Native plant enthusiasts, home gardeners, landowners, stormwater engineers, and landscape, land care, and wildlife professionals are invited to learn first-hand about creating biodiverse and functional native landscapes in home gardens at the Grow Native! Workshop, Native by Design: Nature at Your Doorstep, Friday, March 20, from 7:30 a.m. to noon at the LeClaire Room at Lewis and Clark Community College’s NO Nelson Campus in Edwardsville, Illinois.
“We at Lewis and Clark Community College continue to be thrilled and inspired by the enthusiasm for this annual workshop in our community,” said Nate Keener, L&C sustainability director and Grow Native! program committee member. “Our lineup this year promises to be a big hit yet again, and we’re excited to host this event for local gardeners, farmers, and other interested community members.”
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Kelly Norris is an author and the director of horticulture and education at the Des Moines
Botanical Garden. Norris, a so-called hort-ecologist, will talk about native ecosystems and their beauty and functionality in an urban context. Kelly has found that studying native plants in their wild environments can lead to a better understanding of how to use them in home gardens.
Sarah Lovell is the director of the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry in Columbia, Missouri, and her research program has emphasized whole-farm planning, agroforestry and urban agriculture. She will explain the benefits of an agroecosystem, which includes integrating productive woody trees and shrubs to landscapes in order to improve environmental health, increase plant biodiversity, pollination services, cultural functions and food security.
In addition, a collection of native plant enthusiasts, experts, and backyard gardeners will share their experiences in this field and take questions from the audience on how to apply these teachings to bring nature to people’s doorsteps.
Regular registration is $30, and student registration is $20. It includes breakfast. The registration deadline is March 10. Those interested can register at http://bit.ly/30mhjQI.
Continuing Education Units will be available for Landscape Architects and Illinois Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists.
Grow Native! is a 20-year-old native plant marketing and education program serving the lower Midwest. Grow Native! is administratively housed by the nonprofit Missouri Prairie Foundation. For more information about this workshop, the Grow Native! program, or the Missouri Prairie Foundation, call 636-303-7418 or email grownative@moprairie.org.
