On July 9, 2026, we met at Deer Grove Forest Preserve where Sue Gorr taught us about the monitoring protocol for bumblebees. We learned the types of bumblebees that are being monitored, and the plants to use for forage. We arrived at 10 am, and it immediately started downpouring! What an amazing group! Nobody complained;…
June Luncheon and Plant Swap
On June 19, we all met for a potluck lunch and plant swap. Food was plentiful and delicious, and everyone went all out to bring their best and tastiest. The highlight, however, had to be the plants! Everyone brought plants that were left over from their spring planting and winter sowing. The excitement was tangible…
Crabtree Nature Center, May 31, 2026
What a wonderful day we enjoyed tabling at Crabtree Nature Center. The weather was perfect and the visitors were interested in learning. We handed out incarnata and butterfly milkweed plugs. We answered many questions and discovered many people were unaware of the monarch life cycle and migration. We enjoyed the Polish dancing and the costumed…
Spring Clean-up River Trails Parking Lot Island
We had a beautifully cool day to work on the island. It looks better and better each time we come back. This time we found false indigo thriving, now that it has room to grow! Thank you, Jerry, from River Trails, for these wonderful photos. Thank you to this hardworking crew for their dedication to…
2026 Extension Master Gardener Seed Expo
On March 7 at the College of Lake County, we tabled at the Seed Expo. We had 38 varieties of seeds and distributed approximately 2500 packets of seeds! We advocated to many the importance of planting native seeds and made many wonderful contacts! It was a tiring and amazing event!
Day of Service – Martin Luther King Day
Once again, we used Martin Luther King Day as a day of service to package our seeds to hand out at the upcoming Seed Expo in March. Our twenty volunteers, from Rochelle Zell High School to MMM members to granddaughters and friends, we packaged approximately 1500 envelopes of a large variety of seeds! Fortunately or…
River Trails Nature Center Seed Swap
We were so honored to be back at River Trails Nature Center for their Seed Swap on Sunday Jan. 11. While we didn’t have many seeds to give out, attendees loved our butterfly pins for all and coloring sheets for the children. Attendees were most interested in native plants and asked many wonderful and insightful…
Wild Ones Conference, Nov. 8, 2025
It was a pleasure and an honor to be able to tell Dr. Tallamy, in person, the influence has had on our group. It is because of him the group was founded and because of him we do what we do. We took great pride in listening to him speak while wearing one of our…
River Trails Nature Center Fall Festival
Despite the inclement weather, we had a wonderful time at the 2025 Fall Fest. The River Trails staff was kind enough to locate us indoors! We handed out a flat and a half of milkweed plugs and many butterfly pins, bookmarks, and coloring sheets. It was a pleasure to speak with the children and their…
Shermerfest, Sunday Sept. 21
Shermerfest is Northbrook’s annual historic festival. We were proud to be a part of the festival and spread the word about native plants and helping the environment. We handed out native plugs, butterfly pins, coloring sheets, and bookmarks. Tracy Katz Muhl, Northbrook’s state representative, stopped by to show her support for us.