Maryland Native Plant Society

Dedicated to Protecting, Conserving, and Restoring
Maryland's Native Plants and Habitats

Greater Baltimore Chapter

Volunteers Needed

The Steering Committee of the Greater Baltimore Chapter is looking for more members to help plan meetings and field trips and to run the Chapter. For more information, contact Ann Lundy at annlundy@verizon.net or 410-366-9365.

Chapter Meetings: Bi-monthly, 3rd Wednesdays

Meetings usually will be held January, March, May, July, September, and November.

March Meeting

Date: Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Time: 7:00pm

Randy Pheobus of the Native Grasslands Conservancy will speak on "Preserving Biodiversity - How Pollinators Benefit from a Vibrant Heliophilic Native Plant Community".

This presentation came about as a result of the photographic documentation of rambles through some of the rarest and most rapidly declining parts of our local and regional ecosystem. The heliophilic native plant communities and their dependent native fauna are rich in diversity and sustain many species valuable to our human community. The sun-loving native flora of the Maryland landscape also provide some of the greatest benefit to maintaining viable populations of pollinators. There is a remarkable symmetry between the two kingdoms of our Native Flora and Native Fauna and that elegant dynamic is subtly demonstrated in the photographic evidence provided in the presentation. The subject of resource management will also be briefly explored in the discussion of the health of the populations of Maryland's non-forest dwelling native species.

Location: Irvine Nature Center, 11201 Garrison Forest Rd., Ownings Mills, MD 21117. Directions below.

More information: Contact Ann Lundy, 410-366-9365, annlundy @ verizon.net.

Location

We hold most meetings at The Irvine Nature Center, 11201 Garrison Forest Road, Owings Mills, MD.

Directions: From the Baltimore Beltway (I-695), take Exit 19 (I-795 North) to Exit 4 (Ownings Mills Boulevard). Stay in the right-hand lane of the exit - toward Rte. 140/Reisterstown Rd. Go 2.3 miles (4 stoplights); take a right at the 5th light onto Crondall Lane. Continue on Crondall Lane until it dead-ends in Garrison Forest Road. Turn right onto Garrison Forest Rd. The entrance to Irvine Nature Center is .3 miles on the left.

Field Trips

Member Interest Survey

The Greater Baltimore Chapter would like feedback on member interests regarding field trips:

  1. Do you prefer Saturdays (typically begin at 10:00) or Sundays (typically begin at 1:00)?
  2. Are you interested in seeing native plant gardens or restorations?  Specifically, should we arrange field trips to:
    • Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center, Millersville, Anne Arundel County (lined bog garden that conveys stormwater away from the building via capillary action - many beautiful bog plants)
    • National Aquarium, Inner Harbor, Baltimore (a series of gardens representing different plant communities of Maryland are currently being installed)
    • Home gardens for wildlife habitat, near Finksburg, eastern Carroll County
    • Font Hill Wetlands Park (25 acre wetland mitigation) in Ellicott City, Howard County
    • Mt. Pleasant, Howard County Conservancy farm in Woodstock, northern Howard County (2 small rain gardens, native plant xeriscape gardens, meadow restoration, forest restoration, streambank and riparian buffer plantings, deer management)
    • Pot Spring and Minebank Run, Baltimore County? Formerly enclosed within a concrete channel, 8 years ago the county hired Biohabitats to restore Pot Spring's stream and floodplain.  Today, both stream and plants look remarkably natural.  Last year, the Minebank Run was similarly restored.

Please e-mail your field trip interests to Louisa at louisagardener @ verizon.net.

Local Interest

Urban Weed Warriors Program

The City of Baltimore is also training Urban Weed Warriors to remove invasive exotic weeds in city parks. If you are interested in becoming an "Urban Weed Warrior," please contact Kim Meade at kim.meade @ baltimorecity.gov or WeedWarriorProgram.BCRP @ baltimorecity.gov. See Baltimore City's Urban Weed Warriors section on our site.

Middle Patuxent Environmental Area, Howard County

The Middle Patuxent Environmental Area (MPEA) runs a Conservation Stewardship Project on the fourth Tuesdays of the month from March to October. Each trip will have both an educational component and a work component. For information, directions or to register, contact Aylene Gard, 410-992-9889, or Carol Filipczak, cfilipczak@comcast.net. For more information about the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area, see http://www.co.ho.md.us/RAP/RAP_MPEA.htm.

Contact

Ann Lundy, 410-366-9365, annlundy @ verizon.net (use e-mail to send non-critical information, only).

Areas Included

© Maryland Native Plant Society. Last updated: March 8, 2010.