April 2025 Chapter News
Monday April 14 Landscaping For Wildlife
Wild Ones member Randy Kursinsky will present different ways that people can improve their habitat and properties to attract wildlife. Randy will include photos from his property that show examples of these methods. This program will take place at the Chippewa Nature Center, 400 S. Badour Road, Midland, MI. Meet at the Visitor Center 6:30-8:00 PM. The public is welcome to attend.
Seed Libraries are Opening
Does your local library have a seed library? Two of our local libraries do have seed libraries and we have contributed native plant seed packets to them. These are the Bay City Wirt Library, which opened its seed library on March 22 and the Grace A Dow Memorial library in Midland, which opened its seed library April 7. Be sure to support your local seed library by either taking or sharing seeds as well as letting your friends, neighbors and family know about this great opportunity!
April 10- Annual Wild Ones National Meeting – 7:00 pm (EDT)
Wild Ones members are invited to join the 2025 Annual Membership Meeting on Thursday, April 10th at 6:00 pm CT. This meeting provides an opportunity to hear updates from leadership, review key accomplishments from the past year, and learn about plans for the future. Join Online: Access the Zoom link or join the live stream by logging in to your member account.
CONSERVATION DISTRICT PLANT SALES
As weather warms up and our attention turns back towards the yard and garden, remember to check in with your local conservation district to see about their native plant sales! It’s a great way to support your local conservation district, plant native species, and get a jump on all your spring and summer landscaping work.
Earth Action Expo- Saturday April 26 at Dow High School, Midland 11am—3 pm
The next big event coming up in April is the Earth Action Expo at Dow High School. We’ll finally have the opportunity to put all those mesh bags we’ve been saving to good use. We will have our information table at the event to spread the word about native plants as well as build bags of nesting material for the birds. We will need volunteers throughout the day to make sure we have the table covered. This is a fun event for the whole family! Even if you can’t volunteer, be sure to stop on by and learn about alternative energy, the Mobile Water lab from SVSU, check out electric vehicles and more! If interested in volunteering, contact one of the officers or sign up at our next program on the 14th of April. Hope to see you there! Wake up the Wildflower Walkway at Chippewa Nature Center
Tuesday April 29 from 3:30-5:00 pm
It’s that time of year again. Time to get the flower beds looking their best. The Wild Ones Mid-Mitten Chapter shows our support of the Nature Center by helping to maintain some of their wildflower beds, usually the rain garden and wildflower walkway. If you can lend a hand, please contact Jeanne Henderson at [email protected]Chapter Membership
Tell your friends and neighbors about the Wild Ones and bring them to a program. Youth are welcome when accompanied by an adult. New ideas about attracting and retaining members can be sent to Rachel LeClair ( [email protected]).Thank you, renewing member: Gina Pederson. We appreciate your support!
Patience!
While the calendar says it spring, Mother Nature is telling us otherwise. While the days are truly getting longer, the weather is fighting the shift to spring, tooth and nail. The northern part of our state has had some horrendous ice storms, while in the south, things are starting to shake loose of their icy mantel. And while your seedlings under the grow lights are up and many of the greenhouses are opening this month, the word for us all is patience! Believe the USDA when they tell you that the last frost days for us are in May and not April. We still have at least another month before we can enjoy the May flowers or begin getting things into the ground. Even though you feel the need to begin digging in the dirt, planting and cleaning up the leaves, patience is the word. Work on your plans, source out your plants and let it go a few weeks longer before working outside and your patience will be rewarded!
Yours in nature,
Susan Erhardt
President, Wild Ones Mid-Mitten Chapter
[email protected]
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