8:30-9:30 Scott Woodbury "Garden Maintenance for Wildlife: A New Way to Garden"
Is your landscape functioning for your HOA or for wildlife? Do you want to maximize plant and wildlife diversity in your yard and still have time to enjoy it? Learn about the latest eye-popping maintenance practices that attract and nourish pollinators, song birds and the caterpillars they need to survive.
Over the past 30 years, Scott Woodbury led development of the Whitmire Wildflower Garden at Shaw Nature Reserve. He has written, lectured, and consulted on many native landscaping subjects, projects and programs. Scott started Cacalia Design and Wilding in 2022. He does residential and commercial consulting and design, and wildlife habitat planning. Scott writes, speaks, and also teaches Native Landscaping Practices, a course at St. Louis Community College.
9:30-10:30: Native Gardener Panel (Krystal Coxon, Chris Kirmaier & Lisa Brunette)
In this panel discussion moderated by Jean Ponzi you will learn directly from three local gardeners with extensive experience working with native plants in their own landscape and beyond.
The Panelists:
Krystal Coxon
with the help of her husband, has been expanding native plantings in her Ballwin yard to create both wildlife habitat and a playscape for their three children to encourage their exploration of nature. Previously, Krystal worked in environmental protection at the local, state, and international levels for a decade.
Chris Kirmaier
Chris is a life-long gardener and Master Gardener since 2007. She has taught the ‘Plant Growth and Development’ class in the St. Louis Master Gardener Training Program since 2013. She became a Habitat Advisor in St. Louis Audubon’s newly-formed Bring Conservation Home Program in 2013 and her own yard was certified Platinum in 2017. Professionally, she has a PhD in physical chemistry and has done laboratory research on photosynthesis for the last 43 years.
Lisa Brunette
Lisa chronicles her work to create a 'homestead habitat' at Brunette Gardens, where native-plant gardening and homesteading go hand-in-hand.
11am-Noon: Dr. Nadia Navarrete-Tindall Keynote, "Growing Native Edibles as Specialty Crops"
A description of 15 native edibles from identification, propagation to details on what, when to harvest and how to prepare. Some recipes will be shared.
Dr. Navarrette-Tindall is Associate Professor and State Extension Specialist for the Specialty Crops Program at Lincoln University.
She has more than thirty-years of experience with native plants and conservation in Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, and her country-of-origin El Salvador. Two main projects include the FINCA (Families Integrating Nature, Conservation and Agriculture) Project launched in 2012 and the Native Plant Academy launched in 2021. In 2008, she was inducted into the Conservation Hall of Fame as a Master Conservationist, considered to be Missouri’s highest conservation honor.
COVID-19 Precautions:
COVID-19 continues to pose a significant risk to public health. Please stay home if you aren't feeling well on the day of the event; we can easily refund your registration fee. The facility is well ventilated but masks are still encouraged. The plant sale will be outdoors. Although the risks have proven to be lower for outdoor gatherings, we ask that participants practice caution by maintaining 6 feet physical distance whenever possible on site.