Chapter Events

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/ 

Sharon Burnham, President of Wild Ones Roanoke and a Master Gardener, will inspire you to plant native plants for their beauty and use in the kitchen. She will profile four trees, seven shrubs, and six perennials you might not have known were edible, and provide some ideas on where to plant them in the garden.

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

The results of the Roanoke Heat Island Study with Virginia Tech changed what kind of trees the City is planting.  Climate change, bigger storms, and different rain patterns are effecting tree selection and what is recommended for streets and parks when planting trees.

Come learn about this initiative and apply this great information to your own property.

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 Pepin,  retired Professor of Biology 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!