Chapter Events

Grassland loss is the single greatest conservation issue currently facing eastern North American biodiversity. Our precious Southeastern grasslands are nearly extinct and the species that depend on them are fading fast. Many of our Southeastern grasslands that managed to persist through the past 200 years have disappeared in the past quarter-century. Cities such as Charlotte, Chattanooga, Huntsville, Montgomery, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham, Richmond, and Tallahassee, among others, are as much "grassland cities" as Austin, Fort Worth, and Tulsa.

Alaina Krakowiak of the Southeastern Grassland Institute will discuss the importance of Southeastern Grasslands to our ecosystems, what's being done to preserve them, and how you can help.

More information about SGI can be found at https://www.segrasslands.org/ 

Find a PBS documentary about this effort here: 

https://youtu.be/FJdpt2x57BI?feature=shared

In this final program, we'll talk about how to care for and/or transplant your new seedlings from the prior programs. Feel free to bring what you have growing to add to the discussion.

You don't want to miss the annual native plant sale conducted by the Blue Ridge Wildflower Society. Hundreds of perennials and woody plants, all native to our mountain region. 

Does your camera see what you see when you look at your beautiful garden? Chances are you are disappointed in the images you capture.  

Stephanie Klein-Davis, fine art photographer and teacher, will discuss and demonstrate how to look at your garden through your camera's eye. She will talk about our most common camera – our phone – and how to achieve the best photographs you can. 

Klein-Davis is an award winning, career photojournalist. Her professional experience includes years of working for newspapers, magazines, books, and international publications.  She taught college photography at Hollins University and Virginia Western Community College, and now teaches full-time in the Fine Arts Department at William Fleming High School in Roanoke, Virginia.

For more about Klein-Davis, see her website at https://www.klein-davis.photography/ 

Christ Bryant, Master Gardener and Tree Steward, will describe the importance of planting trees for environmental equity as well as to keep bees happy!

Sharon Burnham, President of Wild Ones, has been developing her one-acre property into a native plant and habitat garden for over 10 years. The property has shady gardens, sunny shrub borders, a hazelnut grove, and a mixed fruit and shrub hedgerow. Habitat features include creative uses for woody debris, water features, insect habitat, and bird boxes. Sustainability features include multiple compost bins, including separate bins for composting dog waste.

Although there are areas in transition from conventional planting to native, come see over 110 native species in a real-life garden! 

We'll conclude with refreshments in a lovely courtyard garden.

Due to space limitations, we regret that we must restrict this event to members only. Join Wild Ones today at https://members.wildones.org/ Registration link to be posted in June.

Toni Peppin,  Professor of Ornithology at Virginia Western Community College, will give us a “bird's eye” view of native plants in our gardens. Come hear how we can help the birds and butterflies around us.

Dr. Shannon Bell, Professor of Sociology, Virginia Tech, is the project director of The Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument, which celebrates the historical and present-day traditions and relationships that many different Appalachian peoples have long held with the bountiful medicinal herbs and forest foods that can be found growing wild throughout the Appalachian woodland understory. 

She will talk about why the monument was created, and the histories of Appalachian peoples' longstanding relationships with our woodland medicinal plants and forest foods. 

More information about the Living Monument and an online exhibit can be found here: https://forestbotanicalsregion.vt.domains/exhibits/show/online-exhibit

Dr. Bell is an environmental sociologist and Appalachian Studies scholar whose current research projects focus on forest-based traditions and lifeways in Central Appalachia.

Details coming soon! 

TBA

Details coming soon! 

Get up close and personal with soil microorganisms! Following up on our February presentation on healthy soil, Ruth Reyer will give us a live microscope presentation scanning through a different soil samples from field and forest. She'll discuss the soil food web and the reciprocal relationship between it, the plants, and ourselves.

Ruth raises honey bees, coturnix quail, microgreens, native nursery plants, vermiculture, herbs, and vegetables. She sells at local markets and through a seasonal CSA.

We'll also have an overview of our year, hold elections, and discuss the coming year.

Details coming soon!