Chapter Events

From the St Charles City County Library Website:

Native Landscaping for Drought Tolerance– Learn about the importance of planning now for future drought. Explore how climate change is predicted to affect our growing season, precipitation patterns, and what native species you can plant to support wildlife and withstand drought.

 Dan  Pearson directs the St. Louis Audubon Society’s Bring Conservation Home program, providing ecological landscaping consultations, certification assessments, and outreach education to improve landscapes for the benefit of wildlife and human communities across the St. Louis region. 

He chairs the steering committee for the St. Louis Native Plant Garden Tour and the Partners for Native Landscaping Series and was named “2022 Watershed Hero” by the River des Peres Watershed Coalition. Bring Conservation Home was awarded “Conservation Organization of the Year” by the Conservation Federation of Missouri in 2023.

This program is in partnership with Wild Ones St Charles Area Chapter, a nonprofit organization designed to promote the understanding of native plants, their benefits, and what they can provide for the environment both in private as well as public areas of landscaping.

A short member meeting will precede the event. 

In this special collaboration, Robin Wall Kimmerer, author, botanist, and founder of Plant Baby Plant, joins youth leader and Nurture Natives founder Esther Bonney for an intergenerational conversation about belonging, reciprocity, and native plant action. 

Together, they will explore questions such as:

How do we create opportunities for young people to have a voice and feel empowered, even when they are not homeowners or decision makers?What kinds of relationships and mentorships help people stay engaged in native plant work over decades?Why do stories, shared practices, and community invitations matter just as much as plant lists?

Robin and Esther will reflect on what invites people into this work, what keeps them here, and what elders and youth have to teach each other.

Chapter board meeting. 

Join us at Wild Things 2026 for an exciting lineup of workshops, presentations, and sessions from regional and national experts, plus meet & greets, video content, exhibitors, sponsors, and more! 

In this presentation, we will explore the basic principles behind good pruning practices, untangling much of the mystery of pruning, such as the age-old question: Where do I begin?

There will also be a brief discussion on tool selection, along with care and maintenance, followed by Q&A.

The presenter for this program is Dave Gunn:

Our upcoming webinar with Basil Camu explores practical, evidence based ways to heal suburban and urban landscapes by working with trees, soil, and natural systems, drawing on real world practices from Leaf & Limb and community centered models for restoring life where we live, work, and play.!  

Chapter Board Meeting

Winter Speaker Series

Event Details

The night sky and the stars are things of beauty. But that beauty goes much deeper than superficial appearance. 

Earth spends half of its existence under the night sky. This has a profound impact on life and its cycles. During this time, nature does a lot of important work —from cloaking the movements of migrating birds to enabling nocturnal insect pollinators. 

This presentation will explore the beauty of the stars through nightscape images and offer a brief glimpse at some intimate connections between nature and the night sky.

The presenter for this program is Dan Zarlenga:

When many photographers are putting their cameras away, Dan is usually getting his out!  Dan has been in love with the stars and the night sky all his life.  After spending years looking at the sky with telescopes, he took up photography in 2009.  It seemed only natural to bring the two interests together.  He especially enjoys the challenge of blending terrestrial and celestial subjects in the same image.

Dan likes to explore several forms of photography but has a special leaning towards landscapes and astro-landscapes.  He also likes to mix photography with another of his passions . . . hiking and occasionally backpacking.  Dan has served as MDC Media Specialist in St. Louis region since 2008.

His photography has appeared in multiple calendars and magazines, and is featured in several exhibits.

This program is in partnership with Wild Ones St Charles Area Chapter, a nonprofit organization designed to promote the understanding of native plants, their benefits, and what they can provide for the environment both in private as well as public areas of landscaping.

Join Joey Santore, creator of Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t, for a candid Wild Ones National Webinar examining how inherited garden aesthetics shape native plant landscapes. Drawing on field experience and real ecology, Joey challenges tidy design norms and explores why dense, irregular plant communities are often the most resilient and ecologically sound.

