Events Calendar

Our "will-be" garden of dreams serves both the students and families of Orange Grove, as well as patients and families of Memorial Hospital and the nearby neighborhood.

We’ll have classroom work, as well as plenty of walking around eyeballing work to do in this large garden with newly installed hardscaping for easy patient access. But what this garden still needs is that special native garden touch. That’s where this learning class and instructor Jared Odell come in.

We will divide up in groups and envision the spaces of this "would-be" garden. We’ll make rough notebook sketches/plans and notes. All the while, the instructor will walk among us, hear us, prompt us, add his thoughts. Then we will gather again in the classroom, report our ideas, talk about them and make a plan. We'll design. And we'll do so with an Earth emphasis.

It’s a twofer. It will help and empower Orange Grove and teach and empower us in our own gardens.

Gabe LePage from the Food Forest Coalition of Chattanooga will discuss edible native plants and how to use them to make a more abundant landscape. 

Here is what Gabe says about his program:

We can cultivate the land towards mercy and delight. In this presentation, we will meet some of the plant characters native to this area that have long sustained human life, and consider how they can help us create a more abundant landscape in our neighborhoods and in Chattanooga. We will discuss the idea of food forests and how food forests can heal the land, feed us, and build up the social fabric of our communities. By growing edible native plants, we can take care of the land as it cares for us, and encourage a social economy with enough to go around. 

Gabe is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and Yale School of the Environment, holding a Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Environmental Management. His undergraduate degrees were in International Development Studies and Geography at Calvin College. He has experience in urban forestry programs, urban agriculture and community gardening, and Asset Based Community Development. Trained in systems thinking and participatory organizing techniques, he believes strongly in the ways that community-led greenspaces and gardens build the social fabric of our neighborhoods, reduce isolation, and build trust for addressing larger systemic issues.

We invite everyone who has helped us make the TN Valley chapter of Wild Ones a success by volunteering their time, money and/or expertise. Please come and enjoy each other's company! We'll have a light lunch. 

More event details coming soon!

Please join Wild Ones at green|spaces for a discussion of Robin Wall Kimmerer's new book, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. Through the practice of asking plants for guidance, the author gathered what the Serviceberry tree has to share about a “Serviceberry economy.”

The Serviceberry provokes questions for discussion, such as:

What do you notice if you consider the world as gift?

How does the Serviceberry tree demonstrate that “all flourishing is mutual”?

What else does the Serviceberry teach us? And what else can we learn through the practice of observing the living world and taking inspiration for human ways of living from its model?

The book is expanded from its original publication as an article appearing in Emergence Magazine. If you don't have time to read the book, please read the article and attend. You can locate the article here:  https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/the-serviceberry/

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.

Join us for a hike to Big Possum Creek bluffs to see peak blooms of thousands of blooming trout lily (Erythronium americanum), shooting stars (Primula meadia) and Carey's saxifrage (Micranthes careyana), plus several other early wildflowers.  

It is an easy trail, but moderate difficulty with two significant elevation changes when coupled with almost 3.5 miles of trail.

Spring Plant Sale.

Join us for this free event.  A variety of local and regional native plant nurseries will be selling a large selection of plants.

More info coming soon.

The course will explore in depth the ecology, spring wildflowers, and temperate deciduous forest of the North Chickamauga Creek State Natural Area. Topics will include local geology, the forest system, plant interactions, wildflower life histories, and wildflower identification. The class will take place along a½-mile 1`trail from the parking lot to the crossing of North Chickamauga Creek, with two short side trips.

PLEASE NOTE: Participants will be required to make a ½ mile leisurely trek along a moderately steep trail into the cove and then back out again. People with mobility and balance issues have found this hike challenging. 

Note also that there are no facilities at this venue, so you need to take care of any needs at the Circle K convenience store at the corner on Old Dayton Pike and Montlake Road.

What to bring with you:

Bring a copy of the Tennessee Native Plant Society’s Wildflowers of Tennessee by Horn and Cathcart, if you have it. If you have a 10x magnifier, that would also be helpful. We will provide you with a list of plant species you are likely to see along with a picture sheet to use in the field. Hiking shoes and rain gear will be needed along with any snacks or water needed.

Join us for a presentation by Nathaniel Bankhead for a presentation about permaculture and invasive species management.

This talk is an invitation to a more thoughtful and energy-conscious approach to invasive plant remediation and native plant restoration, because harvesting is more skillful than killing.  Nathaniel will utilize examples of Wild Violet and others' work in removing invasive plants via grazing, medicine making, composting and more while reintroducing native edible and medicinal species. 

Born and raised in Tennessee, Nathaniel has spent time as a farmer, teacher and learner in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Kansas and Kentucky.  Attracted to permaculture out of a desire to draw on the best of both agroecology and community development, he is owner and operator of Wild Violet Permaculture.  He specializes in land restoration with a focus on reforestation, grazing, and medicinal herbs.  His clientele include nonprofit organizations, the City of Chattanooga, and private landowners across southern Appalachia.  Check out the website for educational opportunities, including a locals only permaculture design course. 
 

Join TN Valley Wild Ones members and hike leader, Stephan Eselgroth, MD, for a unique spring wildflower hike at the Arabia National Heritage Area, in Stonecrest, Georgia. Dr. Eselgroth has over 20 years of natural and sustainable native habitat gardening experience, RainSmart Yard and NWF certifications at his home, and is an active volunteer and hikes manager for our Wild Ones chapter. 

