Cincinnati Wild Flower Preservation Society
(Ohio Native Plant Society, Southwest Ohio Chapter)
Updated Sun Oct 22, 2017 at 9pm
Our hikes and lectures are free and open to the public, (but we depend on our memberships to cover our expenses.) Come learn about Cincinnati Native Plants at our many hikes and lectures. All are welcome.
For descriptions and photos of the our other missed events, scroll down on our Newsletter tab
What you missed- On Sunday Oct 22, 2017, Daniel Boone led our group of 36 on a fine woodland walk at Curtis Gates Lloyd Wildlife Management Area, near Crittenden, Ky. We saw old growth trees such as white oak, shagbark hickory, and tulip trees. Dan showed us our native red mulberry, with large, toothed, un-shiny and papery leaves, growing in the understory. Weather great 70 and clear. Group Photo , Along the trail , Dan and the Giant Tulip Tree .
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** Sunday, October 29, 2017 from 9 am-noon: Give Back Day, Honeysuckle Blitz at Caesar Creek Gorge State Nature Preserve and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gorge Tail Water Area, Warren County, Ohio
Join the Cincinnati Wild Flower Preservation Society, Cincinnati Wild Ones, state botanist Rick Gardner, state preserve manager Michelle Comer, the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves (DNAP), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and supporters as we sponsor Ohio’s largest volunteer effort to help remove that invasive alien, bush honeysuckle, from the Caesar Creek Lake Spillway Tail Water area and the Caesar Creek Gorge State Nature Preserve.
Come help your friends and kindred spirits continue the protection of this natural treasure. Caesar Creek Gorge State Nature Preserve was the third property acquired under the newly formed natural areas program in 1972. One of the preserve’s prime features is a gorge formed by glacial meltwaters cutting down through the bedrock. Steep walls formed, rising 180 feet above the river, with more than two miles of Caesar Creek flowing through the gorge. We will be working in the diverse habitat of this preserve area, which features heavily wooded hillsides above the gorge of beech, maple, hickory, oak and a luxuriant herbaceous-flora-covered floodplain. Rare plants occurring here include sweet Indian-plantain, large summer bluets, glade mallow, and Carolina willow. The Cincinnati Wild Ones have been working in these areas for over ten years with a very positive impact to wildflower diversity.
This is going to be a terrific social, educational and work activity, with a great lunch provided.
Your RSVP would be greatly appreciated. Please contact Christine Hadley at 513-850-9585, or email christinehadley@earthlink.net, for more information, and to tell us where you would like to volunteer. Chainsaw & steel blade trimmer operators must be pre-registered.
Bring your favorite tools: gloves, pruners, loppers, saws, trimmers, and protective gear for power equipment. We will provide tools and safety equipment to volunteers new to honeysuckle removal. Stump treatment will be furnished.
Directions: Location- Google maps calls the location
From Cincinnati take I-71 North for 36 miles to Wilmington Road (exit 36).
Turn right at the bottom of the exit to head east on Wilmington Road, and drive 0.3 miles.
Take the first left onto Olive Branch Road (which becomes Murray Road) and drive 2.2 miles. (where it dead ends)
Turn right onto Oregonia Road and drive 1.5 miles. (to the little store).
Turn left onto Clarksville Road and drive 1.5 miles, crossing the dam.
Turn left at the gorge sign, and drive 1.0 miles down to the parking lot, where we will meet near the gorge shelter.
DO NOT go to the State Nature Preserve area off of Corwin Road.)
** Saturday, November 4, 2017 at 9 am: BIG Give Back Day, Honeysuckle Blitz at Indian Mound Reserve, Greene County, Ohio
Join the Cincinnati Wild Flower Preservation Society, Greene County Parks and Trails, and supporters as we sponsor Ohio’s largest volunteer effort to help remove bush honeysuckle from Indian Mound Reserve. Come help continue the protection of this natural treasure. Indian Mound Reserve is 166 acres of Ohio’s heritage, a sensational natural resource. Significant characteristics include a gorge cut through 425-million-year-old sedimentary rock by the meltwater of the Wisconsin glacier 12,000 years ago. The deep gorge, cool stream, beautiful white cedar, ferns, and hundreds of wildflower species that flourish there make the Massie Creek Gorge a spectacular site.