Members of our chapter work to maintain and improve the native garden beds around the office. 

Monthly meeting of board members. 

This is our contracted work for MDC at Busch Wildlife CA. We will continue to edit undesireable plants, trim tall grasses and clean up native garden beds. 

Native Plants: Ephemerals - Late Winter and Early Spring in the Garden

Are you looking to add more wildlife and seasonal interest to your garden? Interested in feeding early emerging pollinators? Craving color in the dead of late winter? Join us for an evening celebrating the ephemeral.

Ephemerals emerge in late winter and early spring and go dormant before the dog days of summer - a lot like traditional spring bulbs like tulips, narcissus, and hyacinth. Learn about the different types of native ephemerals, how to site them in your landscape, and how best to manage them once in the ground.

he presenter for this program is Erin Goss:

Erin is an Accounts Manager of Poynter Landscape Architecture and Construction. 

She has previously worked for Shaw Nature Reserve, Wallflower Design, and Greenscape Gardens. A landscape designer and horticulturist, she seeks to share the wonder of plants with people by encouraging multi-use approaches to gardening through water management, permaculture, community herbalism, and ecologically-minded practices. 

This is our contracted work for MDC at Busch Wildlife CA. We will continue to edit undesireable plants, trim tall grasses and clean up native garden beds. 

We have been asked to provide an informational table at the OFallon Farmers' Market

Callery Pear Trees Begin to Bloom: Registration Opens March 16 for 2026 “Buyback” Event 

St. Louis, MO (February 24, 2026) — The Missouri Invasive Plant Council (MoIP), in partnership with the Missouri Community Forestry Council, Magnificent Missouri, Forest ReLeaf of Missouri, Forrest Keeling Nursery, the Missouri Prairie Foundation, and the Missouri Department of Conservation, will host a Callery pear “buyback” program at 23 locations around the state on April 21. On this date, citizens who register with a photo of a cut down Callery pear tree from their property will receive a free native tree.

“As we prepare for spring, many Callery pear trees—also known as Bradford pears—will soon begin to bloom,” said Carol Davit, chair of the Missouri Invasive Plant Council. “The profuse white blossoms of this highly invasive tree make their alarming spread especially apparent in spring, along roadsides, in fields, parks, and on private property.” 

Registration for the Callery Pear Buyback event is open from March 16 through April 16. To register, participants choose a native tree and submit a photo of the cut-down Callery pear tree. One free, non-invasive, native tree will be given to registered participants at the selected location on the day of the event, April 21, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Participants receive potted native trees between 2 and 4 feet tall, in 3-gallon containers. Trees of this size are easier to transport than larger ones, minimize stress on trees in the planting process, and allow MoIP to offer more free trees in more locations to more Missourians.  

MoIP is grateful to the Missouri Community Forestry Council and Magnificent Missouri for their financial support of the 2026 Callery Pear Buyback Program, as well as to Forrest Keeling Nursery and Forest ReLeaf of Missouri for tree donations. Financial and administrative support also comes from the Missouri Prairie Foundation and Missouri Department of Conservation.

To register or for more information about this event, including a full list of native tree species offered and how to identify Callery pear trees, visit https://moinvasives.org/pear-buyback/, or contact MoIP Coordinator Emily Render, (573) 569-8659, at [email protected]. Learn more about the negative impacts of Callery pear and other invasive plants, and find many identification and resources to control them at moinvasives.org.

Trees available in St Charles County include Black Gum, Deciduous Holly, Ohio Buckeye, Red Oak, Red Maple, and Swamp White Oak 
 

Program partners include: Missouri Invasive Plant Council (MoIP) - www.moinvasives.org; Missouri Community Forestry Council - www.mocommunitytrees.org; Magnificent Missouri - www.magnificentmissouri.org; Forest ReLeaf - www.moreleaf.org; Forrest Keeling - www.fknursery.com; Missouri Prairie Foundation - www.moprairie.org; and Missouri Department of Conservation - https://mdc.mo.gov.

