Wild Ones - Tennessee Valley Chapter
 Healing the earth, one yard at a time

June 2015 Newsletter
Upcoming 
Wild Ones Events...
see more details in this newsletter below.

Saturday, June 6

Summer 
Seasonal Hike

Members Only




Saturday, 
March 5, 2016

Plant Natives 2016!
6th Annual Native Plant Symposium

Details Coming 
Soon

Website!
Quick Links
Benefits of Membership in the Tennessee Valley Chapter of Wild Ones
 

Invitations to
MEMBERS-ONLY EVENTS:
    
*"Landscapes in Progress" garden visit programs   

*Guided Native Plant & 
Wildflower Walks  
 
*Native Plant Rescues 
 
*Native Plant Nursery Visits 
 
 
 
E-mail notices about 
upcoming local native plant EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS 
and events.
 
 
Special DISCOUNT OFFERS 
from local landscapers 
and nurseries, 
including   
Show your Wild Ones 
membership card to receive 
10% off at these nurseries.
 
 
BECOME INVOLVED 
with a group of
 local gardeners
 interested in 
native plant landscaping.
 
 
PLUS all the benefits of a 
national Wild Ones membership, including  the 
New Member Handbook 
with practical ways 
to add native plants to 
your  landscape ...
AND the quarterly 
Wild Ones Journal
 


Upcoming Events
Summer Seasonal Hike
with John Evans
Saturday, June 6th


This will be the second of our four seasonal hikes to be led by ecologist John Evans.  These hikes explore one local natural area in each of four seasons to see how our native plants change and vary through the year.  

Each seasonal hike will be held at the Rock Creek Segment of the Cumberland Trail.

Attendance will be limited to 12 people.  You do not need to attend all hikes. Please join us for this hike, even if you were not able to attend the spring hike.

To sign up for the June 6 hike and/or get more information, email us at  tnvalleywildones@gmail.com

This event is reserved for Wild Ones members only.  
Interested?   Join Wild Ones!

 


SAVE THE DATE!!

6th Annual Native Plant Symposium

Saturday, March 5, 2016 

Details will be coming soon!

 


Southern Highlands Reserve Symposium
Saturday, May 30th
Lake Toxaway, North Carolina

At the annual symposium, Gary Smith, FASLA, an award-winning landscape architect known for his work around the country with public gardens, will lecture about the relationship between design and art, and how each are connected in garden design.  Gary designed the master plan for the Southern Highlands Reserve in 2002 and worked with the founders, staff, and local artisans over the years to implement the gardens we see today.   He will discuss a technique for discovering patterns and processes in the landscape through examining a visual vocabulary.  


 

Also appearing will be Sarah Ross, President of the Wormsloe Foundation and Director of the Wormsloe Institute for Environmental History. Her lecture will discuss gardening for pollinators, specifically the relationship between butterflies, native bees, and biodiversity.


 

The cost is $85 and includes a morning of education with continental breakfast, lunch, and garden tour of the Core Park.
Click HERE for more info.

 


The Cullowhee Native Plant Conference
July 15-18
Cullowhee, North Carolina


The purpose of the Cullowhee Conference is to increase interest in and knowledge of propagating and preserving native southeastern plant species in the landscape. Past participants of the conference have included landscape architects, commercial nursery operators, garden club members, botanists, and horticulturists from state highway departments, universities, native plant societies, botanical gardens, and arboretums. Both professionals and laypersons will gain valuable knowledge from the informative fieldtrips, lectures and workshops.

 

The program schedule allows for informal sessions where participants can exchange ideas. We encourage you to make good use of this opportunity. 

 

The conference is held at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. Cullowhee is located between the Great Smoky and Blue Ridge mountains, approximately fifty miles west of Asheville. Close to both the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cullowhee is in an ideal location for anyone with an interest in nature.


Click HERE for more information.

 

Volunteer Needed!
Help Wild Ones design a display for public programs
(and help save butterflies!)

Wild Ones already has a presence at local events in the community, such as the Reflection Riding Plant Sale, Food Bank programs and more.  For the upcoming Hamilton County Fair in September, we would like to create a stand-alone display focusing on the danger of using neonicotinoids in the garden. We envision a permanent display that could be taken to different events in the future, and we'd like for it to be catchy and help attract people, including children.

Do you have artistic skills that you'd like to use to help design our display? We'd appreciate your help!  Interested in helping us with this project? 
Please email Ann Brown.

 


Photos from the Garden
from Wild Ones member Mike O'Brien

Enjoy Mike's recent photos from the outdoors!

Carolina Satyr, view from above
Carolina Satyr, view from below
Silver Spotted Skipper on native azalea
Young Queen Bald-Faced Hornet, building nest

Rosy Maple Moth
Celandine Poppy
Solomon's Seal
False Solomon's Seal


Photos from Recent Chapter Events

Propagation Workshop at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens

On May 2, a group of Tennessee Valley Wild Ones members traveled to Huntsville, Alabama for an Azalea and Woody Plant Propagation Workshop at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens. 

