Attendees waiting for presentation to start
By Marsha Gebhardt
President, Wild Ones – St. Louis Chapter
The Wild Ones – St. Louis Chapter’s new Speakers Bureau is off to a running start. This year, 24 talks have been scheduled, reaching almost 300 people, under the oversite of James Faupel. The purpose is to support our mission of exploring, teaching and changing the practice of gardening in our communities to using native plants. The roster of speakers and topics is impressive. Visit the Speakers Bureau tab on the website, you might see topics you’d like to recommend to other groups you belong to.
Meanwhile, five of the talks yet to be given are open to the public. They are happening over the next two weeks, with the first one this evening!
Sips and Soils
James will talk TONIGHT, Tuesday September 25, 2018 at 6:30 on Formal Front Yards for the Sips and Soils event at the Wildwood Pub and Grill
St. Louis County Library
Of the 24 talks, 12 have been requested by St. Louis County Library branches. The Birdscaping: Native Landscaping for Birds has been a particularly popular topic. Along with the branch makeovers, native plantings have often been included. This is one indicator of SLCL’s appreciation of the importance of native plants. Denise Chappell, the Adult Programing Specialist, says she thinks “native plants are gaining in popularity and it is turning into a buzz word.” All will be welcome to attend any of the remaining talks.
The topic for the remaining talks is Birdscaping: Native Plant Landscaping for Birds
Wednesday, 9/26 – Eureka Hills Branch, 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, 10/2 – Headquarters on Lindbergh, 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, 10/3 – Florissant Valley Branch, 2:00 p.m.
Wednesday, 10/10 – Jamestown Bluffs Branch, 6:30 p.m.
Other examples of talks this year
James Faupel gave his talk on Formal Front Yard Landscaping with Native Plants at three St. Louis County library branches, and to the Master Gardeners event at MOBOT in August. He also provided talks on Invasive Plants in Your Yard, and one on Honeysuckle to Habitat for the Missouri Master Naturalists (Miramiguoa).
Ann Earley and Bob Siemer continue to provide stellar outreach and education with their Wild for Monarchs talks, as well as a Gardening for Butterflies talk they gave at Brightside this year. Sue Leahy and Dawn Weber gave a talk on Butterfly Gardening for a North American Butterfly Association meeting.
As do most organizations, like Master Gardeners, our chapter requests an honorarium of $50 per talk. This we put into on-going efforts like our Grants program. More importantly, the goals of the Speakers Bureau are to provide education and inspiration to the St. Louis region’s gardeners.
A big shout out to all who have made this first year such a success.
Fantastic! Btw, is there any way that all of the scheduled talks that are open to the public could be listed; perhaps under the “speakers bureau” drop down? I would love the opportunity to attend these to glean more and more valuable information! Thanks!
It is wonderful to see how far we have come in educating the public about the value of Nature. When we tell our stories, we show how planting our small properties with native plants can create and connect the larger parks and forests together into the habitat where all can live sustainably.
Please could anyone tell me what topics the remaining talks are as scheduled on 10/2, 10/3 and 10/10? Thanks -I lookforward to your response.
The topic for the remaining classes is Birdscaping: Native Plant Landscaping for Birds
We will edit the post to make this more clear. Thank you!