2011 Plant Native Day Review

Written by Lois Cantwell

A beautiful sunny day greeted us on the day of our much-anticipated event. We had over 100 visitors who seemed to thoroughly enjoy the ambiance of our "plant fair" beginning to end. All of our helpers worked like a well-oiled machine setting up the various stations beginning at 8:30 AM. Al Squires got things going around 10:00 a.m, giving people additional time to make plant selections. They went like hotcakes! Laurel Schiller had brought her usual pick-up truck full from her nursery and sold every last one--$485 worth, with 10% contributed to the chapter. Our member-grown plants went for a record $380!! Thanks to all who grew and nurtured your plants for this event. A special thanks to Marion Smith for inviting some of us come to her yard and dig up a variety of natives. We did end up with some plants left over, and three different groups will receive many of these: Wild Flower Preserve, Legacy Trail and a new native garden starting up at The Open Studio in Old Englewood.

Laurel Schiller, our first speaker, wowed the crowd with her presentation using live potted native shrubs to illustrate her "if you plant, they will come" theme regarding the use of understory shrubs in support of wildlife habitat. Al followed up with his slide presentation of how various types of shrubs can be used in residential gardens and common areas of communities, thus showing people how the natives look as a follow-up to Laurel's why we plant them. It was a nice combination.

I feel compelled to share with you some of the comments that were written by a few of the participants: "We are very excited to learn, thank you", "Loved the topic, the wonderful friendly and energetic atmosphere...", "Learned a lot!", "Agree with advice, Laurel is an excellent speaker!", "Al's talk was very informative," "This is as good as it gets, thanks." Needless to say, it makes all the effort seem very worthwhile. Next Plant Native Day will feature Vines and Ground Covers.

For pictures of the day, you can go to: http://www.allaboutenglewood.com/plant-native-2011/plant-native-2011.htm.