Now in its 5th year, the Native Plant School series at Shaw Nature Reserve is offering thirteen, 3-hour courses on sustainable landscaping using native plants. Courses range from gardening with deer, natural garden design, controlling invasive plants, and native plant propagation, to name a few.
Classes are held both inside and in the garden providing participants with the knowledge and practical hands-on experience needed to be a successful native gardener. Each class explores a different landscape subject with detailed information and discussion of appropriate native plants. Students are encouraged to ask questions, engage in discussion, bring photos, drawings and plant specimens from home in order to create an interactive learning experience. Classes are held in the Whitmire Wildflower Garden, a five-acre demonstration and teaching garden at Shaw Nature Reserve. Native Plant School is made possible by generous support by Grow Native! and Wild Ones Natural Landscapers.
The 2011 Native Plant School series continues throughout the year with pertinent subjects for gardeners. Many classes are back by popular demand and new subjects are added each year. Past topics include “Rain Gardens”, “Low Maintenance Native Groundcovers” and “Flowering Trees and Shrubs”. The 2011 series begins January 13th with “Control and ID of the Worst Invasive Woody Plants”, followed by “Native Plant Propagation from Seed”. A two-part course on Native Landscape design, installation and maintenance is offered in March and April.
Shaw Nature Reserve (SNR), a division of Missouri Botanical Garden, is a premier site for environmental education and is located 35 miles west of St. Louis in Gray Summit, MO at Interstate 44 and Highway 100. The complete 2011 course schedule is attached.
Registration for classes is online at www.shawnature.org. Cost for MBG/SNR members is $10 and is $15 for non-members.
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