Other features of the reserve are a large wetland adjacent to the gorge and the Pollock Works, an earthen enclosure thought to be constructed by the Hopewell Indians over a 400-year period between 100 BCE and 500 CE. In addition to the earthen enclosure, an ancient Adena Indian mound was built between 500 BCE and 100 CE measuring 30–40 feet high and 144 feet in diameter.
We’ll be working in designated areas, selected to enhance visibility of natural features and improve biological diversity, in the gorge along the creek and rock outcroppings, and near the Pollock Works.
This is going to be a terrific social, educational and work activity, with a fine lunch provided, and organized hikes led by some of the state’s best botanists, naturalists, and geologists.
Your RSVP would be greatly appreciated. Please contact Christine Hadley at 513-850-9585, or email christinehadley@earthlink.net, for more information, and to tell us where you would like to volunteer. Also inform us if you are representing a group.
Registration: 8:00–9:00 am
Honeysuckle removal: 9:00 am–noon
Lunch: noon–1:30 pm with camaraderie, presentations, and Q & A
Organized hikes: 1:30–3:00 pm
Volunteers needed:
- Chainsaw & steel blade trimmer operators (must be pre-registered)
- Crew leaders for honeysuckle removal teams
- Honeysuckle cutters (loppers, non-power equipment)
- Cut stump treatment
- Registration: meet and greet volunteers
- Lunch: set up tables and chairs, minimal food prep
- Couriers: take teams to their worksites
- Botanists/knowledgeable volunteers: help cutters ID plants and mentor students
Bring your favorite tools: gloves, pruners, loppers, saws, trimmers and protective gear for power equipment. We will provide tools and safety equipment to volunteers new to honeysuckle removal. Stump treatment will be furnished.
There will be an area in the log cabin for organizations to set up table displays and literature. Please invite your friends to join in the fun!
Directions: Located at 2750 US Rt. 42 East, Cedarville, OH 45314. Driving time from Cincinnati is about 75 minutes.
Take I-71 north out of Cincinnati to exit 28 for Lebanon/South Lebanon.
Head north towards Lebanon on OH 48 for 5 miles.
Stay in the right lane to get onto US 42
Follow US 42 N to and thru Xenia for 28 miles to the Indian Mound Reserve-Peterson Park parking area. (Look for the log house and for signs directing you to the event.)
Friday, November 10, 2017 at 7:30 pm: Lecture Program, Avon Woods Nature Center
Exploring All Things Oak
Sigrid Neilsen, illustrator and botanist
Learn to identify native oaks with this hands-on workshop. Discover some surprising relationships between oaks, man, and civilization, and even sample modern and ancient foods made from oaks and acorns. Sigrid Neilsen is an enthusiastic nature educator and artist who has spent the past year collecting, studying, and drawing oak species for her book Native Oaks of the Greater Midwest. She is also author of the beautifully illustrated Native Asters of Ohio.
Directions to Avon Woods Nature Center:
Most of our meetings are held at Avon Woods Nature Center, a Cincinnati park located at 4235 Paddock Road, 45229 in the Paddock Hills/North Avondale neighborhood.
From the Norwood Lateral (route 561) drive 9/10 mile south on Paddock. (You pass across Tennessee Ave. and little Egan Hills Drive or your right)
Turn sharp right into the park driveway next to the park sign (on the WEST side of Paddock)
Follow the long dark driveway to the lodge at the end.
To see a google map, click here
Saturday, November 11, 2017 at 9 am: Give Back Day, Honeysuckle Removal, Hazelwood Botanical Preserve, Hamilton County, Ohio
Join us to help eradicate invasive bush honeysuckle in the preserve. Volunteers need to bring gloves, loppers, and other implements of destruction. Spray bottles with glyphosate will be furnished. Loaner loppers are available if needed. Dress appropriately for the weather.
The Harris M. Benedict Nature Preserve, aka Hazelwood Botanical Preserve, owned by the University of Cincinnati Department of Biological Sciences, was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1977 by the Department of the Interior for the study of plants and animals in eastern deciduous forests. This preserve, unique for its location and diverse habitat, has a wonderful mature forest. Harris Benedict was chair of the UC Botany Department at the time of his death in 1928, when a streetcar struck his auto. Benedict was E. Lucy Braun’s doctoral advisor. Braun studied Hazelwood.
