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Greater DuPage Chapter |
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Greater DuPage Chapter |
Wild Ones, Native Plants, Natural Landscapes is a non-profit organization dedicated to natural landscaping and related education.
Wild Ones is a national organization with local chapters that serve various parts of the United States. The Greater DuPage chapter covers several counties across the western suburbs of metropolitan Chicago in Illinois. It was founded in 1991 by Vicki Nowicki and Pat Armstrong.
This local chapter provides a venue for sharing information among members about using plants adapted to the soils and climate of Chicagoland. Our gardens range in size from small areas of native plants up to full-blown prairies. Become a member of Wild Ones and explore how to grow your own natural garden or yard full of native plant species that provide wildlife habitat and an interesting landscape. Gardeners of any skill or interest level are welcome. We encourage visitors to join us at one of our meetings to hear firsthand about our group.
We have over 140 individual, household, and business memberships. See the membership page for more information about the benefits of joining The Wild Ones.
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Naperville
Municipal Center 400 S. Eagle St. Room C (lower level) Naperville, IL 60540 Primary meeting location. Free parking is available in the garage at the south side of the building. |
Willowbrook Wildlife Center 525 S Park Blvd Glen Ellyn, IL 60137 Alternate meeting location. See calendar entry for details related to a specific month's meeting. |
Looking for a group closer to home?
If you are interested in participating in
a new Wild Ones Chapter or sub-group west of Route 59, please contact Jan
Smith 630 653-3958 (
).
Events we sponsor include:
For details about upcoming monthly meetings and special events, see calendar below.
Calendar |
Sep 18, 2008 (Thu)
CREATING ECO GARDENS ON STERILE RESIDENTIAL LANDSCAPES
Location: Naperville Municipal Building at 7PM
The speaker at this month's meeting is Dennis Paige of Swiftdeer-Paige (An Earth Caring Enterprise).
Dennis is an Environmental Educator by training and a conservation activist in practice. He will tell us about one suburban community that became the first "residential" association to become a member of Chicago Wilderness by transforming their lawn with an unfolding range of colorful prairie, woodland and wetland wildflowers, forbs, sedges and grasses. Learn how this remarkable transformation occurred and what it means for you.
Sep 20, 2008 (Sat)
Lombard Prarie Days
We're looking for a few good men (and women). We will have our Wild Ones display set up at the Lombard Prairie Days this Saturday and need some help manning (and womening) the booth. If you can help out, even for an hour, please let Pat Clancy know: clancypj@sbcglobal.net or call 630-964-0448.
We have one new twist to this years event, or more accurately, the post event. Linda Sullivan, who is a Sierra Club member, lives right behind the park and has invited all participants back to her house after wards for a social gathering. Her thinking is the event is fun but there isn't enough time for all the people who share a concern for the environment, native plants and land restoration to talk and enjoy each others company.
Location is Terrace View Park, located at Elizabeth Street and Greenfield Ave in Lombard, IL.
Direction to Park: Exit Rt. 355 at North Avenue (Rt 64) and proceed east to Main Street. Turn right (south) and go a little less than a mile to Greenfield, and turn right (west) on Greenfield. Go to Elizabeth, then turn right and proceed to the main building parking lot
Oct 16, 2008 (Thu)
FIREFLIES
Location: NOTE THE SPECIAL LOCATION FOR THIS MEETING
College of DuPage
Community Education Center
500 N. Kuhn Rd.
Carol Stream, IL
7:00 PM
Doug Taron, Ph.D., Curator of Biology, Chicago Academy of Sciences in Chicago, IL will present at this month's meeting.
Fireflies presents an introduction to a fascinating group of insects. The talk covers where they can be found, how and why they glow, and their life cycle. We'll explore the dark side of a bright insect, and take a brief glimpse of other organisms that luminesce.
About the presenter: Doug Taron grew up in Massachusetts, where he received his first butterfly net at age 6. In 1979 he completed a BA in Biology from Colby College in Waterville, Maine. He migrated to the Chicago area that same year to attend Northwestern University, where in 1984 he received a Ph.D. from the department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology. During his graduate studies, Doug began helping to restore Bluff Spring Fen in Elgin as part of the Nature Conservancy’s Volunteer Stewardship Network. Later, while spending 13 years working in the biotechnology industry, he coordinated the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network, a volunteer-based organization monitoring the health of butterfly populations on nature preserves throughout Illinois. In 1997, the Chicago Academy of Sciences hired Doug to be Curator of Biology for the new Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. As part of his duties, Doug manages Butterfly Haven, the only permanent, year-round exhibit of live butterflies in Illinois. He is active in butterfly conservation research in the Midwest.
