Birds, Bees & Butterflies: A Native Garden Tour

223 Forest Ave,Oak Park IL 60302

24 July, 2021

Description

Get a tour of 8 native gardens in Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park and Berwyn! This year's garden walk is an in-person tour of eight gardens throughout the Oak Park/River Forest/Forest Park/Berwyn region. You’ll learn from these home gardeners who have been experimenting with and observing native plants for many years. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN: This garden tour will help you visualize how you can bring native plants into your own yard. You’ll gain very practical, hands-on information and tips that will inspire you and help you see how affordable, beautiful, and rewarding native gardening can be. COST: This program is $10 for West Cook Wild Ones members and $15 for non-members. Kids attend for free! TOUR MAP: Ticket holders will receive a tour map two days before the event. JOIN THE MOVEMENT! Native plant gardening offers people an intriguing, gratifying and stimulating activity. It’s easy to locate plants through native plant sales and nurseries and to find seed sources through the internet or Wild Ones chapters. More than 800 gardeners in the near-west suburbs have pledged to grow native plants in support of the West Cook Wildlife Corridor. You can be a part of this movement! Growing native plants can be a rewarding family activity as you learn about the plants and animals that have called Northern Illinois home for thousands of years. BENEFITS OF NATIVE GARDENING: Native gardens are high-performance, lower-maintenance gardens that bring huge benefits to a home landscape: they eliminate the need for poisonous pesticides or expensive commercial fertilizers, reduce home energy consumption, help reduce flooding after storms, and decrease the need for sprinklers and other outdoor water use. In addition, growing a large native garden is a powerful way to combat climate change by helping capture carbon dioxide from the air and storing it in your soil. And perhaps most importantly, by growing native plants, you can provide essential habitat for birds, bees, butterflies and threatened pollinators. Habitat loss is among the primary factors driving population declines of important local and migratory species. Every additional native plant garden, no matter how small, can help preserve this biodiversity. PRESENTERS: West Cook Wild Ones and the Interfaith Green Network are proud to present this in-person garden tour. West Cook Wild Ones shares information with landowners about how important their landscaping choices are. We share our ideas, skills, and knowledge with others so that their yards can be hospitable to other animals. Working together, we all can ensure the continuation of ecosystem benefits we receive from healthy, beneficial animal and plant populations.  Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes promotes environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities. Wild Ones is a not-for-profit environmental education and advocacy organization.