Events

Please join us for our in-person membership meeting as we recap our Wild year of 2022 and plan for a wilder 2023!

Celebrate the upcoming spring with the Illinois Botanizer, Chris Benda and the beauty of native spring ephemeral plants.

Learn about the invasive plant species that disrupt our natural ecosystems.

Ever wonder-what's an invasive species and why do they get such negative attention? Can a plant really be so bad? In fact, invasive plants are the genuine badies of the conservation world. Wyatt will explain it all! Please read his description for more details.

Wyatt's Words on Wanted! Dead or Dead:

Your guide to understanding the concept of invasive species, what "invasive" means in context, how that changes over time and space, what invasive species you should look out for, and how you can help mitigate the spread of invasive species and their extinction-causing destruction.

Speaker Bio:

A passionate youngster who has dedicated much of my life to ecological learning, restoration, and education. I'm just some weirdo, but also I'm VP of the non-profit Save the Prairie Society, a commissioner for Brookfield IL's Conservation Commission, the youngest Forest Preserve steward in Cook County, and I run a business that makes ecological services of all kinds available to my fellow suburbans. 

Members are welcome to attend.  We will open with a brief period for member comment before commencing business.  If you are a paid member and would like to attend, please email us [email protected] for the Zoom link.  Please include your name and member ID number. You can find it in your Member Account. 

Learn the secrets of native plant garden maintenance from expert horticulturist Ken Williams!

Members are welcome to attend.  We will open with a brief period for member comment before commencing business.  If you are a paid member and would like to attend, please email us [email protected] for the Zoom link. Please include your member ID number. You can find it in your Member Account. 

Learn about Indigenous practices using native plants in Northern Illinois.

Many of us who are passionate about native-plant gardening are not aware of the ways in which the plants of our region have been or are now being used by Native people, nor how central they are to Indigenous culture. Gina Roxas, a citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, will talk about native plants from a Native American cultural perspective.

Presenter Bio

Gina Roxas is Program Director for Trickster Cultural Center, a nonprofit Native American and community arts center in Schaumburg, where she also manages the native medicinal garden. She also teaches classes at the Morton Arboretum. Gina has studied the environment through a multifaceted lens of traditional teachings from her grandmother and family elders as well as the humanities and science. Her interests are ethnobotany, urban agriculture, and gardening.

Members are welcome to attend.  We will open with a brief period for member comment before commencing business.  If you are a paid member and would like to attend, please email us [email protected] for the Zoom link.