Chapter Calendar

Join award-winning author, photographer, and educator Rick Darke for What Is Wild and Why It Matters, a free national webinar on Tuesday, April 28th at 10 am CT. Discover how inviting a bit of authentic wildness can create a vibrant landscape that sustains you and local biodiversity. This national event is presented in collaboration between Wild Ones and Homegrown National Park.

Learn propagation techniques from Ian Caton, owner of Wood Thrush Native Nursery and a local legend in the native plant world, located just down Hwy 221 in Floyd, VA. If you're not sure where you've heard of Ian before, check your Plant Virginia Natives SWVA guide - he has contributed to the first iteration of the guide and some of the great photos of native plants come from his observations.

Ian will be sharing what he knows about propagating native plants using cuttings, and we can't wait to learn how to multiply our native garden favorites for future seasons.

Read a little about Ian here, or check out Wood Thrush Natives' website.

https://www.lwladesign.com/people/ian-caton/

https://woodthrushnatives.com/

All members of Wild Ones are welcome to join us for the next Board Meeting.

Can you reliably identify some of our common native trees? It can be an overwhelming task with so many different sources - field guides, phone apps, Google images, your friends' opinions! Each method is different and has varying levels of reliability.  In Part I of a two-part program, Professor Heather Butler will teach us how to apply some basic steps and tips for identifying the trees that surround us. You'll never look at the trees on your walks in the same way you did before.

 Prof. Butler is  an Assistant Professor of Biology and Program Head of Science at the School of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, Virginia Western Community College. She teaches Dendrology, Biology, and other subjects, and is the committee chair of the Bee Campus Committee.

Part I is open to everyone. Part II will include a field walk for members only to practice these identification skills and techniques, location, date and time TBD. 

Join us for an exciting talk with Dr. Rachel J. Collins, the Brian H. Thornhill Endowed Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies and Director of the Environment Center at Roanoke College, and local community ecologist.

In this talk she will go through how they installed a native meadow on a landfill site in Salem, turning a degraded invasive species infested area into a vibrant ecosystem supporting native plants and wildlife. Beyond the ecosystem benefits, she will describe how such restoration efforts can multifaceted benefits.

This talk is Part I of a two-part program, and open to all. 

Part II is a field trip listed as a separate event. The field trip will be to the Roanoke College Environmental Center with Dr. Rachel Collins, and is for members-only. (Consider joining today!)

In Part II of this program, we will rejoin Dr. Rachel Collins for a tour at the Environmental Center and see firsthand which native plant species have thrived, what the ongoing challenges are, and survey the many student projects that go beyond the plants. 

The key takeaway Dr. Collins would like to leave you with:  doing restoration work like this is not that hard, and the benefits are many.

NOTE: This event is for members only. Consider joining today!

Wild Ones Roanoke Region is pleased to partner with the Roanoke Master Gardeners, the Blue Ridge Wildflower Society, and the Mill Mountain Garden Club in presenting the well known landscape architect Preston Montague. Mr. Montague has been featured in online programs, at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Winter Symposium, and most recently at the Piedmont Landscape Association Annual Seminar.

In “Bringing Ecology Home,” Mr.  Montague will share how native plant communities, such as the wilder landscapes of the Piedmont, can inspire residential gardens. Using a recently submitted Wild Ones landscape plan for Greensboro, North Carolina as a case study, he will highlight key decisions, challenges, and lessons learned in applying conservation gardening principles to the home garden. Attendees will gain practical insight into how to translate these ideas into their own landscapes to create spaces that reflect place and support biodiversity.

You can find the Wild Ones native plant landscape design created by Preston Montague for Greensboro, NC,  here. 

Preston Montague is a landscape architect and artist working to strengthen relationships between people and the natural world. His environmental design studio deploys art, horticulture, and landscape architecture in the service of building places that have meaning and ecological depth. In 2025 he served as inaugural artist-in-residence at Dix Park in Raleigh, North Carolina. When not in studio, Preston enjoys teaching landscape architecture at North Carolina A&T State University and hiking the wilder places. For more information on Preston, please visit www.prestonmontague.com 

Do you want to see more birds, wildlife and pollinators in your landscape?  Discover how native plants support a diverse ecosystem and why they are a good choice for your future plantings.

 Our speaker for this program is Keala (kay - ah - la) Timko, whose experience spans:

·        Gardening on two continents, four countries, and eight states

·        Specialties: Ecological Restoration, Sustainability, Native Plants, Insects and Food Webs

·        18-year Cooperative Extension Master Gardener 

·        Harrison Fellow of the Historic Landscape Institute of Monticello and UVA  

·        Moved to Rockingham County, VA in 2013

·        Husband, Dave, and Keala designed and built their net-zero home, while attempting to eradicate invasive plant species and to ecologically restore their 9+ acres with native plants.

·        Enjoys sharing horticulture knowledge and gardening experiences 

Details coming soon! 

Our guest speaker for this evening is Greg Corman, landscape designer and WORR member! His experience in gardening ranges from Arizona to Virginia, and in this presentation he will inspire us on how to incorporate interesting objects, seating, and other décor into your native plant garden.

Details coming soon! 

Annual Chapter Meeting with Elections, State of the Chapter Report, Year-end review, potluck and raffle! Please bring a dish to share, and please bring your own plate/cup/utensils to keep down on the waste. 

Please note: this will be our last event in 2026; the incoming and outgoing Board Members will use December to meet and onboard, and start planning 2027! 

Details coming soon!