This is our monthly Garden Gathering, touring a private garden and sharing knowledge and possibly plants. Members and host neighbors/friends, or those interested in becoming members are welcome. 

Native Plant Presentations, guided Plant ID Hikes, Greenhouse Tours, Native Plant Partner Tables, Local Food and Aritsan Vendors

This is our contracted work for MDC at Busch Wildlife CA. We will continue to edit undesireable plants, trim tall grasses and clean up native garden beds. 

Join award-winning author, photographer, and educator Rick Darke for What Is Wild and Why It Matters, a free national webinar on Tuesday, April 28th at 10 am CT. Discover how inviting a bit of authentic wildness can create a vibrant landscape that sustains you and local biodiversity. This national event is presented in collaboration between Wild Ones and Homegrown National Park.

This is our monthly board meeting to conduct chapter business. We had to reschedule this from April 28th due to multiple board members with schedule conflicts. 

Previously ordered native plugs will be available for pick up. 

This is the monthly garden gathering at a member's home, to tour the gardens, share plants and knowledge. 

Multiple vendors and presentations including native plants, kids' activities, flower show. 

Wild Ones of St Charles will have a booth to share information on gardening with plants native to Missouri, and will have some native plants for sale. 

The event is held here on the grounds and in the buildings of the First Missouri State Capitol State Historic Site in St. Charles from 10 am to 3 pm. 

There is no fee to participate and it is free to the public. 

This event is a fun, educational opportunity geared toward families and on a good year we can see several thousand visitors. On any normal Saturday our visitation is usually pretty good but add in a special event and it is a great chance to reach a lot of families.  

The event is set up in booth format and we recommend to exhibitors to try to have some type of demonstration, display or hands on activity-more than just handing out brochures. The kids love to learn through seeing and doing. 

The hosting organization will be providing lunch to all our volunteers and exhibitors and we try really hard to treat our exhibitors very well because we want them to come back!

Our chapter has been asked to present information on the state grass, Big Bluestem. 

We will continue to weed garden beds at the office of Busch Memorial Conservation Area

Bring shovels, tarps, pruners, rakes, brooms, gloves, bug spray and hydration. 

This is our garden cleanup and improvement project at Busch. 

Bring tools, hydration and bug spray. 

Poison Ivy is in the area. 

This is our garden cleanup and improvement project at Busch. 

Bring tools, hydration and bug spray. 

Poison Ivy is in the area. 

Rescheduled from Thursday, June 11 due to extreme high temperatures and possible storms

This is our monthly garden gathering, where we will have a short business meeting, followed by a tour of the gardens. 

Members are welcome to bring plants to share, making sure there are no “jumping worms” in the soil. To prevent this, roots of plants dug should be thoroughly rinsed. Plants grown from seed in potting soil can be shared as is. 

Please see the monthlly newsletter for address. 

Native Plant Expo – Celebrate Nature With Us! Join us for our annual Native Plant Expo, a day dedicated to the beauty, benefits, and biodiversity of native plants! Saturday June 13th from 10am to 3pm

Explore an incredible selection of native trees, shrubs, perennials, (Mostly Perennials) and more from our nursery, plus shop an expanded variety from local specialty growers and vendors who share our passion for plants that support pollinators, birds, and healthy ecosystems. Whether you’re planting a full landscape or just adding a few pollinator-friendly favorites, you’ll find unique and hard-to-find natives all in one place.

Learn while you shop! We’ll have educational displays throughout the store to help you choose the right plants and understand how natives make a difference in your yard and beyond.

Get hands-on with fun make-and-take projects, perfect for both kids and adults who want to bring home a little nature-inspired creation. Come celebrate the plants that belong here — and leave inspired to grow a garden that gives back!See less

St Charles Area Chapter will be tabling, to provide information on our chapter.  Volunteers are needed. Register below as a volunteer. 

