CREATION OF NATIVE PLANT FOOD CHAIN GRAPHIC
During our 2024 Spring wildflower market, members were talking to shoppers and were surprised how many were unaware of native plants as host plants. It seemed they were unfamiliar with the term “host plant.” We verbally tried to explain the life cycle of plant, butterfly/moth, and caterpillar and the critical role caterpillars play in the life cycle of songbirds. As you might imagine, that is a lot to take in while you are having a fairly quick conversation at a plant sale.
The idea was discussed about a need for a comprehensive graphic that could be used at our tabling events, including future plant sales. We tried to locate an existing graphic that covered this but did not find one, so we decided to employ a professional graphic artist to create one.
St. Louis chapter board member Renee’ Benage enlisted a local St. Louis artist, Nathan Pionke, to design a graphic of this native plant food chain concept. With feedback from other Wild Ones St. Louis board members, final designs were created in three sizes, including one size for a tabletop display for use at our tabling events.
While no reasonably sized graphic could provide a comprehensive list of host plants, we feel this graphic is a good representation of the concept and a starting point for conversation.
Wild Ones chapters are welcome to download this graphic for use at their own Wild Ones events. Please respect the creation of this graphic and do not alter anything with the exception of adding your own chapter logo.
Feel free to direct other chapters to this link to use the graphic for their own educational purposes.
Download Links
Native Plant Food Chain 8.5x11 JPG
Native Plant Food Chain 8.5x11 PDF
Native Plant Food Chain 15.75x32.125 JPG
Native Plant Food Chain 15.75x32.125 PDF
We also have 24×36 format available, please email stlwildones@stlwildones.org if you are interested in this size