Events

Members only!

A new year & new beginning will be discussed.

Please Register. A link will be sent to you.

Greenhouse Orientation for all members interested in working in the Greenhouse this year. We will focus on procedures & best practices, and scheduling.

Two sessions to choose from:

Saturday, Jan 11th from 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Sunday, Jan 12th from 10:00-11:00 a.m.

Please follow link for sign-ups to choose your spot!

The Porter County Master Gardeners put on a great event that has something for every garden lover out there!

Wild Ones will have a booth at this event. We will be handing out information & selling educational books. Stop by if you’re going to this event.

Members who would like to volunteer for this event can sign up by clicking the button below. Hopefully we will have enough volunteers to split up into three shifts.

Click on the "Registration Link" if you are a member of our chapter & would like to volunteer

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Project Wingspan (PW), backed by donations and grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, is a multi-year effort by the non-profit Pollinator Partnership. It aims to improve pollinator habitats across the Midwest and Great Lakes Region. By collaborating with volunteers and land stewards, PW provides support, training, and resources to enhance habitats for monarchs, rusty patched bumble bees, and other pollinators. The goal is to secure over 18,000 acres of high-quality habitat for these species. 

Maraiah Russell, Indiana State Coordinator for Project Wingspan since April 2024, has a background in wildlife conservation. She worked as a veterinary technician at Fort Wayne Children's Zoo and as a steward and volunteer manager with Little River Wetlands Project. Maraiah advocates for native plants and pollinators professionally and personally and collaborates with community volunteers to enhance connectivity for pollinators and people.

Spring event planning - Wild Things conference, Earth Day events, Plant Sale.

All are welcome to join this free virtual panel discussion exploring the vital roles of native, solitary, and honeybees in pollination and biodiversity. Featuring experts Sam Droege (USGS), Dave Hunter (Crown Bees), and Dr. Lora Morandin (Pollinator Partnership), this event will discuss into the challenges pollinators face, the balance between managed and wild bees, and actionable ways to support all pollinators.

Gain insights from over 90 years of combined experience and learn how to advocate for pollinator habitats through planting native species, participating in community science, and adopting responsible management practices.

Earth Day events & Plant Sale planning.

Please RSVP to come in-person, or Register below to join us via Zoom.

Becca Koetz will be discussing permaculture, offering valuable insights into sustainable living. What is permaculture, you ask! It’s a design system that seeks to mimic the patterns found in nature, creating harmonious and resilient ecosystems. It focuses on sustainable living and aims to meet human needs while minimizing environmental impact.

Becca will delve into topics such as sustainable food production, water harvesting, and energy efficiency, providing practical tips for individuals and communities to reduce their environmental impact. By understanding permaculture principles, one can learn how to create more self-sufficient and ecologically sound living spaces, contributing to a healthier planet and a more sustainable future.

Rebecca "Becca" Koetz is Purdue Extension's Urban Agriculture Educator in Lake County. Her work focuses on food systems, food justice, beginning farmers, urban agriculture, sustainable agriculture, youth natural resources and gardening, community gardens, and Master Gardeners.

Public gardens hold tremendous power to influence landscaping norms and inspire change. By showcasing the beauty, functionality, and ecological value of native plants, these spaces help foster biodiversity, advocate for sustainable practices, and engage communities in environmental stewardship. 

This webinar will explore how public and demonstration gardens serve as powerful tools for native plant advocacy. Attendees will learn how gardens move beyond aesthetics to spark action—turning appreciation into engagement and inspiring participants to replicate these practices in their own communities.

We will hear insights from Nicole Machuca, Environmental Social Scientist at the Field Museum, on how public gardens influence behaviors, foster stewardship, and connect people to conservation efforts through research and community engagement. The Wild Ones Capital Region NY and the Wild Ones San Diego (CA) Chapters will share their experiences building native plant demonstration gardens and how these spaces drive community engagement, education, and advocacy. And We'll finish with a conversation exploring how public gardens create a lasting impact beyond planting day moderated by Kelly Kapuzzi, Demonstration Garden Char with the Wild Ones Hocking Hills (OH) Chapter.

