Growing Native: Creating wildlife habitat in your own yard (Ages 14+)

Do you dream of a garden full of beautiful flowers and plants from spring through fall, filled with birds, butterflies and other interesting creatures? This course will focus on sharing practical knowledge on why, how and where to begin installing native plants whether you live in an apartment with a small balcony or on rural farmland. We will have five meetings at various locations in the Bloomington area where we can view native plantings and focus on the main elements of native gardening. This course would benefit anyone who is interested in improving wildlife habitat and isn’t quite sure how to get started.

Instructors Bill, Eve and Gillian will step you through the process of collecting and planting seeds in order to grow thriving native plants.  It will include seed stratification, and choosing the right site for your seeds, seedlings, or nursery transplants. 

You’ll visit demonstration-sites where action-steps to increase native habitat have taken place. We’ll look at two documents: City of Bloomington Climate Action Plan and Habitat Connectivity Plan and Map as resources to guide you on your journey to grow native. You’ll leave with skills to create and install your own garden.

Course Schedule: Our first meeting will be at Ivy Tech Bloomington's Indiana Center for the Life Sciences building, which will also include outdoor activities on-campus. Subsequent meetings will take place at off-campus sites in the area, as well as additional meetings at Ivy Tech Bloomington. These meetings will be addressed during the first class with location reminders sent in advance of those site visits.

Youth Eligibility: This workshop is open to adults, as well as youth participants ages 14+ who plan to attend with an authorized adult who is also registered.
 

About the Instructors:

Eve Cusack is a Montessori elementary teacher and a lover of native plants and all invertebrates. After being an avid birdwatcher for more than 25 years, she has recognized that birds thrive only when their food supply is strong. The best way we can support this is through growing native plants. Eve has dedicated much of her last three years to this task. She has installed six native gardens at her home through which she strolls as often as possible to admire the amazing diversity of flowers and pollinators. She is also an Adopt-a-Greenspace volunteer for the Clear Creek Trail.

Bill Daniels retired in 2019 from a work-life spent primarily in horticulture and as an environmental, health and safety professional. Upon retirement, Bill’s efforts have focused on grassroots projects designed to facilitate networks of amateur and professional plant growers to work together regionally to procure, process, and propagate native plant seeds. The goal is to increase the presence of ecologically appropriate native plants in all our landscapes. A Master Gardener, Bill is the past Program Leader for Native Seed Communities, a project of the Indiana Native Plant Society, a grower for MC-IRIS's Fall Native Plant Sale, and volunteer co-leader for Sycamore Land Trust’s Native Plant Conservation Nursery.

Gillian Field, recently retired from City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation Urban Greenspace Team, enjoys sharing her passion for native plant species. She is a long time member of MC-IRIS (Monroe County Identify and Reduce Invasive Species) to support native habitat and biodiversity of wildlife. Gillian would love you to know that the exciting process of building wildlife corridors throughout urban areas - by planting native species in our yards, schools, places of worship and businesses - is easily within our reach and capabilities.