Invasive Tree and Shrub Trade-in for Cook County We’re excited to offer this opportunity to give a free native tree or shrub in exchange for the removal of an invasive species on the list below. BUT–check that there are no active bird nests. ABC 7 news in Chicago covered this program–it gives the basic facts […] Continue reading "Invasive Tree and Shrub Trade-in"
Wild Ones West Cook Accomplishments 2022 by Stephanie Walquist, Board President Here we are–at the end of our ninth year, and we continue to do impactful grass-roots level work. Read through the highlights of the past year. You will see how we are making a real difference in our community and ensuring the Earth will […] Continue reading "Wild Ones West Cook Accomplishments 2022"
Resources for Bringing the Woodland Home: Selected Materials to Assist with Planting a Shade Garden by Laura Hartwell-Berlin Note: This information was created to supplement the talk Roy Diblik gave in March, 2022. You can view his talk here: How to Add Native Shade Plants to Your Garden Why Create a Woodland Garden: In the […] Continue reading "Shade Garden Resources"
In 1837, Chicago was incorporated as a city and adopted the motto “Urbs in Horto,” Latin for City in a Garden. The founders defined garden as parkland and hoped to blanket and stipple the city with public parks. The city never lived up to the motto. Chicago has become mostly Urbs in concreto, the parks scattered, the development unending. If you can’t […] Continue reading "Bringing Native Plant Communities Home"
Wild Ones West Cook 2021 Accomplishments by Byron Lanning A pandemic did not prevent West Cook from carrying out its mission. We hope that amidst a time of turmoil and uncertainty, we brought you respite from that stress and hopefully you found some peace in nature, especially if it was right outside your door or […] Continue reading "Wild Ones West Cook Accomplishments 2021"
Native Gardens Through the Seasons: A Virtual Walk Get a virtual, behind-the-scenes look at three gorgeous, Oak Park and Berwyn native gardens though the seasons! To help keep everyone safe during the pandemic, we transformed our annual garden walk into a live webinar. If you missed the webinar, you can watch the “tour” […] Continue reading "2020 Garden Tour"
Planning is underway at West Cook Wild Ones for a series of Show Me – Help Me garden visits. Show Me-Help Me Day is a Wild Ones® concept, focused on informal conversation and knowledge sharing. Members may show visitors established gardens and share how they got there or get instructive help on the challenges of […] Continue reading "Show Me – Help Me Gardens 2019"
Fayette Aurelia Nichols gave an information-packed presentation to us on May 20 based on her extensive research and experience with this bumblebee. Not only did we learn some basics about bumblebees in general, but Aurelia gave us some very specific information to help the Rusty-patched Bumblebee. The Rusty-patched Bumblebee was a very abundant species at […] Continue reading "Recap of Creating Healthy Habitat for the Rusty-patched Bumblebee"
Recap of The Amphibians of Chicago presented by Joey Cavataio Joey Cavataio condensed many years of experience and research into a beautifully presented talk for us on Feb 25. Along with the lovely images of our area’s amphibians, another welcome sight was the many middle-schoolers who were attending for an extra credit assignment from their […] Continue reading "Recap of The Amphibians of Chicago by Joey Cavataio"
Our June 25, 2017 program featuring Dr. Emily Minor (UIC Urban Ecologist) focused on the many citizen science projects available. These are projects that include data/observations made by laypeople and can be used for research by scientists. Citizen science may sound difficult, but it is really as easy as looking out your window […] Continue reading "Citizen Science Projects"