Thank you for checking the Design with Nature conference. The conference is sold out. We invite you to attend our monthly meetings, garden tours and plant sale. Please check the calendars for St. Croix Oak Savanna and Twin Cities Wild Ones chapters for future events.

Twin Cities and
St. Croix Oak Savanna
Wild Ones Chapters

Minnesota Chapter
American Society of
Landscape Architects

Blue Thumb
Planting for
Clean Water

Conference Schedule

8:00 am - 8:45 am	Registration	Lobby
8:00 am - 1:30 pm	Exhibits Open	Salon E
8:45 am - 9:00 am	Welcome	Main Hall
9:00 am - 10:45 am	*Nature Happens Here* Doug Tallamy
*Nature Happens Here* calls us to re-examine the link between the vitality of our landscape ecosystems with human well-being. The message is simple. By reconnecting to our patch of earth, be it small plot or large project, we make a significant contribution in restoring nature’s healthy bounty. Doug Tallamy, renowned entomologist, focuses on the key role native plants play in our landscape through their co-evolved relationships with insects, birds and other wildlife above and below ground. Based on his extensive research, he discusses ways to improve insect diversity which in turn supports a healthy community of natural enemies to maintain balance. In addition, we discover the impacts of exotic ornamentals on natural systems, what defines “alien” and “native” when selecting plants, and design strategies to restore vital wildlife food, shelter and nesting areas.
10:45 am - 11:15 am	Break and Exhibits
11:15 am - 12:15 pm	*Soil Restoration* Ed Plaster
Almost every gardener and designer has faced the question of how to amend their soil to reduce compaction, improve low nutrient levels, and increase water holding capacity. What are the appropriate soil strategies? Use of compost? Is compost tea the answer? Ed begins to address these questions with the simple philosophy that healthy soil is alive and teeming with essential bacteria, fungi, mycorrhyzea and other living organisms. These underground organisms making up the soil food web are fundamental for plant health. He will share his learning on beneficial practices to restore our soil to support a robust environment.
12:15 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch Buffet and Exhibits
1:30 pm - 2:45 pm	*Trees and Shrubs of Minnesota* Welby Smith
Native trees and shrubs represent an important factor in our landscapes for more than the aesthetic attributes. They are important contributors to increasing our wildlife diversity by habitat, food, and insect life that in turn is food for other animals. Interestingly, not all native plants provide the same level of habitat for a wide variety of insect and animal species. From initial research in this area, trees and shrubs lead the list, such as oaks, cherries and dogwoods. Welby will share with us the top offerings, ecological significance, their habitat and requirements for growth, flowers and fruit, native adaptive range, culture and cultivation requirements in the landscape.
2:45 pm - 3:15 pm	Break and Silent Auction
3:15 pm - 4:30 pm	*Natural Habitat for Humans and Other Species* Evelyn Hadden
Evelyn brings the final component to the day’s ideas by describing design elements for a more nurturing and diversified approach to your land. We will learn about “inside - out” design, vertical layering of vegetation for increased diversity and habitat, matrix plants, island sanctuaries, corridors, choosing plant companions that support each other and boost soil health. Other approaches to your design include shaping the land to address runoff, identifying unfilled niches in your landscape palette and supporting natural cycles by viewing “wastes” as resources.
4:30 pm - 4:40 pm	Auction Announcement and Closing

Conference Speakers

Evelyn Hadden, Author and Speaker, LessLawn.com: Evelyn Hadden has been writing and publishing information about naturalistic landscaping since 2001, when she founded LessLawn.com an informational garden and landscape website. In her writings and talks, Evelyn emphasizes wildlife-friendly sustainable gardening spanning the rift between horticulture and ecology.

In her first book, Apprentice to a Garden, she writes about the life lessons she learned while converting a small urban lawn into a naturalistic landscape. Her recent book Shrink Your Lawn: Design ideas for any landscape expands on natural landscape design ideas and won a silver medal from Independent Publisher's 2009 Living Now Book Awards. Evelyn shares her experience and philosophy with many groups around the country.
Ed Plaster, Horticulturist, Dakota County Technical College: Ed Plaster is by training and education primarily a horticulturist, but with a heavier than usual dose of soil science and natural history. He taught in the Landscape Horticulture program for 31 years at the Dakota County Technical College, continuing to teach as an adjunct instructor. Among many other subjects, Ed covered soil science, plant science and developed a biology course called 'Minnesota Nature Study'. He served three years on the DNR's Commissioner's Advisory Committee, which advises the DNR's Science and Natural Area program and continues volunteer work on SNA's.

Ed is author of Soil Science and Management 5th edition, first published in the 1980's. The latest editions expand on the topics of soils in natural ecosystems and with special emphasis on the relationship between soil and climate change. It is used in many 2-4 year colleges for basic soils course. He is a member of the Soil and Water Conservation Society.
Welby Smith, Botanist, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources: Welby Smith has been the state botanist with the MN DNR in the Division of Ecological Resources since the program’s inception in 1978. In addition, he is the coordinator for the DNRs endangered plant species program. As coordinator, Welby combines his plant taxonomy training with an ecological emphasis in his research and management of endangered plants and imperiled natural communities.

He is author and contributor to books on Minnesota’s plants including Orchids of Minnesota, an informative field guide to the 43 native species and their habitat, plant section in Minnesota’s Endangered Flora and Fauna, and recent acclaimed book on Trees and Shrubs of Minnesota, a guide to all the native and naturalized woody plants of Minnesota. His articles have appeared in the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine, newspapers and journals.

Welby was honored last year by the Minnesota Native Plant Society for his achievements in the study and promotion of native plants.
Douglas Tallamy, Department Chair of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware: Douglas Tallamy is Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware. He has written more than 65 research articles and has taught insect taxonomy, behavioral ecology, and other courses for many years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities.

His latest book, Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens was first published in 2007 by Timber Press and awarded the 2008 silver medal by the Garden Writer’s Association.

For more information or quesions visit the Wild Ones Twincities Chapter website or call 612-293-3833.

The Twin Cities Wild Ones webpages are maintained by Jim Sipe of the Vagary.

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