Events Calendar

Limestone means alkaline soil, selecting for plants that thrive in that condition, including a healthy selection of ferns. Park along the pull-off. Bring appropriate attire for a hike and the weather. The walk will be shady. Host: Dustin Mitchell, 314-616-2667.  Always check the Events Calendar for any cancellation.

Visit Three Public Gardens Utilizing Native Plants. This tour is open to all. Wild Ones member Jennifer Michelle is serving as greeter for the tours.

10:00 AM: SoBro Conservancy of Saratoga. A docent will be on site all day. 209 South Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY. Please do not park in the Dunkin' lot or any of the neighboring businesses. There is street parking on Hamilton. Strike Zone (the bowling alley between Hamilton and Ballston Ave) has generously agreed to allow garden tour visitors to park there. Both options are just a short block away from SoBro, with a crosswalk signal to help you cross the Hamilton-Ballston intersection.

11:30 AM: Saratoga YMCA Pollinator Garden tour with Joy Keith. 290 West Ave, Saratoga Springs, NY. For parking, the best entrance is from West St (you may not see this on Google Maps, but it is there). Follow the perimeter of the property until you get to the furthest parking lot and park there. Walk to the pavilion (or park alongside it, if space allows) to meet for our tour.  

1:00 PM: Hudson Crossing Park at Lock C5, Schuylerville, NY. Tour with Mary Roberts  - Directions:  From Saratoga, take Route 29 to Schuylerville. Turn left at a lighted intersection onto routes 4 and 32 North. In about 1/2 mile, turn right at the Champlain Canal Lock C5 and the Hudson Crossing Park signs. Cross over the lock and continue to the parking area at the big iron gate.

No registration required, but check the website (https://capitalregionny.wildones.org/) before heading out in case of cancellation due to weather or unforeseen circumstances.

Come enjoy a walk through this lovely nature preserve filled with native plants! There will be lots to see in this small but lovely forest walk. For more info on the Orra Phelps Preserve, see:
https://saratogaplan.org/explore-parks-and-trails/orra-phelps-nature-preserve/

Sunday 13th 1-3:30 pm  join us for a brief membership meeting followed by an afternoon of creating an art collage together.  The large collages will become a traveling display (“Cultivate a Hopeful Community”).  You can also make a smaller collage to take home.  We will receive instruction from artist Kathy Zazarine on how to collage and make it appear 3D.  If you are able, please save and bring items such as empty seed packets, prints of native plants, butterflies, caterpillars, birds, pollinators, trees and some actual leaves or copies of leaves, in addition to small printed words with a conservation theme. Location is Pine Hollow Arboretum 34 Pine Hollow Rd, Slingerlands, NY 12159.  If you have time, come early or stay late to explore the beautiful grounds. 

Starting at the visitor center, we will walk the Native Plant Collection trail, approximately 1mi. Parking and visit are free, although Landis requests a $5 donation per visitor. Bring appropriate attire for a hike and the weather. Parts of the walk will be sunny, there are minor hills, and the trails can be slippery when wet. Host: Dustin Mitchell, 314-616-2667. Always check the Events Calendar for any cancellation.

Three Gardens to visit in Schenectady County - registration required https://forms.gle/XhzvKq4UT65sQbtp6 , open to members + guest. 

 1. Dustin M. 10:00am - 2:00pm:   This suburban garden has a bit of everything: a professionally designed and installed native garden; "plantsman's" beds with unique specimens; perennial vegetables; a few failed attempts; weeds; and a pitched battle with invasives from the schoolyard in the back.  Thirteen years ago this was an overgrown "big box store garden", and Dustin is learning as he goes how to make it a beautiful, ecologically positive place. Come by to learn and to share your knowledge, swap gardening stories, or just see some happy ferns.

   2.  Betsy H. 11:00am - 1:00pm:   Betsy has been re-wilding the vacant lot next door to her Schenectady home.  In addition to lots of native trees, shrubs, and perennials, she's made two 9 x40 ft founder plots to grow seeds from plants in our ecoregion, collected from the Woodlawn Preserve and has planned to grow plugs to plant this year. 

    3.  Schenectady County Cornell Cooperative Extension 11:30am - 1:30pm:  Schenetady CCE opens their gardens to Wild Ones and will have several master gardeners on hand to talk about the development of their native gardens. 

Gathering near the historic Whipple Bridge at River View and Van Vranken Roads, we will walk out to Fort’s Ferry and make a short loop. We will use David H. Behm’s list of observed invasive plants as a checklist to practice identifying invasives. Bring appropriate attire for a hike, the weather, and flying insects. Parts of the walk will be sunny. Host: Dustin Mitchell, 314-616-2667. Always check the Events Calendar for any cancellation.

Two private residences in Albany County, slowly converting to the use of natvie plantings in their landscape.

Tour the Demonstration Gardens at CCE, with Horticulturist  and WO Member Carol Henry, as well as several Master Gardeners as they show how they have begun to usitilize native plants into their many garden projects.

In search of asters and allies, we will explore all of the early-fall blooms we find. We will walk both the blue and red trails, totaling about 1.5mi. Bring appropriate attire for a hike and the weather. Host: Dustin Mitchell, 314-616-2667. Always check the Events Calendar for any cancellation.
 

Two Private residences. 

Details coming soon! 

Sunday Sept 21 2:30pm- 5pm Annual Wild Ones Garden Party! hosted at Kelly Adirondack Center What a great 4th year our Wild Ones chapter has had! Come celebrate our successful growth and projects at our  Annual Wild Ones Garden Party!  We will also conduct a brief annual meeting and elect new officers.  It will be a wonderful opportunity to mingle with members and fellow garden enthusiasts, maybe win a prize, and enjoy a special tour of the facility.  We will have refreshments.  Bring an interested friend(s): registration required to plan for appetizers:  https://forms.gle/tm8yHpmmJQWfqaK19 

Beginning at the smaller Falstaff’s parking lot near Broadway, we will take the red loop trail, about 1.1mi, seeking late wildflowers, enjoying the fall foliage, and thinking about the soil structure all this falling plant matter supports. Bring appropriate attire for a hike and the weather. Host: Dustin Mitchell, 314-616-2667. Always check the Events Calendar for any cancellation.

Details coming soon! 

Friday 7th, 8:30am. Henry Gerber Reist Bird Sanctuary, 897 St David's Ln, Niskayuna, NY. Park at the Kelly Adirondack Center. From there we will follow the Paul Schaefer Yellow Trail, about 1.3mi, looking out for birds, late-fall flora, and the remnants of dry vernal pools. Bring appropriate attire for a hike and the weather; note that this area can get wet and muddy. Host: Dustin Mitchell, 314-616-2667. Always check the Events Calendar for any cancellation.

Details coming soon!