture at Powell Gardens, Kansas City’s botanical garden -contributed to updating each species’ profile based on their decades of experience working with native plants in the field and in garden settings.
DYK – Songbirds Need Native Plants: This is the newest ‘publication’ from GrowNative! They are thinking to eventually make it into a companion card for their Monarch Café and Pollinator Buffet cards. By putting the information page out in advance they hope to see if the content is working and get feedback about ways to improve it before making a rack card.
You may send any feedback to me, and I will pass it on to them (Marsha Gebhardt: gramg63@gmail.com).
Please join with me in celebrating our membership in and collaboration with GrowNative!. The ever-strengthening web of regional organizations surely furthers our shared mission.
[About MPF and Grow Native! The Missouri Prairie Foundation was founded in 1966 by a group of conservation professionals and volunteers. Its goals include the permanent protection of prairie habitat and the need for greater understanding of the role of native grasslands in wildlife conservation, energy security and carbon storage. MPF became the home of the Grow Native! program in July 2012, and through this education and marketing program, promotes the use of native plants in the built environment and altered landscapes. Also, founded by the MPF in 2016, National Prairie Day is celebrated the first Saturday of June every year.]
