MDC and partners to hold native landscaping workshop for homeowners

KIRKWOOD, Mo. — If there was a way to beautify a landscape, lower the cost of maintaining it, and help wildlife in the process, it would seem to be a natural choice. Selecting native plants can achieve all these goals . . . and it's something just about any homeowner in the St. Louis region can do.

Homeowners can go a long way to making their neighborhoods and communities greener by planting natives. To help them get started, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and its partners are presenting Partners for Native Landscaping: A Workshop for Landowners. This in-depth workshop will present information and resources on ways homeowners can landscape their property with native plants.

The workshop will take place Saturday, Feb. 28, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center in Kirkwood. Check-in and networking begin at 8 a.m. and the keynote speaker starts at 9 a.m. Scott Woodbury of Shaw Nature Reserve will deliver the keynote address, which will cover designing landscapes by using natives.

Participants will learn how to garden for birds and pollinators, design and maintain a native garden, promote monarch butterflies, develop and maintain a rainscape, manage invasive bush honeysuckle, and much more. There will also be opportunities to get information on native plant organizations and other upcoming events, meet other native gardeners and even purchase Missouri wildflowers.

Native plants have evolved in Missouri's landscape; they are better acclimated to our climate conditions than exotic plants and resistant to local pests and diseases. This translates into less time, effort and costs consumed by watering, fertilizing and insecticide use.

Likewise, native Missouri wildlife has evolved to coexist and use native plants for cover, food and habitat. So increasing native plants also tends to increase desirable wildlife, like birds, butterflies and pollinators.

Space is limited for the workshop and advanced registration is required. A $10 registration fee covers all workshop content and includes lunch. Registration can be completed online at StLouisAudubon.org/PNL.

Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center is located at 11715 Cragwold Road near the intersection of I-270 and I-44.

The workshop is sponsored jointly by MDC, Shaw Nature Reserve, St. Louis Audubon Society, Metropolitan Sewer District, the St. Louis Chapter of Wild Ones, and Grow Native: Missouri Prairie Foundation.

The Partners for Native Landscaping: A Workshop for Landowners is part of MDC's commitment to work with homeowners to sustain healthy and greener communities for both people and wildlife.