Wild Ones Twin Cities Minnesota: Tour Proposals

Instructions for Recommending a Wild Ones Tour

 Wild Ones Twin Cities has drafted criteria for gathering ideas and evaluating sites for summer tours. If you would like your garden to be visited, know of a local garden that we should review for a tour, or have a favorite natural area or public site to recommend, please submit your idea by completing Wild Ones Tour Proposal Questionnaire.

  Completing this questionnaire will provide our Tour Committee the basic information needed to determine how the site you are recommending fits into our calendar. Once submitted, a tour committee volunteer will contact you for more information and to schedule a site visit. Please note that some tour ideas may be reserved for future, while others may be added on short notice as a pop-up tour. Seasonal weather patterns, volunteer time and location are some of the factors we use to determine which sites fit into Wild Ones summer calendar. We cover a large geographic area and make every attempt to rotate locations from year to year.

  The questionnaire asks you to select a Tour Category, checking all that apply. We’ve provided a bit more information on what these categories are below. We also ask that you provide more specifics on unique features. There is no limit to what you may consider unique. The garden or landscape may have been designed for climate adaptation, food forest or to support wildlife. It may include stylized landscape architecture or sculptures, or perhaps it is naturalized to replicate a woodland, prairie or wetland. Listing all these features is helpful. All this information plus logistics for best time of year and location will help our tour committee put together a calendar for Wild Ones Summer Tours.   Garden Category Descriptions and Glossary

Native Plant Garden | Individual garden space that includes 75% or more of plants that are native to local ecoregion.
Native Plant Landscape | A designed outdoor space with multiple native plant gardens or natural areas, paths and outdoor gathering spaces. 75% or more of the plants included in landscape are native to local ecoregion.
Blended Garden | Individual garden space that mixes plants that are native to local ecoregion (50%) with non-native perennials, annuals and/or vegetables.
Transitional Garden | Individual gardens or landscapes that were formerly non-native gardens that are being converted into native plant gardens, landscapes or naturalized areas.
Natural Areas | Public or private wildlife habitat spaces that are non-residential.
Well Established | It takes at least 5 years for gardens and landscapes to mature and start to fill in. Touring mature gardens and landscapes are great for inspiration and design ideas. These gardens showcase full size plants, helping newcomers plan wisely.
Newly Established | We use the words “sleep, creep and leap” to describe a native plant garden. The first few years after a garden is planted are in the creep phase, Plants are beginning to mature but have not yet traveled far.
Newly Installed | First year gardens installations demonstrate an important part of the process and are great for newcomers. For example, in the first year of a newly seeded garden, short lived annuals and biennials provide color while other plants are still developing their root systems.
Restored vs Well-Maintained Preserves | Many natural areas, including those in our city and public park systems, are undergoing managed restoration. Some of these are well-maintained natural areas, including Science and Natural Areas (SNA) or undisturbed sites.
Other | Examples include native plant nursery tours, research facility tours, or any site not listed in the general categories.