November Member Meeting

Tuesday | November 18, 2025

Annual Meeting, Seed Exchange and Volunteer Recognition Pizza Party

Pizza and Seed Exchange | 6:00 pm

Annual Meeting | 7:15 pm

Richfield Community Center, 7000 Nicollet Ave

Please join us to celebrate another amazing year as we reflect on all the educational programs, tours, plant sale and community events where volunteers like you brought our message out into the greater Twin Cities area. 

We'll start the evening with Pizza and a Seed Exchange with ample time to socialize, followed by a brief and official Annual Meeting to elect chapter officers for 2026. We've also invited members who are Artists to showcase their work and share a little about how their love and passion for native plants has influenced their art or craft. 

Do you have native plant seeds to share? 

Start collecting and bring seeds in containers or small sleeve envelopes. Label with common and scientific name along with any pertinent information about date and location seeds were collected.

Are you a chapter member and artist?

Please contact Susan Van Baerle at svb3@comcast.net  to receive an invite to showcase your work. More details will be sent out in a letter to active members. 

Would like more information about joining our chapter leadership team?

We have several board members stepping down this year and look forward to a new generation of Wild One members stepping up to carry our chapter and mission into the future. Please contact any chapter leader or email info@wildonestwincities.org for more information.

Reflecting on our last program at Wood Lake Nature Center prior to their closing to rebuild. We look forward to returning to Wood Lake in the future. Photos by Laura Burlis. 

October Program

Thursday, October 16, 2025

Social 6:30 pm. | Program 7:00 pm

Richfield Community Center,  7000 Nicollet Ave 

Ants: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Elizabeth Chaigne

Watch the live stream of our program online HERE.

In this presentation we will be looking at the rather unsuspecting and yet ever present insect: the ant. With their armies, they bring about many benefits to our yards and gardens and of course some disadvantages too. Topics covered include some basic morphology, most common species in MN, life cycle and roles they play in their colonies and how to best manage them. We will also cover some interesting and fun facts about these sometimes overlooked little critters. 

Elizabeth Chaigne has been an enthusiastic gardener from early childhood to the present day. She has been a master gardener with the University of Minnesota since 2014. Her backyard garden in Golden Valley is filled with some tried-and-trues and some vegetables that are perhaps a little less common. Her most recent project has been working in her garden at her home in France where she gets to explore a growing season of plants that extends up to growing zone 9! She draws from her years living and cooking in France as well as her experience as a master gardener in Minnesota to create meals and eat directly out of the garden. Other than vegetables, her gardens are self-landscaped into various perennial flower and shrub areas leaving plenty of space for her three dogs to romp.

September Program

 

September 18, 2025

Social 6:30 pm. | Program 7:00 pm

Richfield Community Center,  7000 Nicollet Ave 

Click here to view the presentation online.

Asters and Goldenrod: 

Powerhouse Plants for Pollinators

Presenter: Rhonda Fleming Hayes

You see them blooming on roadsides in the fall, these beauties of blue, purple, and gold. They are some of the most important plants for pollinators as the growing season comes to an end. Learn more about their value for pollinators, the different varieties, and how to grow them in your garden.

Rhonda is a freelance writer and author. Her work has been published in the Star Tribune, Northern Gardener, Mpls St Paul magazine, Southern Living, Midwest Living and more. Her first book was Pollinator Friendly Gardening and coming in Spring 2026 is Gardening for Life: Strategies for Easier, Greener, More Joyful Gardening as We Age.