Spring 2004 Newsletter

FROM: Carol Andrews, President (phone 218/730-9954 / carol_Andrews@hotmail.com)

DATE: April 23, 2004

SUBJECT: Now what is going on?

Many Wild Ones chapters produce newsletters, but I find the idea of creating something worthy of the term NEWSLETTER too daunting and likely beyond my editing skills, so I will again send just a letter. I hope you find it to be an informative letter nonetheless.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
The last pages of this letter shows our chapter’s calendar of events that Cindy French has been busy updating. You will see that we have a full roster of events to take advantage of the snow free month(s). Most outings will be held on Thursdays but there are some on Saturday and Wednesday as well, so I hope everyone can attend at least a few of them.

Our last indoor meeting at Hartley Nature Center will be Wednesday, April 28 beginning at 6:00 PM. Our featured speaker at 7:00, following “plant of the month” by Bill Steele, will be Mindy Appold. Mindy is a professional landscape architect who left her own business behind in Chicago for the wilds of northeastern Minnesota where she now works for DSGW Architects of Duluth. If you are stumped as to why some landscapes look so much better than others, listening to Mindy’s tips for approaching design will help you begin to understand what makes a good design work and give you ideas to use at home.

GROUP PLANT ORDER FOR 2004
One of the benefits of being a member of Wild Ones is the opportunity to order native trees, shrubs, plants and vines at a discount from local growers through our group plant orders. If you need to purchase a lot of plants, this benefit can pay for itself pretty quickly! If you are interested in learning more, please contact me at the number shown above or by email at carol_Andrews@hotmail.com OR call Erik Hahn at 728-4322 as soon as possible as we need to send the orders in by May 1.

This year we will be ordering plants from two sources: Outback Nursery in Hastings and Leaning Pine Native Landscape Company. Outback carries a very wide selection of native trees and shrubs as well as many plants. Outback’s new and improved web site includes photographs of most of the items they offer, although I found that the detailed descriptions (size, preferred conditions, etc.) that are included in the hardcopy of their catalog are only provided for some things online (by clicking on the picture). See www.outbacknursery.com and look for the “on-line catalog.”

We are very excited that this year we will also place a group order for trees, plants and shrubs from Leaning Pine Native Landscapes. Leaning Pine is located in South Range, WI near Superior and is operated by Paul Hlina, a member of the Wild Ones Arrowhead Chapter. To contact Leaning Pine directly call 715-398-5453. Their greenhouse will be open to the public again this year on Fridays, but it’s a good idea to call ahead.

LOCAL SOURCES OF NATIVE PLANTS
In addition to Leaning Pine Native Landscapes, there are a number of other local sellers of native plants that you may want to contact if you are in the market to buy some.

Boreal Natives sells a large variety of wildflowers, grasses/sedges/rushes, and now some trees and shrubs as well. Call 218-729-7001 for more information or see www.prairieresto.com for pictures of many of the plants they sell.
Common Place Farm near Barnum, MN also grows and sells native wildflowers. This year they are offering plants for sale via the Whole Foods Co-op. The plants won’t actually be AT the coop but you can obtain an order form at the WFC web site (http://www.wfco-op.com/ - see the blinking link that says “PLANT ORDER FORMS”) or by calling the Co-op at 728-0884. We will visit Common Grounds Farm as one of our outings this summer.
Plant Pics’ Perennials: chapter members Clayton and Michelle Oslund sent me an email with their catalog for what Clayton referred to as a “small mail-order business” but WOW! It doesn’t look so small based on the catalog! They sell wildflowers as well as hosta, ferns, and “helleborus and other unique perennial selections” (I’ll act like I know what helleborus is but … I really must find out)

PLANT OF THE MONTH
Each meeting we take turns doing a little presentation called “Plant of the Month.” It’s a nice way to learn more about native plants, plant by plant. Here's a list of tbe Plants of the Month we've done recently: Wild Strawberry, Jewelweed, Starflower, Sundew, Harebell, Bottle Gentian. Thanks to everyone that has participated. If you would like to take on a “plant o’ the month” for any of our upcoming outings or meetings, let me know.

PLANT RESCUE PLANS … are in the works. If you know of any sites where native plants grow that will be affected by construction this year and may be appropriate for us to look into conducting a plant rescue to relocate the plants if possible (or oppose the project if more appropriate to protect the plant community as is), please contact Erik Hahn at 218/728-4322.

OUTREACH ACTIVITIES
Since the main goal of Wild Ones is to share information about landscaping with native plants we try to make the most of outreach opportunities that present themselves. Here are a few of the recent activities we have been participating in. If you know of a group that is interested in having a Wild Ones member come do a presentation OR if you would like copies of handouts or to use one of our slide shows, please let me know.

Presentations/classes:

University for Seniors (4 week class at UMD)

Carlton County Master Gardners April Meeting

Twin Ports Mothers of Multiples

Zenith City Garden Club

Duluth Community Education

Booth:

Earth Day Fair on April 24

Earth Tracks at the Zoo May 7 and 8 (volunteers still needed)

MISCELLANEOUS TIDBITS
Tidbit #1: I found a web site that has many useful definitions of terms related to native plants: http://www.mnstac.org/RFC/nativedef.htm. Here are a few examples (perhaps I’ll include 2 in every info-letter to help us all learn):

Clone

Plants derived vegetatively from one parent plant, so that each is genetically identical to each other and to the parent. This may occur naturally or artificially.

Aspen trees can reproduce by sprouting suckers from the roots. Clones of a single tree may cover an acre or more.

Cultivar

A plant selected from a population of plants because it has desirable characteristics, and is cultivated and given a specific name.

Acer rubrum 'Northwood', Northwood red maple was originally selected from a group of native red maple trees in Floodwood, Minnesota, so it is native to that location. It is reproduced by cloning. The species red maple is native to most of the forested counties of northern Minnesota.

Tidbit #2: If you would like to help support reauthorization of the national invasive species acts or read other information about invasive species, check out theweb site at www.ucsusa.org
Current US laws and government programs are insufficient to guard against further introductions or control invasives that are already here. Ensure reauthorization of the National Invasive Species Act (NISA) as the National Aquatic Invasive Species Act (NAISA), with stronger and broader provisions than in the 1996 version of the law.

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