Events

All members are invited to join the next Wild Ones Mid-Hudson Valley leadership team meeting on zoom. We will be discussing a range of topics. Interested members-volunteers are welcome to join. If you would like to attend, please get in touch with us at [email protected]. As a new chapter, we have a lot we're doing and planning, and we appreciate our members' participation!

Public gardens hold tremendous power to influence landscaping norms and inspire change. By showcasing the beauty, functionality, and ecological value of native plants, these spaces help foster biodiversity, advocate for sustainable practices, and engage communities in environmental stewardship. 

This webinar will explore how public and demonstration gardens serve as powerful tools for native plant advocacy. Attendees will learn how gardens move beyond aesthetics to spark action—turning appreciation into engagement and inspiring participants to replicate these practices in their own communities.

We will hear insights from Nicole Machuca, Environmental Social Scientist at the Field Museum, on how public gardens influence behaviors, foster stewardship, and connect people to conservation efforts through research and community engagement. The Wild Ones Capital Region NY and the Wild Ones San Diego (CA) Chapters will share their experiences building native plant demonstration gardens and how these spaces drive community engagement, education, and advocacy. And We'll finish with a conversation exploring how public gardens create a lasting impact beyond planting day moderated by Kelly Kapuzzi, Demonstration Garden Char with the Wild Ones Hocking Hills (OH) Chapter.

The Gardiner Library and Wild Ones Mid-Hudson Valley are hosting a native plant sale again this year.
Plants are $4 each. Cash or check preferred. Debit/credit available.

These small plants, called landscape plugs, are much less expensive than container plants and an excellent way to keep costs down while trying out some new plants.

Proceeds to benefit the library.

To ensure that we have enough plants available this year:

-We have increased the number of plants to 1600.
-We will limit the quantity to 1/2 flat per customer (either 16 or 25 plants depending on flat size). Please note that anyone interested in purchasing more than the 1/2 flat limit should contact Angela Sisson at [email protected] to see about making arrangements for a larger purchase.

Plant species available at this year’s sale include:

Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) 
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
False Blue Indigo (Baptisia australis)
Longflower Alumroot (Heuchera longiflora)
Blue Flag (Iris versicolor)
Beebalm (Monarda didyma ‘Jacob Cline’)
Sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa)
Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea) 
Woodland Phlox (Phlox divaricata ‘Blue Moon’)
Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium reptans)
Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum)

Join us for a visit to Stonecrop Gardens. Known for its dramatic landscape of windswept fields and rocky slopes, Stonecrop is located in Cold Spring, NY. The gardens were created by Garden Conservancy founder Frank Cabot and his wife Anne. The garden’s mission is to inspire gardeners to explore the variety of plants and to experiment in the garden. Though these gardens are not exclusively or even primarily planted with natives, we will be focusing on design principles. The woodland, cliff rock garden, and water gardens can provide inspiration to those who are interested in creating naturalistic garden designs using native. We will receive an orientation to the garden and then as a group explore the woodlands together collecting ideas that can be applied to shade gardens using native species. After that you’ll be free to explore on your own the cliff rock gardens, alpine gardens, etc. on a self guided tour.

There is a $10 general admission ($5 for seniors 65+) to Stonecrop Garden which will be collected at the site. Registration is required with a limit of 20 people. Registration will be available closer to the event date. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive program announcements. Carpooling for this event is encouraged. If you have any questions please contact [email protected]

Flying Trillium Gardens and Preserve is located in the southern Catskill Mountains in Sullivan County, NY. The gardens are an ongoing work by author, teacher, and landscape designer, Carolyn Summers. Throughout her career, Carolyn has been acutely aware of the need for clients, DIY homeowners, and designers to be able to see how lovely native plants are when used in garden settings. The Catskills - mostly in a Zone 5 climate - makes an excellent test for fitness and hardiness. In addition to managed gardens, large areas of the property are preserved to protect native flora in their natural habitats, along with the wildlife that depend on them. We invite you to come and experience the beauty, diversity and sustainability of the native flora for yourself. These gardens will leave you inspired to plant more of the same.