Many of the mature trees were destroyed by the lethal F4 tornado of April 9, 1999, drastically altering the landscape. Although our members have successfully removed honeysuckle here for 23 years, the honeysuckle experienced a great resurgence after the tornado opened the forest canopy.
For more information, contact Christine Hadley at 513-850-9585 or email christinehadley@earthlink.net.
Directions: From I-71, take exit 15 (Pfeiffer Road). Drive east for 0.7 miles. Turn left (north) on Deerfield Road for 0.8 miles to the "T". Turn left (west) STILL on Deerfield Road for 0.1 miles. Meet at the Johnson Nature Preserve parking lot on the right. The address is 10840 Deerfield Road, Montgomery, OH 45242. Driving time from downtown Cincinnati is 20 minutes.
Sunday, November 19, 2017 at 10 am: Warren Wells Preserve, Winton Woods, Hamilton County, Ohio
Susan Sumner will lead us on an off-trail forest hike into a preserve named for beloved local naturalist Warren Wells. We may find salamanders as we cross the creek or puttyroot leaves along the walk.
Contact Christine Hadley at 513-850-9585 or christinehadley@earthlink.net if you have questions.
Directions: From the I-275 exit 39, head south on Winton Road and drive for 3 miles. Turn left onto Lakeview Drive (Winton Woods Harbor entrance). Drive for 1 mile (past the harbor and campground) to the Winton Woods Spring Beauty Dell picnic area on your left, where we will meet.
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Sunday, December 3, 2017 3:00 pm: Annual Hardy Souls’ Hike, Glenwood Gardens, Hamilton County, Ohio (followed by the holiday potluck and program)
You’re in for a special treat on this year’s Hardy Souls Hike at Glenwood Gardens with our leader, Carol Mundy, who was head naturalist there and will share the history of this lovely park with us. The Mill Creek’s West Fork runs through Glenwood Gardens, a 335-acre park with a 1.0-mile paved trail, a 1.6-mile Wetland Loop nature trail, formal gardens, prairie, forest, and wetlands.
Contact Christine Hadley at 513-850-9585 or christinehadley@earthlink.net if you have questions.
Directions: From I-75, take exit 14 (Glendale Milford Rd.). Drive west on Glendale Milford Rd. for 2 miles. Glenwood Gardens is next to McDonald’s, where Glendale Milford Rd. intersects Springfield Pike. The address is 10397 Springfield Pike, Cincinnati, OH 45215. Meet in the parking lot.
After the hike, proceed to The Gathering at Northern Hills for wine and appetizers at 5:15 pm and the holiday potluck dinner at 5:45 pm. Bring your favorite dish! If you’d like to be assigned a category —appetizer, entrée, etc.—call Jim Mason at 937-239-5692.
Sunday, December 3, 7:00 pm: Lecture, The Gathering at Northern Hills
What Do Trees Know and Why Does It Matter?
Dr. Tom Kimmerer, Venerable Trees, Inc.
We often think of trees as passive, almost inanimate, objects in our landscape. In fact, trees are dynamic, responding rapidly to changes in their environment, communicating with other trees, and making decisions about growth. We will talk about how trees do all this and ask the question “do trees think?” This new understanding of trees has important lessons for how we manage trees in the landscape. Tom Kimmerer, chief scientist with Venerable Trees, Inc., has done research and taught tree physiology, forest biology and urban forestry in the United States, Indonesia and Malaysia, and was a faculty member at the University of Kentucky. His list of publications is extensive.
Directions to Northern Hills Fellowship: Twice a year in December and March, we have meetings (with a potluck dinner) at Northern Hills Fellowship located at 460 Fleming Road 45231 . Fleming Road runs East-West between Winton Road and Springfield Pike, and is just North of the Suburb of Wyoming, Ohio. Look closely since the Sign is small. For a google map click here
For a google map click here
Details of further events will be posted here in May 2017
All of our events are free and open to the public. Of course if you enjoy our events, as we think you will, it is nice to join to help support the Society. Our hikes and lectures are excellent, in a wonderful casual atmosphere. You will have the opportunity to talk with our speakers after the meetings. Our hike leaders are knowledgeable and will be glad to point out the plants that we are seeing.
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