Upcoming festival will reveal gardening enthusiasts’ wild side

Everyone knows that indoor plants need love. For those in the great outdoors, meet the Wild Ones.

“I do get carried away sometimes with weeding,” said Alden Kendall as he dug out invasive turf grass with his wife, Evelyn Timm. “It kind of becomes an obsession.”

Added Timm while she trimmed dead leaves from among indigenous flower plants: “The garden changes and you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. So you look forward to some kind of excitement. In a native plant garden, everything is dancing out there. I love it. It’s great.”

Kendall and Timm are members of the local Arrowhead chapter of Wild Ones, a national nonprofit with a mission of promoting environmentally sound landscaping. In Duluth, the Wild Ones garden grows beside the Duluth Lakewalk, near the bridge across from First Lutheran church.

On Sunday, Aug. 26, at Duluth’s Hartley Nature Center, anyone who wants to see some Wild Ones in action can attend the “Habitat Here!” festival that will include a native plant sale. Attendees will be able to learn about how native plants stem habitat loss, how to help grow the embattled bee population, and how to start their own dancing garden.

“For people who are already into native plants the festival is sort of like a party where we chat with each other,” said Carol Andrews, a Wild One who wants to learn more about bees at this year’s festival. “I always enjoy the event, just being there and having people from the community come that are interested in learning more.”

Hartley Nature Center will also offer tours of its bird viewing area and butterfly garden along with children’s activities.

“The event is certainly a good opportunity for people to take note of what’s available for them to grow in their backyard,” said Brett Amundson, Hartley Nature Center operations director.

Two speakers will present their work during the festival. Elaine Evans, co-author of the book, “Befriending Bumble Bees,” will speak at 11:15 a. m. on “Native Bees: what they do for us, what we can do for them.” At 1:15, Paul Hlina of Leaning Pine Nursery in Superior will present his talk, “Natural Landscaping: what are you waiting for?” in which he’ll discuss specific types of plants that work for the different soil conditions present in regional yards.

“The main message I’ll be bringing is that there’s a way of reconnecting with the natural ecosystem by participating in it, by altering your little space that you have available by planting native plants,” said Hlina. “The exciting thing about native plants from my perspective is that they’ve been around since the glaciers left 10,000 years ago. They exist to support wildlife, birdlife, insect life and, believe it or not, human life.”

The day begins at

10 a. m. and closes at

3 p. m. No pre-registration is needed. The event is free. To learn more about the Wild Ones, consult www.wildones.org for information about the national organization and the Arrowhead chapter.

Tags: budge community, budgeteer