May Resource Fair

Wild Ones' Spring Native Plant Resource Fair

TUESDAY | MAY 20, 2025

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Open to Public from 6:00 to 8:00 pm

Richfield Community Center,  7000 Nicollet Ave 

May is a busy time in our gardens, so much to prep while we await the arrival of all those native plants we ordered or planted from seed! There is always something new to learn, especially in this rapidly changing climate.

Wild Ones Twin Cities has invited professional native plant landscape designers, experienced Wild Ones members and partners who share our mission to offer tips and answer questions on native plant habitat gardening. Information will be available on plant selection for Minnesota gardens, garden site care and maintenance, how to transplant winter sown seedlings, landscape design, flora fauna relations, pollinator lawn areas and all of the education resources provided by our chapter.

Thank you to our partners and professionals who accepted our invitation.

WILD ONES PARTNERS

Altlawns of Richfield and Bloomington 

Blue Thumb – Planting for Clean Water® 

The Xerces Society 

Friends of Minnehaha Park 

Nokomis Naturescape 

PROFESSIONALS AND MEMBER BUSINESSES

ReWild Native Gardens 

Pasque Ecological Design 

Earthwise Organic Consulting 

Agrarian Seed 

Garden Variety Art 

WILD ONES EDUCATION AND MERCHANDISE

Wild Ones Twin Cities will offer educational resources, plant sign* and books merchandise, and a follow up table about progress on redefining bee lawns for our native plant landscapes.

*If you would like to pre-order native plant signs to pick up during the Spring Resource Fair, please fill out this form and email to wotcsigns@gmail.com by Sunday, May 18th. Thank you!

April Program & Spring Events

THURSDAY | APRIL 17, 2025

Social 6:30 pm. | Program 7:00 pm

Richfield Community Center,  7000 Nicollet Ave 

CLICK HERE to watch program online

Landscape Design for Life: 

Basics and Local Examples

Presenter | Nathalie Shanstrom, Pasque Ecological Design and Consulting

After a brief introduction on how to design with native plants, this presentation will use a range of case studies to illustrate by example how to design with native plants to: maximize sustainability and ecological function, draw out the beauty of regional landscapes, and create functional spaces that foster healthy, invigorating, meaningful connections between people and their environment. A range of examples of varying scales, context, and site uses will be included to show how the design process can vary from site to site.

SPRING EVENTS IN THE TWIN CITIES!

Garden Art Fling—Features Wild Ones Members

Saturday, April 5th, 10am to 6pm Indoors, at the Flux Arts Building, 

699 NE Lowry Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55418

Join us for this vibrant event, showcasing a lively mix of music; interactive story telling for kids and adults by Wonder Weaver Storytellers at 11am, 1pm, and 3:30pm; and art vendors. 

Wild Ones Member and Educator Vicky Bonk will host a TC Wild Ones Information and Outreach Table, exploring the vital role of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. 

In addition, at the next booth, husband Richard Bonk will have a selection of his fascinating mandala art available, and Vicky will have her own Pollinator photographs available for sale.

Wild Ones member Laura Burlis will have a selection of Minnesota Landscape switchplates and Garden Fairy Houses on display.

Wild Ones member Holley Wlodarczyk is launching her new graphic design business, Garden Variety Art, which features native plants and habitat gardens, especially the interactions between wildflowers and the wildlife/pollinators they support, and will have a variety of merchandise available at her first in-person art sale.

There will be several hands-on activities for the public, including mosaic stepping stones at Clay Squared to Infinity, “Butterfly Baths” at the Clay Squared Gallery and “Pollinator Palaces” at the ACW headquarters. For more info: https://fluxartsbuilding.com/the-garden-art-fling/

Pollinators are essential to the world’s food and flowers, and their importance reminds us of how we too are better together. In community, we create possibility, joy, and positive change for all. This event is a powerful reminder of how nature and the arts come together to inspire!)

Earth Day Events 

Come Celebrate With Wild Ones Twin Cities!

Chasing Minnesota’s Native Wildflowers

 

Bristly sarsaparilla at Tettegouche State Park

Thursday, March 20

Social 6:30 pm. | Program 7:00 pm

Richfield Community Center,  7000 Nicollet Ave 

Stream online HERE.

Chasing Minnesota’s Native Wildflowers

Meet Phyllis Root and Kelly Povo, authors of Searching for Minnesota’s Native Wildflowers; A Guide for Beginners, Botanists, and Everyone in Between. 

Lesser purple fringed orchid

Phyllis Root is a writer, Kelly Povo is a photographer, and they love searching for and learning about Minnesota's native wildflowers—the ones that have been growing here for centuries. They happily climb steep hills, wade streams, search in bogs and fens, and brake for wildflowers they see along the road.  Learn about the wildflowers they search for, why they search, and where they (sometimes) find some of Minnesota’s little-known native wildflower treasures. They will also share stories of their own adventures (and misadventures) that led to their first book, a Northeastern Minnesota Book Award finalist, and to their forthcoming book, Wildflower Chasing:  An Adventurous Guide to Minnesota's Native Wildflowers and Their Unique Habitats.

 

Well-dressed flowerchasers

Phyllis, an award-winning author, has written many picture books about Minnesota, including Big Belching Bog, Plant a Pocket of Prairie, One North Star, and The Lost Forest, all published by the University of Minnesota Press. Kelly, a professional photographer for over thirty years, has exhibited in galleries and art shows across the country. Her photographs have been published on posters, calendars, note cards, and in books.  

After their first book about wildflowers Kelly and Phyllis started a blog (flowerchasers.com), and they frequently send audio postcards of their searches to Minnesota Public Radio. They are still chasing flowers and love sharing what they learn with fellow wildflower lovers. 

Whatever they are doing, Phyllis and Kelly laugh—a lot.

Kelly and Phyllis will be bringing their wildflower book to sell, along with some of Phyllis' children's books on Minnesota: One North Star, Plant a Pocket of Prairie, Big Belching Bog, The Lost Forest, and Begin With A Bee, which she co-authored with Jackie Briggs Martin and Liza Ketchum.

Miss our Live Panel Discussion: 

What's In a Bee Lawn?

Watch it HERE