by Stephanie Walquist Sprezzatura Rembrandt, an Old Master who used earth tones to offset golden light, used a technique he termed sprezzatura, meaning apparent carelessness. In the spirit of artistic and environmental sensibilities, let us native gardeners unite under this term. Allowing the gardens to stand during fall and winter, we might appear careless about […] Continue reading "Sprezzatura in the Fall Garden"
This post was written to address a question about aphids on milkweed. Any of the steps would apply to aphids on any other type of plant, including edibles. (Note the image at the top of the page is of a Lacewing adult, one of the beneficials that you want to attract and keep in your […] Continue reading "Aphids: What to Do?"
Oak Park Climate Action Plan Input by West Cook Wild Ones The Village of Oak Park is creating a Climate Action Plan to be released this summer. The consultants and planning committee have done extensive outreach to encourage citizen involvement, including a “DIY Kit” by which individuals and groups could submit comments. There were several […] Continue reading "Oak Park Climate Action Input"
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"
Announcing 2022 Garden for Nature Grantees We are pleased to announce we were able to award all 14 of the applicants this year! The proposals thrilled us reviewers–so much creative and optimistic work being done out there! Our grant is funded by our members and our annual native plant sale. Here are the recipients listed […] Continue reading "Announcing 2022 Garden for Nature Grantees"
Native Plant Container Gardening Over the years, we’ve had a lot of requests from people who want to use containers for native plant gardening. They might have a balcony or reduced space or simply like containers. They want the beauty and biodiversity near them & containers are the way to go. We’ve not always had […] Continue reading "Native Plant Container Gardening"
Looking for an environmentally-themed book for your next read? Below are some of our board members’ recent reads. Fiction/Poetry: A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet. Climate change allegory through the eyes of young people A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. An interesting take on the future when humanity decides to separate from factories and robots […] Continue reading "Recent Reads Recommendations"
Calling local non-profits and organizations! We are excited to announce our Garden for Nature Grant Program. This grant is for those who would like to improve the environment and engage the public through a native plant garden. If you are part of a local non-profit that wishes to connect young people and nature, there is no […] Continue reading "2022 Garden for Nature Grant Program"
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"
What does it take to move 11,500 plants? Then organize them into 629 orders for 500 people? A lot of dedicated volunteers in a well-organized system! (Other fun facts: 580 milkweed plants of different species; 100 asters and 250 goldenrods-yay! Good news for pollinators in the fall.) There would be no West Cook Wild Ones […] Continue reading "Loving on our volunteers!"