Registration is required and will be available closer to the tour date.

 Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive program announcements. Address will be sent to all who register. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

Join us for a visit to Innisfree Gardens located in Millbrook, NY. It is widely considered one of the ten best botanical gardens in the country, known for its iconic landscape, poetic design, and innovative nature-based land management. We meet at the garden and have a short presentation by Landscape Curator Kate Kerin to hear about the ecological-based methods used in design and maintenance that help support succession and another process that yields functional plant communities. The result is a poetic design and a resilient, biodiverse landscape with low capital and labor requirements. We will then tour the garden as a group to enjoy its seasonal highlights. After that, you’ll be free to explore on your own.

Participants will pay the Innisfree Garden admission on site, which is $10 for general admission ($5 for seniors 65+). Registration is required, and there will be a limit of 20 people. Registration will be available closer to the event date. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive program announcements. Carpooling for this event is encouraged. If you have any questions, please get in touch with [email protected]

Join for a tour provided by the Beatrix Farrand Garden Association of the Bellfield Historic Site’s new Wild Garden. In the spring of 2024, volunteers planted these stimulating new gardens. The association’s volunteers planted hundreds of herbaceous native plant plugs in a new wild garden surrounding the walled site. We’ll hear about the experimental approach their team has been using to keep deer from the plants as they get established and learn about the work the group is doing to save this significant garden. The Garden Association is a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving the work of Beatrix Farrand, a renowned landscape designer who helped shape American gardens in the first half of the 20th century. She championed the use of intriguing and delightful perennial plants in gardens.  

Registration is required with a limit of 20 people. Registration will be available closer to the event date. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive program announcements.  If you have any questions please contact [email protected]

Join us for a presentation by Eli Arnow. Discover the history of deer in New York, and how deer populations skyrocketed to their current levels endangering the future of our forests. Learn what we can do to protect and steward the forests and flowers we love in the face of this ecological emergency. We'll cover potential policy changes and long-term strategies as well as actions you can take right now in your own backyard. Bring your questions for a discussion following the presentation.

Eli Arnow is an ecological hunter, land steward, and environmental advocate serving as chair of the Forest Health Task Force at Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley. He has a masters degree from SUNY ESF in Environmental Science with a concentration in ecological restoration and lives in southern Columbia County.

Registration is required. A registration link will be available closer to the event date.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive program announcements.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

This presentation at the Gardiner Library will be followed by a deer exclosure workshop on private property later in June.

Join us for this hands-on workshop led by Eli Arnow. We will create a deer exclosure of about 7000 square feet using 8-foot high, heavy duty and long lasting 'deer fence' in a pine grove. The purpose of the exclosure is to protect a remnant population of native lady slippers from deer browse while allowing other native species to flourish. Creating deer exclosures protects plants from deer browse while providing an opportunity to restore forest understory species lost due to decades of deer overabundance. Participants will learn how to site a deer exclosure and how they can install similar deer fencing on their own property.

Eli Arnow is an ecological hunter, land steward, and environmental advocate serving as chair of the Forest Health Task Force at Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley. He has a masters degree from SUNY ESF in Environmental Science with a concentration in ecological restoration and lives in southern Columbia County.

The workshop will be held on private property in Wallkill.

Registration is required. A registration link will be available closer to the event date.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive program announcements.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

Join us for an exciting opportunity to learn about the ecology and wildflowers of the Hawthorn Valley Farmscape Ecology Program in Ghent, NY. We’ll tour the wildflower plantings in the vegetable garden, explore the hedgerow plantings, and check out the intriguingly named beetle bank. The program, founded in 2003, conducts participatory research on aspects of the County’s ecology, history, and culture to stimulate exploration and build love and knowledge of the ecological and cultural fabric of a diverse Hudson Valley landscape. If you joined us for the tour of HV Farm Hub last year, you know that the team strives to understand how past and present agricultural land use has influenced the ecology of our current landscape. They look at how wild nature interacts with landscapes and farm production through the lives of pollinators and pest predators. You’re sure to be inspired and bring home some new ideas to try.

