Events

West Cook Wild Ones invites all members to our annual member meeting on Sunday, January 26, 2025 at 2:00 pm in the Veterans Room of the Oak Park Public Library-Main Branch.

First, A Little Business: We want to celebrate our accomplishments, plan for the year ahead, introduce new board members and celebrate departing board members. In 2024, we hosted eight virtual programs, our spring native plant sale enjoyed robust sales, our in-person native garden tour featured nine beautiful gardens, our grant program helped fund 30 native gardens, and our membership grew to over 300 strong! None of our accomplishments would be possible without our members! Thank you!

Then, Garden Photography Workshop: We want to thank you for your support by offering a celebration featuring a smart phone photography workshop with Cynthia Harris. Cynthia will give a short presentation on photography using an iPhone. We plan to have someone to translate to Android phones. Following the presentation,we will have a hands on workshop practicing our photography skills on some beautiful botanics. Please bring your phone but subjects for photographing will be provided. 

We look forward to getting better acquainted in January! We will have time to chat with each other, and will offer catered snacks and some pretty terrific prizes to give away.

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 Membership ID. Your ID can be found on your Membership Page. 

Despite intensive urbanization and development, the Chicago Region is a center of biodiversity in North America. A wide variety of natural communities exist across the spectrum from prairie to savanna to woodland, with numerous types of wetlands interspersed among them. Discover the many rare plants and showy wildflowers unique to this area, along with the habitats in which they occur.

Speaker Bio

Christopher David Benda is a botanist living in southern Illinois. He coordinates the Plants of Concern Southern Illinois Program for the Chicago Botanic Garden, conducts rare plant surveys for the Shawnee National Forest, and teaches The Flora of Southern Illinois at Southern Illinois University. An accomplished photographer under the moniker Illinois Botanizer, Chris shares his extensive collection of plant photos on his website, illinoisbotanizer.com.

Details coming soon! 

Details coming soon! 

Details coming soon!