Events

In this special collaboration, Robin Wall Kimmerer, author, botanist, and founder of Plant Baby Plant, joins youth leader and Nurture Natives founder Esther Bonney for an intergenerational conversation about belonging, reciprocity, and native plant action. 

Together, they will explore questions such as:

How do we create opportunities for young people to have a voice and feel empowered, even when they are not homeowners or decision makers?What kinds of relationships and mentorships help people stay engaged in native plant work over decades?Why do stories, shared practices, and community invitations matter just as much as plant lists?

Robin and Esther will reflect on what invites people into this work, what keeps them here, and what elders and youth have to teach each other.

This free family-friendly activity will take you through the steps to create food sources for birds and other wildlife using pinecones, seeds, dried fruit, and other natural items. Best of all, you will take home your creation to feed your neighborhood birds!

For those with food allergies, please be aware that peanut butter will be used. There will be four sessions on Sunday, February 8 at 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, and 2:30 pm. Registration is required, and spaces are limited, so register today!

Our upcoming webinar with Basil Camu explores practical, evidence based ways to heal suburban and urban landscapes by working with trees, soil, and natural systems, drawing on real world practices from Leaf & Limb and community centered models for restoring life where we live, work, and play.!  

Join Joey Santore, creator of Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t, for a candid Wild Ones National Webinar examining how inherited garden aesthetics shape native plant landscapes. Drawing on field experience and real ecology, Joey challenges tidy design norms and explores why dense, irregular plant communities are often the most resilient and ecologically sound.

Graves Gilbert Clinic was sponsoring an Earth Week event at LRC - a Health Walk, after which there was a “Cave Fest” in the cave where Graves Gilbert and other organizations had tables. Graves Gilbert and LRC had the biggest footprint, but there were around 8-10 other organizations with tables there, including us. I don't know how many people attended the walk but not the Cave Fest. I mostly demo'd iNaturalist and talked about the City Nature Challenge; I also talked about Wild Ones events.

Calling all citizen scientists! Join us April 24–27 as Bowling Green and the surrounding counties in South Central Kentucky participate in the City Nature Challenge, one of the largest community-science events in the world. Your participation will contribute to local and global science on iNaturalist.

How the challenge works:
1. Download iNaturalist: Visit inaturalist.org to download the free app, available for iOS and Android devices.

2. Explore Nature: From April 24-27, take photos of WILD plants, animals, and fungi in South Central Kentucky (cultivated plants and domestic animals do not count).

3. Upload Observations: Use the iNaturalist app to take or upload photos. Photos may be uploaded on a computer by visiting inaturalist.org.

4. Participate Locally: Observations made in Allen, Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Hart, Logan, Simpson, and Warren counties will automatically be added to the Bowling Green and South Central Kentucky CNC project. Track regional results at bit.ly/CNCBGKY26.

The Bowling Green and South Central Kentucky City Nature Challenge is organized by the Wild Ones Southern Kentucky Chapter in partnership with Lost River Cave, Warren County Public Library, and the WKU Ecology and Conservation Club.

Would you or your organization like to be involved in the City Nature Challenge? Reach out to [email protected] to learn more about the organizing committee. If you’re aware of local nature events, please share the details and we’ll add them to our list.

Join award-winning author, photographer, and educator Rick Darke for What Is Wild and Why It Matters, a free national webinar on Tuesday, April 28th at 10 am CT. Discover how inviting a bit of authentic wildness can create a vibrant landscape that sustains you and local biodiversity. This national event is presented in collaboration between Wild Ones and Homegrown National Park.

Join us for our annual Spring Native Plant Sale at the Community Farmers Market on Saturday, May 9, 8 a.m.–1 p.m. We will have a wide variety of affordable native plants and seeds grown and harvested from member gardens. All proceeds benefit the chapter and fund our efforts in the community.

Most plant prices will be between $3 and $10. Purchases from the Spring Native Plant Sale help fund our chapter’s initiatives, including grants for local organizations' community gardens and participating in educating community members about native plants.

Our friends from Ironweed Nursery and Pennyrile Botanics will also have native plants for purchase. Don't miss this opportunity to find all of your spring planting needs! 

Please note, the farmers market opens promptly at 8 a.m. No early-bird shopping, please. 

You planted native. Your neighbor has opinions. Maybe your HOA does too. If you’ve ever felt like the hardest part of native plant gardening is the conversations, not the gardening, you’re not alone.

Wild Ones is thrilled to share this upcoming free webinar as part of the 2026 Less Lawn More Life Challenge. Join Lorraine Johnson for a practical conversation on navigating HOA rules, addressing neighbor concerns, and fostering community conversations about native plant gardening and ecological landscapes.

Native plants are the foundation of habitat, but wildlife need more than food to thrive. Join ecologist and Certified Wildlife Biologist Shaun McCoshum, PhD, to explore how nesting sites, shelter, water, soil conditions, and other often-overlooked resources can transform a yard into a functioning ecosystem that supports biodiversity year-round.

Registration link coming soon.

What does it really take to turn a conventional lawn into a thriving native meadow? Join Owner & Principal, New Directions in the American Landscape (NDAL), Sara Weaner Cooper for a candid look at her family's ongoing lawn-to-meadow transformation featured in The New York Times and BBC. Drawing from three years of hands-on experience, Sara will share the methods, lessons learned, successes, and challenges of converting turfgrass into a dynamic native plant community. Participants will gain practical insights into site preparation, planting, management, and the ecological principles that guide successful meadow establishment, along with realistic expectations for how these landscapes evolve over time.

Registration link coming soon.

Bats are among the most important and misunderstood wildlife in our communities. Join experts from Bat Conservation International to explore how native plants, healthy insect populations, and thoughtful landscape design can help support bats. Learn about the ecological role of bats and discover practical ways to create habitat for North America's night flyers right in your own backyard.

Registration link coming soon.

Wild Ones member Janeen Grohsmeyer will be speaking on the topic “From Lawn to Living Landscape” at the November meeting of the Garden Club of Elizabethtown. Details on time and place TBA.

Monarch butterflies depend on a network of habitats stretching across North America, and home landscapes can play an important role in their survival. Join experts from Monarch Joint Venture to explore the science behind monarch conservation, including the importance of milkweed, nectar resources, and regionally appropriate habitat. Learn practical ways to support monarchs through native landscaping and help sustain one of the world's most remarkable migrations.
 

Registration link coming soon.