All Hands On Deck! We will have Plant Sale & Earth Day prep-work & will go over our strategies that lead up to & include or Plant Sale. Volunteer Sign-ups will also be available.

Dirt is dead, Soil is alive. Let’s explore the ecosystem below ground, meet microbes that facilitate the nutrient cycle and food web, and talk about what makes soil healthy versus starved of life. We’ll cover topics of soil stewardship practices which keep the above-ground living community healthy.

Tanvi Lad is the IN NW regional Urban Soil Health Specialist, a practicing ecologist, soil microbiologist, and advocate for regenerative living. Her academic background is a B.S. in Ecology at Purdue University, and currently a trainee under Dr. Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web and Zach Weiss’s Water Stories. She learned about permaculture and regenerative principles while serving in the Peace Corps, 2015-2017 in Malawi, East Africa. Over the past 5 years, she lived in Colorado, as a local nonprofit’s compost manager, experimenting and sharing knowledge about biologically-active soil, in order to empower community members to steward their soil’s fertility.

Tabling at Porter County includes books, brochures, butterfly take home

Tabling at EC includes brochures, free plants & kid project

IUN planting day includes brochures & help planting a garden area

Tabling at Munster includes brochures, free plants & kid project

https://gibsonwoods.wildones.org/meetings-events/annual-native-plant-sale/

Over 100 species of flowers, grasses, sedges, & shrubs; including prairie, wetland, shade, & woodland.

This event is rain or shine, so dress accordingly

Arrive early for best selection

Join us for a 90 minute interactive walking tour of Marquette Park.
We will meet in front of the Aquatorium.

Northwest Indiana (Lake and Porter Counties) is one of the most densely biodiverse regions in the Eastern United States. The Indiana Dunes, including Marquette Park in Gary is a surviving part of a once enormous, amazingly diverse food forest full of medicinal plants. It was stewarded for time immemorial by sophisticated Native (American) tribes.

What does it mean to say that a culture has “sustainability” built in? We will explore how the contemporary concept of sustainability is built into many indigenous cultures. It is not an afterthought..How does this perspective allow us to understand Northwest Indiana better? And what about the indigenous cultures of Europe, such as the Irish. who lived sustainably in balance with their environment for thousands of years? What happened to them?

We will explore these questions and more during a walking tour as we appreciate the 8 unique ecosystems that make up Marquette Park. It is an area full of plants traditionally used for food, medicine, dyes, building materials, etc. Importantly, it is an area that has been designed and stewarded by indigenous cultures for thousands of years.

Ezekiel Flannery has a PhD in the sociology of food and nutrition focusing on indigenous cultures and ethnobotany–the study of how particular people from a region use locally available plants. He has conducted research in Mexico, Turkey, Nepal, in Ireland and the United States, right here in Northwest Indiana. He currently researches written and oral narratives that link food, plants, music, medicine and spirituality in indigenous Ireland. On the practical side, he enjoys stewarding a small garden of mostly native fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants and trees in Miller Beach, Indiana which he shares with friends and family.

Join Wild Ones National Board President Loris Damerow for a special presentation as part of Week 3 of the 2025 Less Lawn More Life Challenge, “Native Plants Planted Right.” Loris will walk us through the basics of native plant gardening- from choosing the right plants to planting and maintaining them with confidence.

Join us on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, at 5 p.m. CT for the YouTube Live premiere of this 30-minute webinar. Native plant experts from  Wild Ones, Plan it Wild, Homegrown National Park, ReWild Your Campus, and others will be active in the live chat throughout the presentation and for 30 minutes after the webinar, giving you plenty of time to ask questions and engage! 

This event is designed for newcomers to native gardening and is part of the national Less Lawn More Life Challenge, hosted by Plan It Wild in collaboration with Wild Ones, iNaturalist, Homegrown National Park, Pollinator Partnership  and many others! 

See more about the Less Lawn More Life Challenge:  https://www.lesslawnmorelife.com/ 

We will present the results of the Plant Sale and gather feedback for improvements for next year's greenhouse and plant sale. Additionally, we will cover summer events and volunteer opportunities.

Details coming soon! 

Details coming soon! 

Details coming soon!