Have questions about this event? Contact us about this event.

We will continue weeding, removing invasive plants, and mulch. 

We will continue weeding, removing invasive plants, and mulch. 

Monthly Board meeting, all members are wecome

This is our monthly garden gathering, where we will have a short business meeting, followed by a tour of the gardens. 

Members are welcome to bring plants to share, making sure there are no “jumping worms” in the soil. To prevent this, roots of plants dug should be thoroughly rinsed. Plants grown from seed in potting soil can be shared as is. 

Please see the monthlly newsletter for address. 

You planted native. Your neighbor has opinions. Maybe your HOA does too. If you’ve ever felt like the hardest part of native plant gardening is the conversations, not the gardening, you’re not alone.

Wild Ones is thrilled to share this upcoming free webinar as part of the 2026 Less Lawn More Life Challenge. Join Lorraine Johnson for a practical conversation on navigating HOA rules, addressing neighbor concerns, and fostering community conversations about native plant gardening and ecological landscapes.

This is our monthly board meeting. All members are welcome. 

This is our monthly garden gathering, where we will have a short business meeting, followed by a tour of the gardens. 

Members are welcome to bring plants to share, making sure there are no “jumping worms” in the soil. To prevent this, roots of plants dug should be thoroughly rinsed. Plants grown from seed in potting soil can be shared as is. 

Please see the monthlly newsletter for address. 

Native plants are the foundation of habitat, but wildlife need more than food to thrive. Join ecologist and Certified Wildlife Biologist Shaun McCoshum, PhD, to explore how nesting sites, shelter, water, soil conditions, and other often-overlooked resources can transform a yard into a functioning ecosystem that supports biodiversity year-round.

Registration link coming soon.

This is our monthly garden gathering, where we will have a short business meeting, followed by a tour of the gardens. 

Members are welcome to bring plants to share, making sure there are no “jumping worms” in the soil. To prevent this, roots of plants dug should be thoroughly rinsed. Plants grown from seed in potting soil can be shared as is. 

Please see the monthlly newsletter for address. 

What does it really take to turn a conventional lawn into a thriving native meadow? Join Owner & Principal, New Directions in the American Landscape (NDAL), Sara Weaner Cooper for a candid look at her family's ongoing lawn-to-meadow transformation featured in The New York Times and BBC. Drawing from three years of hands-on experience, Sara will share the methods, lessons learned, successes, and challenges of converting turfgrass into a dynamic native plant community. Participants will gain practical insights into site preparation, planting, management, and the ecological principles that guide successful meadow establishment, along with realistic expectations for how these landscapes evolve over time.

Registration link coming soon.

This will be updated with info from the organizer.

*Time may need to be adjusted based on sunset.

This is our monthly garden gathering, where we will have a short business meeting, followed by a tour of the gardens. 

Members are welcome to bring plants to share, making sure there are no “jumping worms” in the soil. To prevent this, roots of plants dug should be thoroughly rinsed. Plants grown from seed in potting soil can be shared as is. 

Please see the monthlly newsletter for address. 

Bats are among the most important and misunderstood wildlife in our communities. Join experts from Bat Conservation International to explore how native plants, healthy insect populations, and thoughtful landscape design can help support bats. Learn about the ecological role of bats and discover practical ways to create habitat for North America's night flyers right in your own backyard.

Registration link coming soon.

We will be holding elections for 2027, review our year via a slide show of member photos, and share food and drink as we enjoy each other's company. Families are welcome and registration is appreciated so that we may guage the size of the crowd and coordinate pot luck items. 

Monarch butterflies depend on a network of habitats stretching across North America, and home landscapes can play an important role in their survival. Join experts from Monarch Joint Venture to explore the science behind monarch conservation, including the importance of milkweed, nectar resources, and regionally appropriate habitat. Learn practical ways to support monarchs through native landscaping and help sustain one of the world's most remarkable migrations.
 

Registration link coming soon.