Thanks to all who joined us for our Wildscaping Workshop this past Saturday, June 22 on what turned out to be a beautiful summer morning. We had 30 participants for this event we organized to educate community members about the benefits of gardening with native plants and without the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
To kick off the morning, Mary Wicklund with the Southern Maine Stormwater Working Group offered a presentation on the different ways sustainable gardening and landscaping help protect wildlife, waterways, pets and children. Mary comes with 25 years of experience in the field as a researcher and educator, is a Maine Master Gardener, and is also a beekeeper and permaculture designer.
After Mary’s informative presentation, participants had the opportunity to tour our recently completed native plant garden and bio-swale — a landscape feature that directs stormwater from our parking area toward the roots of plants. The bio-swale not only provides water for these plants, but also helps filter and clean any excess water before it flows into the nearby wetland and eventually the York River.
Once the tour concluded, we headed inside for snacks and participants had the chance to speak with a local beekeeper about the benefits of supporting local pollinators. Elderedge Lumber also had organic lawn care products on display that are available at their shop in York. We concluded with a special guest appearance from Fraya, a peregrine falcon, and Ophelia, a Virginia possum — both ambassador animals from the Center for Wildlife and members of species that benefit from sustainable landscape design.
If you didn’t get a chance to attend this workshop but are interested in learning more about wildscaping, we encourage you to take a self-guided tour of our gardens at our headquarters. Thanks to generous funding from the Nathaniel Wheeler Trust that supported this project, we recently installed interpretive signs that we hope help educate visitors about our landscaping choices. Feel free to pop into our offices with any additional questions you may have.