Welcome to Kalamazoo Area Wild Ones

Our vision is to restore and sustain biodiversity through education and the practice of landscaping with native plants

News and Upcoming Events

glass of beer against a yellow flower background

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.”

bumble bee on purple flower
Yellow bumble bee (Bombus fervidus) on wild bergamot. photo by N. Nickson

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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