Our vision is to restore and sustain biodiversity through education and the practice of landscaping with native plants
News and Upcoming Events
Pints and Native Plants
an informal meet-up to have drinks together and talk about native plants
Thursday, December 14
7 pm, Brewery Outré
Prairie & Savanna Plants for Pollinator Gardens
featuring Neil Diboll, prairie ecologist and co-author of The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants
Wednesday, January 24
on Zoom
Check Out the Seed Library
Native seeds are loaded up and available for winter sowing at Portage District Library! No library card needed.
Click below to learn more and browse the seed catalog
It Takes a Village
Interested in getting more involved with KAWO?
Please consider volunteering for one of our many service committees or our elected Executive Committee. Election of board officers is end of November.
We have particular need for a Community Projects leader. Could this be you?
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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