Events

We will tour two adjacent gardens developed on public land by the Cheshire Pollinator Pathway group with the option to visit their third site in town. Cheshire Pollinator Pathway members will discuss how they have established multiple anchor gardens, share lessons learned for working with your town to establish native plant gardens, and provide a tour of the Original and Lock 12 Gardens. The discussion will start at 10 am. Please feel free to bring a lawn chair and arrive early to chat about plants.

Please bring a brown bag lunch and join us for a social time after the tour, at the Lock 12 Park pavilion.  Wild Ones will supply drinks and cookies. The covered pavilion with picnic tables is approximately 0.2 miles down a paved drive from the garden site.  Rest room facilities are available here, as well, including handicap accessible.

Parking is free in the Lock 12 lot and overflow parking, if needed, is available at the Norton Elementary School 0.1 miles away on N. Brooksvale Rd.  People with mobility issues can be driven down to and dropped off at the pavilion area, but no parking is available there.

You are welcome to tour the Cheshire Pollinator Pathway’s West Main Street Garden before or after the main program. The garden is located at the intersection of West Main St. (Rt. 68) and Railroad Avenue. Use 55 Railroad Avenue for navigation. Parking is available with two dedicated lots. Restrooms are available at this location. 

Lydia Pan has been  propagating native plants from seed for nearly a decade.  In this class, she will discuss the benefits of collecting your own seeds, how to tell when seeds are ripe, how to process seeds (if necessary), which seeds can be stored and which seeds must be sown fresh.  Examples of different types of seeds will be discussed, focusing on those that I have successfully propagated and which are desirable for planting in home gardens.  There will be ample time for Q&A.

Come and visit a residential garden in the making in Bethel,  Only 2 years old, tour this property transitioning from a landscape of lawn and invasive plants to one of ecological bounty and edible natives.

Tyler's garden focuses on sustainable agriculture, natural patterns and resiliency in the landscape for people and animals. 

All members are welcome at chapter Board business meetings. Email chapter in advance to receive Zoom link if you wish to attend.

The 2025 plant sale is open for online ordering.   Choose from a selection of woody and herbaceous native plants for pick-up on Sept 12 or Sept 13.  Yet more plants will be available for sale on a walk-in basis on site during pick-up hours.  The deadline for online ordering is August 31, 2025. 

Click on link below to browse this year's offerings and place your order.

ORDER PLANTS HERE

The 2025 plant sale is open for online ordering.   Choose from a selection of woody and herbaceous native plants for pick-up on Sept 12 or Sept 13.  Yet more plants will be available for sale on a walk-in basis on site during pick-up hours.  The deadline for online ordering is August 31, 2025. 

Click on link below to browse this year's offerings and place your order.

ORDER PLANTS HERE

Discover how ecological landscaping with native plants can make your landscape more resilient and help address the climate crisis. This webinar will highlight practical, evidence-based approaches to designing and maintaining landscapes that build resilience to climate change and support native biodiversity. Join Wild Ones for a free webinar, “EcoBeneficial Landscape Strategies for the Climate Crisis,” featuring environmental horticulturalist and ecological landscape designer Kim Eierman.

The Hickories is a multi faceted farm,  their activities  include being a certified organic grower of vegetables,  fruits and flowers, as well pasture raised meats. They build biodiversity by offering restoration seeds from the Eco59 Region and are now home to the Northeast Seed Collective.  

Owner Dina Brewster will take us on a tour their operations, with an emphasis on the seed project.

Participation limited to 30 people.  

Please consider carpooling as parking is limited.

SAVE THE DATE!  This program will consist of a talk by Jim Sirch, Hamden Land Trust (and Wild Ones Chapter Director) followed by a tour led by Nicole Davis, Save the Sound's Watersheds Project Manager, that will showcase landscape and green engineered solutions for stormwater management at the park.  More details to come.

Time is tentative (subject to change).  Rain date Sunday, Sept 28, 2025.

SAVE THE DATE!  Our annual meeting of the chapter takes place during the last quarter of each year.  By moving the date up to October, we hope this will allow more members to attend.   The historic Dudley Farm provides a convenient and lovely setting for our event.  We will hold our potluck and business meeting on the main floor of the Munger Barn, rain or shine.  Check back for details and to sign up for the potluck when we get closer to the date.

All members are welcome at chapter Board business meetings. Email chapter in advance to receive Zoom link if you wish to attend.

Details coming soon! 

All members are welcome at chapter Board business meetings. Email chapter in advance to receive Zoom link if you wish to attend.

Smaller American Lawns Today, SALT, is a movement introduced in June of 1997 by Dr. William A. Niering, professor of botany at Connecticut College. The SALT mission is to decrease the size of lawns in America by restoring home grounds to more harmonious, productive, ecologically sound and naturalistic landscapes. SALT offers an alternative vision of the monocultured lawn. As Dr. Niering wrote, “There’s nothing wrong with dandelions, there’s something wrong with people.”

This annual conference is organized and hosted by Connecticut College Arboretum and sponsored in part by Wild Ones Mountain Laurel Chapter.  Wild Ones members receive discounted registration.

SAVE THE DATE.  Information specific for the November 8, 2025 conference will be posted here when available.

Our 2024 Conference, “To mow or not to mow: Creating your home meadow” sold out.  

An archive of SALT conferences may be found at the link.

Details coming soon! 

All members are welcome at chapter Board business meetings. Email chapter in advance to receive Zoom link if you wish to attend.