Chapters in Tennessee

Our July 2024 monthly meeting will be a hybrid meeting featuring member Andra Prewett giving a presentation on

Rain Garden Success:  Tips for Installing and Maintaining Rain Gardens in Middle Tennessee

Rain gardens are a great way to reduce pollution and prevent flooding in our waterways.  In fact, many municipal stormwater departments encourage homeowners to install rain gardens on their properties.  Unfortunately, there’s a lot of conflicting information on the best way to go about this.  Andra will share her experience gained from managing the 2,900 square foot rain garden at Lane Agri-Park in Murfreesboro, TN, to help us better understand how to build a successful rain garden. 

Zoom Link

Shareable Flyer

Join Wild Ones for a casual social walk while MBG is open late on Thursdays. We'll tour through the gardens at Memphis Botanic Garden, learning about the native plants and trees around us. We will try to visit the Welcome Wildlife in the Big Backyard new plantings, and more information coming soon.

This seminar will be streamed live via Zoom.

Join us for an insightful seminar led by Lisa Huff, an East TN Regional Stewardship Ecologist at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. In this session, Lisa will share tips and strategies for installing and maintaining small-scale native plantings. 

Attendees will gain insight into the importance of native plantings, their role in fostering biodiversity, and how to effectively create various native landscapes. 

From selecting the right native species to understanding soil requirements and ongoing maintenance, Lisa will cover key considerations for successful native plant installations. Participants will learn about best practices, common pitfalls to avoid, and how to nurture thriving ecosystems in their own backyard or community spaces.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn from a seasoned expert. Join us as we delve into the fascinating world of native plantings and discover how you can make a positive impact on the environment while enhancing the beauty of your surroundings.

Lisa Huff manages or co-manages 20 state natural areas in East Tennessee for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, including the ecological and recreational aspects of those properties.

Josh and his wife moved to Johnson City from Montgomery, AL in late 2021. Since the spring of 2022, he has been slowly removing the turf from their sloping 1/3-acre plot, and replacing it with mostly native perennials, shrubs, and trees. He works as an architect, and regional design is something he thinks is very important, both in architecture and landscape design. He likes to grow native plants because they give a "sense of place" to a landscape - and he thinks Appalachian Highlands residents are with some amazing plants to choose from! He also recently started a small backyard nursery and landscaping design business called Paragraph Designs. His main frustration was the lack of access to affordable plug/small potted plants available to the home gardener, since he believes that is the most cost effective and environmentally-friendly way to get more plants into the landscape. His hope is to make more plug plants available while growing as many as possible from local seed.
​
 

Several of our members will share photos and growing tips on their favorite natives.