Connecting people and native plants in southwest Michigan
Silent Auction for Artwork
The original artwork created by local artist Olivia Mendoza for our 2025 Wild Ones Garden Sign is being offered in a silent auction this fall. The custom colored-pencil artwork is 18×20 inches and comes matted in black in a 25×37 inch black frame. Bidding opened at $300 on September 24 and closes at 6:30pm on November 19 at the beginning of our final KAWO Program of the year at Portage District Library. A paper bid sheet will be available there at 6:00pm. You may also bid via email to [email protected].
Pints and Native Plants
This fall is a great time to check out our monthly social! Come by to chat about native plants over local brews.
7:00pm on third Thursdays at Brewery Outré
November 20
December 18
November
Program
From home-grown native gardens in Kalamazoo, to critical but underappreciated landforms in the Great Lakes, environmental historian Dr. Lynne Heasley will explore how local ecological knowledge-building can become a powerful form of storytelling.
Wednesday, November 19
6:30pm
Portage District Library
Collaborate • Educate • Advocate
Help Us Connect People with Native Plants
We elect chapter officers every year in November. You can join one of our service committees any time, or get hands-on native landscaping experience through our community projects from spring through early fall.
Our Purpose – Your Importance
Native plants are part of our rich natural heritage here in Southwest Michigan. The Kalamazoo Area chapter of Wild Ones was established to help inform, educate and offer resources to people interested in learning about native plants. There simply isn’t enough protected or potentially protectable land to depend on its saving our birds, mammals, amphibians and insects, including pollinators.
You can make a difference—no matter the size of your yard
“Whether you live in the city or the country, on a small lot or a large property, you can help preserve the biological diversity of southwest Michigan by reducing the size of your lawn (or eliminating it entirely) and replacing it with native plants. These plants, as opposed to non-native ones, support the herbivorous insects on which all other wildlife—and we ourselves—directly or indirectly depend.”
You can make a difference—by making simple changes
“By planting a diverse assortment of native trees, shrubs, wildflowers and grasses in your yard, you’ll be doing your part to replace the vast amount of habitat that has been lost to development or destroyed by invasive non-native plants. You’ll be helping to slow the rapid extinction of species already under way and providing protection for the plants and animals of our region against the coming rigors of climate change, with its increased temperatures and scarcity of water.”
You can make a difference—and you can see it
“For using native plants to supply food and shelter for wildlife, you’ll be richly rewarded right away. Your yard will come alive with butterflies and birds, which—along with the constantly changing spectacle of the plants themselves—will provide a year-round source of interest and drama. You and your family will be drawn ever closer into a rich and satisfying relationship with nature.”
” ” as articulated by Nancy Small, co-founder of KAWO
Learn more about the importance of native plants at
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