Wild Ones native plant conference comes to WI

The pursuit and passion of native wildflowers in the landscape has never been more popular than in recent years. Thanks to organizations such as Wild Ones, the importance of using native wildflowers, trees and shrubs in the landscape is well known among gardeners in our area.

Next month, the national Wild Ones organization will hold their annual conference, Toward Harmony with Nature in Oshkosh. A full range of native plant and native wildflower topics is on the schedule, along with vendors and other organizations promoting the use of native plants in gardens and landscapes.

Toward Harmony with Nature will be held Saturday, January 28 at the Oshkosh Convention Center.

I'll be there, as well, with my program called Out of the Shadows, featuring great ideas for using and designing with native plants for shade.

Wild Ones is an organization dedicated to spreading the word about native landscaping and its important benefits, not only to wildlife, but to our own well-being.

The renowned national organization is headquartered right here in northeast Wisconsin in Neenah.

The WILD Center, as the headquarters has been named, is a nature center located on the northwest shore of Little Lake Butte des Mort, with walking trails and full blown native gardening demonstration plots featuring some of the most incredible native wildflowers found in Wisconsin.

Each year, in January, Wild Ones hosts their annual conference, Toward Harmony with Nature, a native plants and landscaping extravaganza filled with educational opportunities, exciting speakers, vendors offering native plants and gardening information and so much more.

This year's conference features a host of exceptional programs, including keynote speaker, landscape historian Rob Nurre. Nurre will explore what our landscape looked like before European settlers arrived and altered it forever.

Conference attendees are invited to attend the keynote session, as well as three separate concurrent sessions throughout the day. Each session features three programs, from which attendees will select one for each time slot.

Some of the topics that will be covered are Prairie Ecology, Using Native Plants in Wetlands, Oak Savannas, Using Historic Land Records in Planning Your Native Plantings, Ways to Protect Your Property, Saving Our Wildlife Through Conventional Landscaping and more.

From native plants as monarch butterfly hosts and pollinator plants to wildlife food plots, berries for birds and more, the use of native plants in our backyards, gardens and landscapes is important to the world around us.

Toward Harmony with Nature offers a wonderful opportunity to learn about the native plants of our area and why it is so important that we incorporate them into our gardens and landscape plans.

The convention is open to the public and will be held from 8:00 a.m. - 4:15 p.m. For more information and to register, visit www.towardharmonywithnature.org.

Find Rob Zimmer online at www.robzimmeroutdoors.com. On Facebook at www.facebook.com/RobZimmerOutdoors.