Chapters in Michigan

Presenter: John Blair 

John Blair will bring you along on his journey to both restore his land to original native prairie and create magnificent pollinator gardens on his rural property in Brooklyn. He will also cover the restoration of his wooded savanna and his efforts to bring back to life three natural ponds that had been buried by farmers decades ago. Through John’s beautiful photos, you will get to see this wonderful transformation from hayfields back to lush native prairie habitat, much like what was originally there two hundred years ago!

NOTE #1: Explore John's prairie via his online Flickr photo album:

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBgqHR

NOTE #2: John graciously hosted a tour of his property for Ann Arbor Wild Ones members on July 27, 2024.

Biography for John Blair

When John Blair retired from his automotive engineering job, he knew he would need something interesting to do with his time. He found it when he attended a presentation in the winter of 2012 by butterfly expert Brenda Dziedzic on making a butterfly garden with native plants as the focal point. John got busy that spring creating his own butterfly garden at his Westland home; over the next seven summers, it grew to over 5,000 square feet in size with 130 species of native plants and 38 different species of butterfly visitors. In 2019, having filled all his available gardening space, John moved with his wife, Sheri, to a new home on a nine-acre property in rural Brooklyn, Michigan. There, he is restoring large tracts of land to original prairie with native plants and creating a gigantic butterfly and pollinator habitat! John enjoys giving his inspirational talks and educational tours of his restoration to help others get started with their own pollinator habitats using native plants, which is something that means very much to him!

John’s garden has appeared in “Fine Gardening,” “Michigan Gardener,” the “Detroit Free Press,” and the Garden Answer YouTube channel. He has also authored articles for “Michigan Gardener” on creating pollinator gardens. Over the last ten years, John has given his “How to Make a Butterfly Garden” and “Prairie Restoration Journey” talks to county Master Gardener organizations, Michigan State University, Greenfield Village, numerous Michigan garden clubs, church groups, and Nature clubs throughout southeast and mid-Michigan.

Wild Ones of Wayne County (WOWC) is interested in building a “Seeds to Community” program (S2C) that is similar to the successful Washetnaw community program of the same name. Tonight, the WOWC has invited Washtenaw natural steward Jonathan Parker, who is the creator of the Washtenaw, to present the purpose and vision behind this outstanding program!

Experienced native plant gardener and designer Mike Weis from Dropseed Gardens, will take us through the steps in the first garden he ever installed, starting in 2005. He will present a slideshow of images of this garden through the years to illustrate how some decisions/methods that were used worked well while others did not.

Registration link TBA

Izhi-Minoging Mashkikiwan, Place Where Medicines Grow Well, is the Cheboiganing Burt Lake Band's healing garden located at their office headquarters in Brutus, MI. This garden features over 40 species of Great Lakes native plants arranged to symbolically represent the Ojibwe Medicine Wheel and Anishinaabe beadwork. The Band worked with former University of Michigan graduate student and present day landscape architect, Eva Roos, on the design and installation both the healing garden and the greater headquarters landscape. In this presentation, Eva will share about the design and installation process, symbolism embedded within the garden, ecological benefits of chosen plants, and lessons learned from the garden. 

Registration link TBA

Presented by Lea Sevigny, Joyful Wildcrafting

Among native plant enthusiasts, there is a range of how much tolerance we have for introduced species. Regardless of your feelings about Dame's Rocket, Cleavers, or Dandelion, you'll learn how to use them for food. Together, we'll find edible value in many of the species people love to hate. Participants will receive simple recipes to use wildcrafted food with the earliest spring greens and flowers.