Events

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.

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.!  

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.

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.

We are helping form a new Wild Ones Chapter in Will County.  For anyone that lives in or near Will County, this Organizational Meeting is your opportunity to have input on the activities and priorities of the new chapter.

If you plan to come to this, please tell us you’re coming so we can give Bishops Hill a good head count. Send email to: [email protected]

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.

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.

Summer Picnic - Potluck (Bring a Snack to share) and BYOB (alcoholic beverages are allowed, if you are so inclined).

Join us to have fun, socialize, nibble, sip and take a self-guided walk at this beautiful nature trail.

We are also inviting “Greater DuPage Wild Ones” & “Will County Audubon Society”.

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.

"It Starts in Your Yard". Rewilding Your Neighborhood and Rebuilding Community, One Garden at a Time. Sponsored by the Will County Wild Ones & the Will County Audubon Society.

Join us to hear Brian “Fox” Ellis, from the Illinois Audubon Society, discuss rewilding our neighborhoods and rebuilding community, one garden at a time.    

Bio: Brian “Fox” Ellis, has transformed three communities, planted 12,000 trees, landscaped several schools, businesses, and a hospital grounds, creating wildlife corridors and an eBird Hotspot from scratch. Fox is currently managing Illinois Audubon Society’s Bird and Butterfly Sanctuary Certification program with the goal of restoring communities across the state.

This participatory presentation explores ways to restore your yard, focusing on the relationships between native plants, birds, bees and butterflies, going beyond the typical pollinator garden to first research and then replant the larger native ecosystem. Then using your yard as a beacon for broader change. We will map successful strategies for restoring your neighborhood, and the broader community, working with partners who share your passion, Wild Ones, the Native Plant Society, Master Gardeners, and Bird City advocates. This program is sure to be hands-on and minds-on, and not a lecture.

Parking: Free street parking on the weekend; parking deck/garage very close (110 N Ottawa St) - $1/hr for 2 hrs (2 hrs free if you validate your ticket at the library). 

Registration required by each attendee - Link below.

What happens when Chicagoans relocate to the Southwest suburbs and discover that the land surrounding their new multigenerational home is "dead" — devoid of bees, birds, butterflies, and creatures of all kinds? For Elizabeth and her daughter, Alexia Neubauer (now president of the Sag Moraine Native Plant Community), this shocking discovery marked the beginning of a journey into sustainable "yardening." They had left the city precisely to enjoy Nature but found a silent landscape right in their own backyard. In her presentation, Homer Glen resident Elizabeth-Anne Stewart will explain the importance of "Epiphany Moments" in shifting thinking away from lava rock and manicured lawns towards the need to create landscapes that are pollinator-friendly.

You will learn of the family's mistakes and triumphs, culminating in their home being recognized as an environmentally-friendly "Conservation@Home" property. There will be time for laughter, storytelling, and shared wisdom.   

Bio:

Dr. Elizabeth-Anne Stewart, BCC, PCC  

Author | Speaker | Transformational Coach

www.elizabeth-annestewart.com  

www.ChicagoWritingCoach.com 

linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-anne-stewart-phd/

Born in England and raised on the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta, Dr. Elizabeth-Anne Stewart is committed to expanding consciousness and compassion through both the inward journey and the outer journey -- hence her passion for native plants! In addition to Spiritual Direction and Transformational Coaching, Dr. Stewart offers personal development workshops and retreats; she also teaches at St. Xavier University and The Institute for Life Coach Training.  She holds a PhD in Theology from the University of Malta and is the author of 14 books and many articles; additional interests include the mythic imagination, poetry, the environment, and photography.  Her most recent book, Unlocking Epiphany Moments: A Primer for Life Coaches and Other Inner Guides, was published by Collective Ink in the U.K. in 2025 .

Registration required by each attendee.

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.

Zoe Evans, rewilding coach and VP of Partnerships & Programs at Wildr shares a practical, science-informed framework for evaluating a home landscape, identifying its greatest habitat opportunities, and choosing actions that support more plants, insects, birds, and other wildlife.

Registration link coming soon.