Registration is required with a limit of 20 people. Registration will be available closer to the event date. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive program announcements. Carpooling for this event is encouraged. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]

Join us for a visit to Earth Tones Native Plant Nursery in Woodbury, CT. 

Earth Tones is a unique nursery that specializes in growing and selling Northeast native plants that are both beautiful and ecologically beneficial. Earth Tones offers nearly 400 native plant species, most of which have been propagated on site. (See last year’s catalog for a listing of plants – Earth Tones Plant Catalog 2024.) In addition to plant sales, the nursery offers landscape design, installation (rain gardens, meadows, bogs), habitat restoration, stormwater management and wetlands mitigation services.

We will tour the nursery with the owner and learn about the nursery’s origins, their propagation methods, the development and infrastructure of the nursery along with lots of information about their plants. The nursery is quite large and located on a hill. Come prepared for lots of walking on steepish paths.

Registration is required. A registration link will be available closer to the event date.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive program announcements.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

Join us for a tour of the Mountain Top Arboretum in Tannersville, NY.

We will meet with our guide Marc Wolf, the Director of Horticulture, at the Education Center and explore the building first. This timber-frame construction was built using twenty-one species of native trees from the Arboretum’s forest. From here we will explore the landscape surrounding the center, planted exclusively with species native to the Catskills. Designed by Jamie Purinton of the Hudson Valley, this landscape also features six interconnected rain gardens. The tour will then proceed to the West Meadow area which includes another Rain Garden, the Bird Cove and Spiral Labyrinth. Of special note in this area is a new 1.5-acre meadow designed by Larry Weaner. This is the meadow’s second growing season and hopefully we’ll see biennials such as Black-eyed Susan in full bloom.

For those with the time and energy, we encourage you to continue exploring with a self-directed tour of the Woodland Walk, East Meadow and Spruce Glen.

Registration is required and will be available closer to the event date.

Address will be sent to all who register. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive program announcements. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

When it comes to nurseries, Catskill Native Nursery stands out among the crowd. They offer-

1) A truly unusual number of native plant species and plant types;

2) Beautiful on-site native plant gardens to wander through; and

3) Knowledgeable staff able to discuss the plants along with ecological landscaping principles.

Please join us on this field trip for a talk by the nursery manager. We’ll discuss planting natives along with other ecological landscaping topics followed by a Q&A. The discussion incorporates a stroll through the gardens (border, cottage, and woodland) where an extensive variety of native plants have found a home. Whatever your native-gardening level—beginner to advanced—this field trip will further your understanding and leave you inspired to learn more – plant more.

Catskill Native Nursery has been inspiring gardeners since 1999 to create biodiverse and remarkably ornamental gardens using plants that are native to eastern North America.

Registration is required. A registration link will be available closer to the tour date. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive program announcements. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

Join us to learn about the Wild Woods Restoration Project's incredible work. We will tour one of their sites in Salisbury Mills, NY. We will learn more about their mission of restoring the health and diversity of forests with local native plants grown by volunteers in the region. The group collects and stores seeds, grows seedlings and plants for restoration projects, and partners to rescue and relocate plants from development sites. Using a holistic approach, the group supports healthy forests by restoring the understory layers that support larger trees. We will see their handy work and learn about the success and challenges it entails.  

Registration is required with a limit of 20 people. Registration will be available closer to the event date. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive program announcements. Parking is limited at the site, and we will be arranging and carpooling for this event. If you have any questions please contact [email protected]

Details coming soon! 

Details coming soon! 

Details coming soon! 

Seed Swap!  Lots of volunteers needed as we come together to exchange seeds!  Interested in contributing seed?  Helping with a bake sale?  Activities for children? Get in touch!  [email protected]