Oct 23, 2008 (Thu)
Seedling Chapter: Northern Kane Country Chapter
Location:
Christ the Lord Lutheran Church
12N462 Tina Trail
(corner of Highland Ave. and Tina Trail, 3 blocks west of Randall Road)
Elgin, Il 60124
Time: 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
You are invited to a gathering of people who are interested in native plants and ecologically-friendly landscape practices. Come hear a short presentation on gardening with native plants by Pat Hill, renowned author of "Design Your Natural Midwest Garden'.
At this meeting we will also explore the possibilities of forming the Northern Kane County Chapter of Wild Ones. We will meet members of the DuPage Chapter who will discuss their many activities. We will close with a discussion of what you are interested in seeing happen around here! We look forward to seeing you! And please feel free to invite anyone else you know who might be interested as well. RSVP to any of us listed below.
RSVP TO:
Pat Hill Elgin hill_p@sbcglobal.net
June Keibler Dundee jkeibl@sbcglobal.net
Trish Beckjord St. Charles tbeckjord@cdfinc.com
Agenda
7:00 – 7:15 Introduction and Welcome (June)
7:15 – 7:30 Gardening with Natives (Pat)
7:30 – 7:40 The Wild Ones National Organization (Trish)
7:40 – 7:50 DuPage Chapter Activities
7:50 – 8:15 Refreshments and Discussion
8:20 Close
Nov 15, 2008 (Sat)
ANNUAL SEED EXCHANGE
9:30am - 11:00am
For those who have seeds to give away or silent auction items, please arrive
between 9-9:30AM to set up your seeds or items at the appropriate tables.
Historic Warren Tavern
3 S 540 2nd St
Warrenville, IL
Open to the Public - No Admission Charge
If you bring seeds to give away, you can select seeds for free. If you have no seeds to contribute, a nominal donation is requested. Guests are welcome. This is a great opportunity to introduce potential members to what the Wild Ones is all about. In addition to the seeds, there will be photos of yards, people to ask questions of, refreshments, a silent auction and raffle.
Food: Please bring a snack, finger food or drink to share if you want.
Silent Auction: If you have something appropriate to donate for the auction or raffle, please bring that before 9:30. You may obtain a tax donation letter if you need one.
The historic Warren Tavern was the home and business of Warrenville's Col. Warren, who operated it as a stage coach stopping point in the 1840s. Renovated to serve again as a public meeting place by the Warren Tavern Preservationists, this venue is a reminder of the days when Illinois was truly "The Prairie State".
Directions: You can get to the tavern by taking I-88 to the Winfield Road exit. Take Winfield Road north to the first light: Warrenville Road. Turn left (west), then take an immediate right (north) to get to Second Street. There is parking at the front of the building and along the various residential streets in the neighborhoo
Nov 20, 2008 (Thu)
THE NEW INVASIVES WATCH LIST
Location: Naperville Municipal Building at 7PM
Debbie Maurer, Restoration Ecologist for the Lake County Forest Preserves will present at this month's meeting.
We already know about the Emerald Ash Borer, Garlic Mustard, Kudzu, Asian Honeysuckles and Buckthorn. Unfortunately, there's a whole list of invaders that are waiting to make our backyards their home. To stave off the attack, a program has been created to train volunteers in identification of these new species so that they can be stopped BEFORE they have a chance to become fully established. Come and learn from Debbie how to identify these new invaders and join the watch group to stop them. Debbie will bring identification cards for you to use to help identify these new invaders
Jan 15, 2009 (Thu)
PREHISTORIC ELEPHANTS OF DUPAGE COUNTY
Location: TBD at 7PM
Jack MacRae, Naturalist with the DuPage County Forest Preserves will present at this month's meeting.
Before bison roamed the prairies of DuPage County, prehistoric Mammoths and Mastodons foraged on the arctic/alpine vegetation of glacial Chicagoland. Jack will tell us about the climate that shaped our Northern Illinois Landscape including the past ice age, and the animals (and plants) that used to live here. He will talk about climate, geologic history, soil formation, extinctions of species and how all these things have interacted to produce what we have here today
Feb 19, 2009 (Thu)
Aggressive Native Plants
Location: TBD at 7PM
They are native to the area and we love them, but some plants can be a little too successful for the small areas of land that many of us tend to.
This meeting will be a discussion about what plants can exhibit this behavior and under what conditions
Board Members
President: Denise Sandoval
Vice President: Pat Armstrong
Secretary: Pat Clancy
Treasurer: Rich Whitney
Terms end on December 31st. We line up our leadership and committees for the coming year in October. Open positions can be filled anytime. Please consider sharing your interest by getting involved in one of these capacities. Help support the healthy continuation and growth of our chapter. Duties are flexible; if you think you can help in any way contact one of the people listed above. There is a strong core of former officers still very much involved in the group who will be happy to help anyone new coming on board. Board meetings are held monthly on the second Friday of the month.
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