Twin Cities East Metro Chapter
Welcome to Big River Big Woods. We are a brand new Wild Ones Chapter in the East Metro area of the Twin Cities, MN. We are excited to offer residents of St. Paul and the eastern suburbs opportunities to learn more about native plants and sound landscaping practices. Having a local chapter will make it easier for us to learn from one another. We encourage you to contact us to learn more about Wild Ones and the Big River Big Woods chapter.
Monthly Meetings
Our meetings are free and open to the public. We hold our meetings on the fourth Thursday of the month. Our meetings start with social time between 6:30 and 7 p.m. From 7 to 8:30 p.m. we have the educational portion of the meeting. Starting in September we will meet at Autumn Grove Park, 1365 Lydia Avenue West, Roseville, MN Map
If you’d like to learn more about native plants and natural landscaping, we’d like to see you at our next Wild Ones event! Help us grow!
Meeting Schedule
October 27
Screening of the Film: Hometown Habitat, Stories of Bringing Nature Home
7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Ramsey County Library, 2180 North Hamline Ave, Roseville (map)
Big River Big Woods, in partnership with Wild Ones Twin Cities and Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District, will screen this 90-minute film showing how and why native plants are critical to the survival and vitality of local ecosystems. This film tells the stories of 7 different communities and how they succeeded in creating native landscapes.
November 17
Grow Native: Bringing Natural Beauty to Your Garden with Lynn Steiner
6:00 p.m. social time with appetizer and dessert potluck
7 – 8:30 p.m. meeting
Autumn Grove Park Recreation Building, 1365 Lydia Ave. W., Roseville (map)
Join us to hear Lynn Steiner talk about themes of her newest book, Grow Native: Bringing Natural Beauty to Your Garden, published spring 2016 by Cool Springs Press. She will introduce the topic of responsible gardening, where the goal is to create a beautiful garden where we can satisfy our love of tending plants without causing further damage to the natural world. Inspirational photos of native-plant landscapes help people get started in environmentally friendly native-plant gardening that will be attractive to birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. The program also highlights special situations where native plants are great choices, such as rain gardens, boulevard gardens, and shade.
Lynn Steiner in Steiner prarire; author shot
Lynn Steiner is one of the Upper Midwest’s best-known garden writers and a frequent speaker at gardening and environmental events. She is the author and photographer of several books advocating the effective use of native plants typical home landscape. Landscaping with Native Plants of Minnesota, the first book designed to identify Minnesota’s native plants and plant communities and to demonstrate how to use them effectively in a typical home landscape, was a finalist in the 2006 Minnesota Book Awards in the Science and Nature Category.
Volunteer for one of our Service Projects
Roseville Library Children’s Native Garden
2180 North Hamline Avenue, Roseville
Every Thursday morning join Kris O’Brien, Master Naturalist and Wild Ones member, in caring for the library’s native garden. Meet at the main doors at 8:30 am or if you’re late, look for us in the garden. It’s the fenced are on the east side of the library (by Dunn Bros). Bring gloves and hand tools if possible. Beginners and experts are welcome!
Island Lake Native Garden
Island Lake Elementary School, 3555 Victoria Street N, Shoreview
On Saturday and Tuesday mornings, from 9 am to 11 am, help Karen Eckman, Big River Big Woods member, and her crew work on this rain garden. The garden is on the school grounds. The biggest need is for people to do weeding. Bring gloves and wear long pants. All are welcome.
Como Woodland Outdoor Classroom
1199 Midway Pkwy, St. Paul
Judi Petkau, Big River Big Woods member and Como Eco-steward leads a team of volunteers periodically to remove unwanted vegetation so native plantings can prosper in a corner of Como Park. Our volunteers work just south of Como Avenue and west of the swimming pools. Further details will be forthcoming.
If you have suggestions for other projects in the East Twin Cities Metro area please send your suggestions to our chapter’s email box at bigriverbigwoods@gmail.com. Let us know if an evening gardening time would work better for you and which day and time. Everyone welcome!
Follow Us!