STAFF AN INFORMATION TABLE
Staffing an information table at community events is fun! No prior experience is necessary. Engage with others about the resources and human community that Wild Ones can offer to anyone interested in gardening in harmony with nature. We have an interactive native plants and pollinators activity in addition to a collection of information resources to showcase at indoor family-friendly events. Contact Lydia [email protected] if you’d like to help.
Old Saybrook Environmental Fair “Education for Action,” March 28, 10 AM-1 PM at the Vicki G. Duffy Pavilion at 155 College St., Old Saybrook.
Groton Earth Day Expo, April 25, 11 AM-4 PM at the Groton Public Library. This is a busy, mostly indoor event that gets hundreds of visitors, so we like to have multiple volunteers in shifts throughout the event.
BLOOM – Pattagansett Arts Center & Friends, May 9, 11 AM-3 PM at 41 Society Rd, Niantic, CT 06357. Wild Ones will participate as a community partner.
Brainerd Memorial Library Agricultural Fair, May 30, 10 AM-2 PM at Brainerd Memorial Library, 920 Saybrook Road, Haddam. Rain date 5/31.
GET INVOLVED IN HABITAT RESTORATION
Below are projects led by members of the Mountain Laurel Chapter that you can join. Learn by doing and make positive habitat impact! These projects qualify as Master Gardener community outreach.
Spicebush Swamp Park Restoration Project (Hartford)
In 1962, Spicebush Swamp Park was West Hartford’s first park to be set aside as a natural area for nature study and walking, and as a 33-acre outdoor classroom for schools to use. Later, in 1968, McGovern Pond was created in the park by excavating an area of approximately one acre. According to the town’s website, “McGovern Pond supports a variety of ecological biomes.” The West Hartford Garden Club’s Civic Project Committee has made the restoration and preservation of Spicebush Swamp Park its key long-term ecological project. Beginning in 2020, we upgraded a rundown garden near the park sign with native pollinator plantings,; in 2022, we installed a bird sanctuary by restoring an area further inside the property that was overrun with invasive plants (especially Buckthorn and multiflora rose; the bird sanctuary garden was designed with native trees, shrubs, and perennials; & 2024-2025 we installed new native pollinator gardens at a bridge in the park, and a border garden along one side of a parking lot. Our gardens are planted densely, in layers, featuring color through the seasons, and include shrubs and trees as well as flowering plants. Through this project, our team has spent thousands of hours removing tons of invasives. The group meets throughout the year at Spicebush on Mondays from 1pm – 3pm, & periodically on weekend dates, to identify and tag remnant native plants, remove invasive plants, manage the gardens, install new native plantings, and set priorities for the future. We plan to install interpretive signage and to improve plant labeling. Note: The ground is uneven in places, the area is subject to flooding, the invasives are formidable, and it is heavy work. However, you will enjoy the birds, the insects, and the beauty of this natural setting. If you can pitch in to help us to restore this fragile ecosystem, or want more information, please contact Beth Ann Loveland Sennett, [email protected] to be added to our group list for updates.
Coogan Farm Nature and Heritage Center Restoration (Mystic)
In 2013, the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center purchased Coogan Farm, a colonial-era farm on the east side of the Mystic River, to create an intact greenway linking the Nature Center on Pequotsepos Road all the way to Route 27 and across the river to the Peace Sanctuary. In addition, Coogan Farm protects two critical watersheds and a variety of early successional habitats, including young forest, shrub lands and meadows. After documenting the presence of diverse native plant communities, the Mountain Laurel Chapter resolved to help manage the aggressive spread of invasive plants like mugwort and porcelainberry, and improve wildlife habitat on former farmland. Since 2018, gardens have been rehabilitated with herbaceous and woody native perennials in the parking lot bioswale, alongside the Avery Farmhouse and underneath a row of eastern redbuds. Invasives have been cleared to create a Teaching Garden along the farm road near the main entrance, pollinator meadows and a native food forest with layered plantings. We have solarized, smothered, cut, pulled and dug unwanted vegetation to prepare sites, learning by observation, trial and error. Native seeds, seedlings, plugs, and potted plants have been used. All of this has been accomplished by a team of volunteers that meets weekly on Wednesday mornings from April through October. In addition to maintaining these areas and doing supplemental planting, we have plans to add interpretive signage and plant labels. Jim Natale (Wilder Gardens, LLC) is leading efforts on Saturdays in February and March 2026 to begin restoring a wet meadow that is heavily infested with invasives. Drop ins are fine, but we encourage volunteering more than once so you can better appreciate the behavior of plant communities and impacts of stewardship activities throughout the season. For more information or if interested in helping, please contact Lydia Pan [email protected] or Colleen Duffy [email protected] to get updates on work sessions throughout the year.
HOW ELSE CAN YOU HELP OUR CHAPTER?
There are many ways to volunteer, whether for one time only or in an ongoing manner. Use your skills, passion and creativity to help the chapter better serve its members and the public at large. Reach out to any Chapter Board member or email [email protected] if you’d like to help.
- BECOME A MEMBER: Join Wild Ones: https://members.wildones.org/join and affiliate with the Mountain Laurel chapter
- COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Help staff a Wild Ones information table at a community event. Email [email protected] if you need Wild Ones literature or chapter/ecoregion-specific resources to do outreach at an event near you.
- COMMUNICATIONS & OUTREACH: Help us reach people of all ages more effectively with news and events from our chapter through print or digital (social) media platforms. Your writing, design, video or marketing skills can help us develop new materials for education and outreach about the Wild Ones mission in CT.
- SPEAKER’S BUREAU: We receive requests from garden clubs, libraries, schools and other groups for programs related to the importance of native plants in our landscapes, propagating native plants from seed, habitat gardening, landscaping for birds and butterflies, managing invasive plants, etc. If you are a public speaker (or aspire to become one), Wild Ones has an introductory slide presentation to get you started.
- SHARE PLANTS AND SEEDS: If you propagate native plants from seed or have surplus from your garden, consider setting some aside for our Fall Native Plant sale or Native Seed Exchange. See Guidelines for Plant Donations: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QEoK0UygueFB7tFWXFv_8_jhJ8QyPJSq/view?usp=sharing
- FALL PLANT SALE: This is our sole fundraising event, typically timed to coincide with the fall planting season. It is also one of the ways that we encourage people to make their landscapes more ecologically functional. Many volunteers are needed each year to make this event a success.
- HABITAT IMPACT: In addition to being a good steward of your own property, help to establish or maintain habitat gardens in your community by removing invasive plants and replacing non-natives with native plants for beauty and ecological function. Contact us to learn about projects that are seeking volunteers.
- CHAPTER OPERATIONS: Interested in helping but not sure how? Speak with a Board member or attend a Board meeting to learn how our chapter is run.
Email [email protected] if you are interested in helping out and a Board member will get in touch!