Our instructor, Vernon Bush, shared generously from his years and years of experience propagating  allies and rhododendrons.  Everyone took home propagation supplies, many azalea cuttings prepared for rooting, and several azalea plants.  We were also treated to a guided tour of the native plant gardens at HBG and the Vernon Bush Azalea Trail, home to hundreds of azaleas, rhododendrons and other native plants.

All of the propagation materials were provided, and everyone took home a container of rooted azaleas
In the greenhouse with Vernon
Matt Grubbs collecting native azalea shoots for propagation
Young Azaleas

Marcia and Gary Stevens with their propagation containers
Vernon Bush at the entrance to his "Bush Azalea Trail" at the Huntsville Botanical Garden
Part of our group at the Hunstville Botanical Gardens



Landscapes in Progress (LIPs)

On Saturday May 16, three members of the Tennessee Valley Wild Ones opened their home gardens to a small group of members.  Last fall's first such Landscapes in Progress tour was such a success that the Program Committee established it as a semi-annual member-benefit event.  These informal programs provide an opportunity for education, promotion and encouragement of native plant gardening, as well as TVWO member appreciation.  Rather than a "garden tour" where everything is perfect, LIPs is an event where members -- host and visitor -- ask questions, share information about their own endeavors, and spend time with others dedicated to native plant gardening.  Over time, we may even re-visit the same location to witness the evolution and growth of a landscape, all in the name of becoming better gardeners.

The Spring tour started at Ann & Howard Brown's house on the East Brow of Lookout Mountain.  Ann's sunny garden is a certified wildlife and butterfly garden featuring numerous plantings of drought tolerant trees, shrubs and perennials, a Meditation Garden in a former pond, and a Monarch Waystation Library Garden.  For the last two years, her emphasis has been on adding natives, especially perennials that bloom September through November.  Ann guided us along paths, walls and other elements built with boulders and stone harvested right from the property, and shared her list of her native plants.

The tour started at the home of Ann  & Howard Brown.
Ann shared the history and a list of plants for her garden.

The next stop was Emily and Paul Campbell's garden, a wild, wooded and largely shady slope halfway up the side of Lookout Mountain.  A great variety of native trees, shrubs, vines and ephemerals have benefited from years of clearing non-native invasives.  Blue-eyed Mary, Indian Pink, rudbeckia, trillium and other natives emerged to join those the Campbells added.  Challenges are reclaiming the landscape in the wake of a home remodeling project that curtailed garden maintenance and disrupted large areas of plantings around the house, and the endless removal of unwelcome species migrating from Mountain gardens above their three acres.  They are working a landscape plan to replace the otherwise haphazard approach they've taken as they learn more about native species.

 

Emily Campbell's garden on Lookout Mountain.
Indian Pink (Spigelia marilandica) in Emily's garden.
Mad-Dog Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) in Emily's Garden

Dennis Bishop's garden in Chattanooga Valley near the base of Lookout Mountain was the last landscape on the Spring tour.  Dennis purchased the property in November and is in the process of renovating both the house and the landscape.  "Yes," says Dennis, "it's a mess!"  The present landscape is primarily pines, lawn, crape myrtles, and red tips, with a few Bradford pears too.  Plans are in place to convert it to a Jensen-style prairie landscape. Dennis has begun planting the entry, and has plans for additional work to be done.  The group enjoyed the end of the tour with a brown-bag BYOC (Bring Your Own Chair) picnic on Dennis' deck.  

Dennis Bishop's garden in Flintstone, Georgia


Giving to Support Our Local Mission
As you plan your yearly charitable giving, please consider supporting the Tennessee Valley Chapter of Wild Ones. Your membership dues cover only a portion of our annual operating expenses.  The remainder comes from program admission fees and tax-deductible donations.

You may choose to direct your donation for one of three purposes:

SCHOLARSHIPS
Educational Scholarships are used to pay for program admission fees for people who cannot afford to pay.  Examples of programs this donation supports are the annual native plant symposium and special speaker events.  

EDUCATIONAL SPEAKERS
Tennessee Valley Wild Ones searches across the region and country for excellent speakers on a variety of topics, from pollinator health to landscape design.  You can help us continue to offer high quality programming and help reduce the event admission fees we charge by contributing to the Speakers Fund. 

GENERAL FUND
If you would like us to use your gift to support whatever is our greatest need, you may use this general fund option.




Thanks for your generosity!


Wild Ones: Native Plants. Natural Landscapes is a national non-profit organization with over 50 chapters in 13 states that promotes environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities. Please read more information about Wild Ones at www.wildones.org.

 

We offer guest speakers, field trips and other special events throughout the year, as well as an annual native plant and natural landscaping symposium in early spring.