Along the southeast margins of Atlanta lie several massive granite outcrops. Called monadnocks, the largest of them include Stone, Panola and Arabia mountains. Geologically, they are residual plumes of magma called plutons, and have resisted erosion relative to their surroundings. We will visit the oldest, Arabia, that formed 400 million years ago. It offers us viewing of unique habitats, with several endemic native plants. In 1972, the Davidson family donated 500+ acres of Arabia Mountain and surrounding lands to DeKalb County for a nature preserve. Through further acquisitions, this now includes 2,550 acres, with a trail system along several granite outcrops and two lakes. There are two endangered plant species and many endemic species found only on rock outcrops. A prime opportunity at Arabia is the spring bloom of extensive colonies of the beautiful diamorpha (elf orpine), which thrives in the shallow solution pits or edges of pools characteristic of weathered granite. The Arabia monadnock underwent significant quarrying activities and remained mostly open and free from regrowth of shrub and canopy vegetation. This favors the diamorpha, wooly ragwort, hairy stem spiderwort, pool sprite, Georgia oak and other disturbance dependent species. 

The trail winds around the lake, and up the massive granite formation. Mostly easy with short moderate sections, to see savanna, lakeside, smooth rock slopes and 360 degree views. Includes unique solution pits, seeps, pools and rock formations. We plan to also check out even higher densities of diamorpha at the main quarry and more plants, dragonflies, salamanders and frogs at the pond behind the nature center. Potential stop about 45 minutes out of the way at the Nearly Native Nursery on the return trip.

Rating: Easy with a few moderate sections for a short elevation gain/loss or uneven terrain.

Distance: 3 miles at Arabia mtn top loop, and 1 mile at quarry. Approximately 4 hours at the trails.

Links: Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve, iNaturalist Arabia Mtn species, Trail Maps

Registration opens 4 weeks prior to event

Board members meet to discuss our chapter's progress and make decisions when necessary.

Landscapes in Progress events were designed as a way for our members to learn more about native plant gardening from the experiences of other members. Like all of our gardens, these gardens are "in progress." They do not have to be perfect, although there are always some really amazing and beautiful things to see! We have found that these garden visits are a great way to learn about a variety of native plants and the conditions in which they thrive. 

Join members of the Tennessee Valley Chapter of Wild Ones for a tour of two of our members' gardens. Both gardens are in the Signal Mtn, TN area. Stay tuned for more details!

Overview:  Plant Communities is a biology/ecology-based core course required for the Certificate in Native Plants.  It will be an in-person course scheduled for six hours of instruction and self-study.  The course will be a combination of outdoor observations and PowerPoint presentations. Students will go home with instructions to adopt a plant community of his/her choosing and using guiding questions, prepare a report to be returned to the instructors.
 

Plant communities are assemblages of plant species living together in a given place. Interactions among plant species, the interactions plants have with other organisms, and the interactions plants have with their physical environment all work together to determine the community's structure over time. This class will give an overview on these interactions throughout the globe and a more specific study of the plant communities that occur in our region and the multitude of factors that create them.

Location: The location will be sent to registrants with other pre-class materials.

Materials to bring! Notebook, pencils, snacks, water, and a lunch. This class will be both in and out of doors, please wear weather-appropriate clothing and foot wear.

The program will be a panel of participants describing their experiences in installing school native plant gardens. See Angela Dittmar to participate.

Join us on a hike led by Dennis Horn, TNPS Charter member/Author/Naturalist and botanical guru.  He will be our hike guide and lead us through middle Tennessee's Barrens ecosystem for grassland species at the Arnold Engineering Development Center and at May Prairie.  Dennis is co-author of “Wildflowers of Tennessee,” and you can bring your copy for an autograph or purchase an updated edition at the hike. 

First walk along with us roadside and into the large power line cut at Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) to see slender blue Iris (Iris prismatica), cinnamon fern (Osmundastrum cinnamomeum), native orchids: tuberous grasspink (Calopogon tuberosus), spreading pogonia (Cleistesiopsis bifaria), and possibly ragged fringed orchid (Platanthera lacera) and rose pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides).  We should also find early blooms of death camas (previously know as Zigadenus leimanthoides, now Stenanthium tennesseense).  

Then on to May Prairie for examples of TN rare plants that are disjunct from the Gulf Coastal Plain and the prairies of the Midwest, with more than 300 species, 25 of which are rare in Tennessee.  View blooms of paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea), marsh pea (Lathyrus palustris), early blooms of horned bladderpod (Utricularia cornuta), and swamp candles (Lysimachia terrestris), three eryngo species (Eryngium prostratum and possible early flowering Eryngium mississippiense, formerly E. integrifolium, plus vegetative Eryngium yuccifolium) and many more.   

Easy walking and not to be missed.  Stay tuned for further details!  

Registration opens 4 weeks prior to event

This course features an engaging Apple Keynote presentation exploring the art and science of cultivating a moss lawn or garden. Topics will include how to establish and maintain a thriving moss landscape, as well as the essential role mosses play in the environment. Weather and time permitting, we will also venture into the natural beauty of Reflection Riding to observe mosses in their native habitat.

Board members meet to discuss our chapter's progress and make decisions when necessary.

Details coming soon! 

Fall Plant Sale.

Fall is the perfect time for planting.  Join us for this free event.  A variety of local and regional native plant nurseries will be selling a large selection of plants.

Details coming soon! 

Board members meet to discuss our chapter's progress and make decisions when necessary.

All Tennessee Valley Wild Ones members and guests are welcome to attend.  We will have a potluck lunch, election of officers, highlights of 2025, and a plant swap.  Please bring a dish and plants to share. This is a great time to visit with other native plant enthusiasts!

Details coming soon!