Text by Ed Schmidt, photos by Fran Glass
Click any image for a larger version
The August general meeting of the Southwest Illinois Chapter of Wild Ones marked the first anniversary of the formation of the chapter. The meeting was at the home of chapter vice-president Grace Gavin, whose beautiful native gardens provided a wonderful gathering place.
Indoors, members shared scrumptious snacks and a chapter birthday cake while they discussed possible future projects and other chapter business. Present were well-known former St. Louis chapter members Dorothy, Jerry, Nan, and Neil. Others included some who had not ventured often to St. Louis meetings and new members, who were enjoying having a chapter in their own locale. Four members from the Saint Louis chapter attended.
-
- monarch caterpillars
Love to see native gardens that show the discipline of the gardener in allowing visibility to some of the ground space and still having plants that remain upright. An excellent example and invitation for others to try their hand at a native garden. I am jealous!
Thank you Fran and Ed for acknowledging our SW Ill chapter anniversary.
As of the first of July, we had twenty members and two associate members with several master gardeners and master naturalists among us. For a new chapter, the first year agenda was pretty ambitious despite not having had time to fully articulate our goals and aspirations and plans for achieving them. And, in the no-sense-reinventing-the-wheel mode, don’t be surprised if we model some of our projects and fund raising activities after the STL chapter.