Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes promotes environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration, and establishment of native plant communities Wild Ones is a not-for-profit environmental education and advocacy organization.

Wild Ones provides information and teaches people how to use native plants in their landscapes. Wild Ones distinguishes itself from other garden organizations by encouraging gardening with native plants and moving away from the use of chemicals, watering, excessive mowing and other practices commonly used by traditional gardeners. People come to Wild Ones to learn about environmentally friendly gardening—about plants native to our area that have evolved to survive our climate without help from artificial means.

The Rock River Valley Chapter carries out the mission of Wild Ones through a variety of activities, which typically includes any of the following:

• Informative Meetings, include how-to-do-it sessions, presentations by experts in prairie, woodland, and wetland native plants and related subjects and members profiling their own projects.
• Show Me/Help Me Day, members tour other members’ yards, share ideas, and offer suggestions.
• Woodland Native Plant Sale,with orders being taken February through April, for pick up in May. This sale offers mostly species for shady locations. The pick up location is in Rockford and will be April 30 and May 1. Sorry, no deliveries or shipments. Contact Woodland Native Plant Sale Chair for more information. For a flier and order form, Click here.
• Native Plant Sale, with orders being taken March through April, for pick up May 14 & 15. This sale offers mostly species for sunny to part shade locations. Contact Native Plant Sale Chair to recieve a flier and order form.
• Native Tree and Shrub Sale, with orders being taken in August and September, for pick up late September near Durand, IL. A sale flier will be available in August 2010. For more information, contact John Peterson, 815-248-2110 or Tree and Shrub Sale Chairman.
• Plant Rescues, where members dig plants in the path of development. The rescued plants go to home landscapes or are used for restoration efforts in the local area.
• Seed Exchanges, we meet in November to exchange native plant seed that members have collected.

The Rock River Valley Chapter publishes a monthly newsletter for its members which contains informative and timely articles about upcoming events, past events, related events, and other useful information. For more information and a sample newsletter, click here.

The Chapter was established in July 1994. Currently we have about 170 household and business memberships. The chapter is lead by dedicated officers and chairs. For contact information, click here.

Visitors are welcome at most events and are invited to join the growing membership. For information about membership, click here or contact our Membership Chair.

    Aug 20, 2009 (Thu)    

Secrets to Identifying Our Native Trees


“Trees are the primary living structural elements of the outdoor environment – the meat and bones of the landscape. Tree planting is a lifetime investment, and such investments should be made with prudence. Native species have evolved with our climates, soils, pathogens, pollinators, and associated species over thousands of years; what you see is what you get,” writes renown author and lecturer Guy Sternberg in the introduction to the book he wrote in 2004 with Jim Wilson – Native Trees for North American Landscapes. Owner of his own research arboretum, Starhill Forest, Guy will describe for us some native trees, which are suitable for our changing climate.

Following that, an interactive workshop on tree identification will allow the audience to examine some tree specimens. Audience members will learn how to distinguish between different members of tree families (i.e. burr oak vs. red oak, sugar maple vs. black maple) in a hands-on workshop as Guy discusses different trees’ distinguishing features and cultural requirements.

We meet at Burpee Museum of Natural History , 737 N. Main in Rockford. 7:00 - 9:00 PM. This program is free and open to the public. Contact Kim Risley at 815-962-4584 for more information.

    Sep 01, 2009 (Tue)    

Shrub and Tree Sale
Wild Ones, Rock River Valley chapter, is offering native trees and shrubs at affordable prices just in time for fall planting. The pick up date is September 25 and 26 in Durand, IL. Sorry, no deliveries. The deadline for ordering is September 19, 2009.


We offer the plants in a variety of sizes, which are noted in the flier. For a flier, Click Here.
For more information, contact John Peterson, 815-248-2110 or Sale Chairman.

    Sep 17, 2009 (Thu)    

Underground Ecology-or, How I Learned to Love Dirt


Presented by Teri Balser, Associate Professor of Earth Sciences, UW Madison.

We meet at Burpee Museum of Natural History , 737 N. Main in Rockford. 7:00 - 9:00 PM. This program is free and open to the public. Contact Kim Risley at 815-962-4584 for more information.

    Oct 15, 2009 (Thu)    

What is a Burn? How Does Burning Help Our Landscapes?


Andy Bacon of Natural Land Institue will be the main presenter.

We meet at Burpee Museum of Natural History , 737 N. Main in Rockford. 7:00 - 9:00 PM. This program is free and open to the public. Contact Kim Risley at 815-962-4584 for more information.

    Feb 18, 2010 (Thu)    

Landscaping with Native Plantings


Patricia Hill, Author of Design Your Natural Midwest Garden, will be our presenter.

We meet at Burpee Museum of Natural History , 737 N. Main in Rockford. 7:00 - 9:00 PM. This program is free and open to the public. Contact Kim Risley at 815-962-4584 for more information.

    Mar 01, 2010 (Mon)    

Woodland Native Plant Sale


Wild Ones, Rock River Valley chapter, is offering native woodlant native plants at affordable prices just in time for spring planting. Orders are being taken February through April. The deadline for ordering is April 20, 2010. This sale offers mostly species for shady locations. The pick up location is in Rockford and will be April 30 and May 1. Sorry, no deliveries or shipments. Contact Woodland Native Plant Sale Chair for more information. For a flier and order form, Click here.

>Native Plant Sale,


This sale offers mostly species for sunny to part shade locations. Orders are being being taken March through April, for pick up May 14 & 15.Contact Native Plant Sale Chair to recieve a flier and order form.

    Mar 18, 2010 (Thu)    

One Drop at a Time


This program will be about Sustainable Stormwater Management for Homeowners. Our presenter will be Marcus de la fleur.

We will meet at Klehm Arboretum, 2715 S. Main St, in Rockford, IL, at 7:00 - 9:00 PM. This program is free and open to the public. Contact Kim Risley at 815-962-4584 for more information.

    Apr 15, 2010 (Thu)    

Butterflies in the Garden


Jane Grillo, Monarch Watch participant, will be our presenter.

We meet at Burpee Museum of Natural History , 737 N. Main in Rockford. 7:00 - 9:00 PM. This program is free and open to the public. Contact Kim Risley at 815-962-4584 for more information.

Guests are welcome at most events. If you would like to receive a complimentary three month subscription to our newsletter please contact Newsletter Editor. You can request an electronic version (PDF) via email or a paper version via standard mail.