St. Louis Chapter is the Largest in the Country

by Marsha Gebhardt    
President, Wild Ones St. Louis Chapter   

The St. Louis Chapter became the largest chapter in the country when it reached the 300-member milestone early this August.  While this is certainly worth celebrating, the most significant aspect is that over a third of these memberships were added in the past 10 months.  Membership in the St. Louis region is additionally impressive given that the active and growing St. Charles Area sister chapter, which the St. Louis chapter helped initiate, now has more than 50 members.

Having some ideas about the reasons for the startling increase, I asked members attending the August Garden Gatherings to share their thoughts.

Some reasons are wide-spread and have been steadily increasing: 

• Word of mouth – members telling others and sharing their yards
• Climate change awareness and concern
• Availability of native plants for purchase
• Information about native plants – how easy to grow and what they’re good for
• Places to see native landscapes – in public gardens and in residential front yards
• Information about Monarchs, birds, bees and other pollinators

One is recent:

• Covid-19 – more free time and more time in yards

And some are specific to the St. Louis region:

• Annual Partners for Native Landscaping Spring Seminar Series – 3200+ views of virtual talks provided by the partners and presented through the St. Louis County Library system.
• Wild Ones St. Louis’ partnership with St. Louis Audubon Society’s Bring Conservation Home (BCH) program. Many people find their way to Wild Ones through a BCH consultation and/or the annual St. Louis Native Plant Garden Tour sponsored by the two organizations.
• Wild Ones St. Louis’ high-quality website and Facebook page.
• Chapter events for members only. This restriction began due to Covid-19 precautions but has turned out to be a selling point for membership.

New-member Welcome event.  In honor of the large number of new members, the Wild Ones St. Louis Board has decided to hold a special Garden Gathering in late September, to welcome them and to better connect them with our mission and ways they can become more actively involved.  Those who joined since August 2020 will soon receive a save-the-date invitation by email.

And a big shout out to our members, longstanding and new, who make our chapter the welcoming and productive community that it is. Keep spreading the word about Wild Ones!