2022 State of the Chapter

Wild Ones St. Louis State of the Chapter
Review of 2022 and Preview of 2023

by Marsha Gebhardt, President, St. Louis Chapter

It is with pleasure and pride that I share some details of the excellent work by members of the Wild Ones St. Louis Chapter. Healing the Earth one yard at a time!

National Presence of Wild Ones St. Louis Chapter

  • Wild Ones St. Louis Chapter is still the largest in the country.
    • We originally received the title of largest in August 2021, with 300 members.
    • 2022 – $30 of each household’s membership fees – about $11,000 from our 380+ members – went to National to support chapters and national advocacy.
  • Articles from St. Louis in quarterly Journal
  • Members on National Wild Ones committees:
    • Kim Atkins – Monarch Joint Venture Committee
    • Kate Lovelady – Chapter Advisory Committee
    • Renee’ Benage – Membership Committee

Membership (Renee’ Benage, Membership Chair)

  • 2022 – Membership totaled 380 households, with about 420 individual members. This compares with 223 households in 2020.
  • The growth in membership has increased the people and financial ($9/membership) resources, which we use to create local mission-driven programming.
  • Use the Contact Us page to contact Renee’ with any questions about membership.

Budget (Penny Holtzmann, Treasurer)

  • Primary sources of income:
    • Membership dues reimbursement (from National) – $3,508
    • Plant sale (at Shaw Nature Reserve) proceeds – $4,878
  • Primary expenditures:
    • Donations/Sponsorships
      • Shaw Nature Reserve, Native Plant School – $1,500
      • GrowNative! (Missouri Prairie Foundation) Silver Sponsorship – $1,000
      • Bring Conservation Home (St. Louis Audubon Society) Goldenrod Sponsorship – $1,000
      • Grants – $4,000 is budgeted. In 2022, still recovering from the pandemic, only about $1,500 was spent on four grants.
        • City of Webster Groves, City Hall pollinator garden – $145
        • Jefferson Barracks root cellar and native landscape – $490
        • Green House Venture – $450
        • Crestwood Elementary Outdoor Classroom and Garden – $400
      • Educational/tabling brochures, publications – $1,600

Chapter Programming (Brenda Adams, Program Chair)

  • 2022
    • Winter Speaker Series – January, February, March. All were Zoom only, and are still available on the chapter’s YouTube channel.
    • Garden Gatherings – April through October (Wednesday PM and Saturday AM) – Check out each month’s highlights, written by member Donna Short.
    • November Seed Exchange and Annual Meeting – Highlights from this well-attended event are found on the same page.
  • 2023
    • Programming will be basically the same except that in November, in addition to the annual seed exchange, there will be a big celebration of the chapter’s 25th Anniversary!
    • Find the 2023 Schedule of Events in the Events tab on our website. 

Internet Presence (Dawn Weber, technology)

  • Website – 923 subscribers
  • Facebook page – the number of followers increased from 1578 to 1940
  • YouTube channel – 48 subscribers

Partnerships and Projects

  • Partners for Native Landscaping (PNL)
    • Wild Ones St. Louis Chapter is one of the eight partners. Dan Pearson, of Bring Conservation Home, coordinates the Partnership’s work.
    • In 2022 the committee commissioned a PNL logo, and Dan created a PNL website.
    •  2022 PNL Spring Series
      • Nine webinars, provided through the St. Louis County Library (SLCL), had almost 6,000 views, either live or on YouTube.
      • The first PNL Native Plant Fair was held at Beyond Housing.
    • 2023 PNL Spring Series – more information coming soon.
      • Ten webinars will be available through SLCL during March.
      • The Native Plant Fair will be repeated at Beyond Housing on April 30.
      • The popular in-person workshop will return for the first time in three years. It will be held at Powder Valley on April 15.
  • St. Louis Native Plant Garden Tour
    • Partnership of this chapter and BCH (Bring Conservation Home).
      • 2022, June 11 – 10 locations in St. Charles, St. Peters, Chesterfield and Wildwood. One-time coordination with the Wild Ones St. Charles Area Chapter.
      • 2023, May 21 – 10 locations in University City. More information coming soon.
  • Landscape Challenge – front yard makeover, coordinated by Board member Sue Leahy.
    • Partnership with GrowNative! which pays for the plant material. Wild Ones St. Louis provides the volunteers to install the garden.
    • 2022 Winner – Diana Linsley in Crestwood. The garden was designed by Erin Goss and planted at the end of April.
    • There were 13 applicants for the 2023 Landscape Challenge. Interviews with finalists were held in December 2022.
    • 2023 Winner – Laura Arthur in the Southampton Neighborhood. Erin Goss will again design the garden, GrowNative! will pay for the plants, and volunteers will plant in April.
  • Plant Tag ID Project, in conjunction with Grow Native. Coordinated by Sue Leahy.
    • 2022 – Launched the project with 50 species. Photos provided by Mervin Wallace, Carol Davit, Scott Woodbury, James Trager, Dawn Weber and Sue Leahy.
    • 2023 – Added more species to total 98. A store store is now available on the chapter website, through which tags can be purchased.

Hyper-local Emphasis in 2023

  • Our membership comes from a very large area; from the far reaches of St. Louis County, through St. Louis City, continuing miles in all directions in Illinois. Therefore, to better meet the varied community needs our chapter’s Board of Directors has decided it is important to support hyper-local efforts. In 2023 we will do more to help members bring our resources and programming to local neighborhoods and municipalities. We will do it by re-emphasizing our existing resources and by launching new supportive projects.
  • Existing resources – Access these by going to the Bring it Home! tab on our website.
    • Grants – (Kathy Bildner, Grants Chair) A maximum of $500 worth of plants available for non-profit organizations.
    • Speakers Bureau – (Sue Leahy, Outreach Chair) In 2022 there were 10 in-person presentations by 5 speakers on 7 topics to over 155 people and two ZOOM presentations by 3 speakers on 2 topics to over 90 people. This is an easy and excellent way to bring natural landscaping programs to local community groups.
    • Tabling – (Sue Leahy, Outreach Chair) bringing information and inspiration into local communities.
      • 2022 – There were 17 tabling events in March, April, May, September and October. 23 different volunteers made these events possible and effective.
      • 2023 – Additional access and encouragement will be offered to members to bring our wealth of educational materials to their very local communities.
    • New programing – Stay tuned for blog posts about the following.
      • Mentorship Program – (Kate Lovelady, program creator and coordinator) This program was piloted in 2022. Members can access Kate’s very recent members-only blog post, describing the program with links to applications to be a mentor or mentee. Applications have a short deadline, to enable the program to begin in March.
      • Seed Pods
        • We will continue to highlight the work of existing hyper-local groups that support the mission in ways that best fit their communities. Check out the introduction to the Seed Pod concept and the highlighting of the first Seed Pod, Grantwood Village
        • We will also develop a training program for members interested in organizing and leading a new Seed Pod in their neighborhood or broader community.

Wild Ones St. Louis Chapter is proud to be a major player in the St. Louis region’s work that supports the Wild Ones mission: promoting environmentally friendly, sound landscaping to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration, and establishment of native plant communities.

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