Cincinnati Wild Flower Preservation Society

Ohio Native Plant Society, Southwest Ohio Chapter
Updated Tuesday October 6, 2026 at 1pm

Our hikes and lectures are free and open to the public, and all are welcome. (but we depend on our memberships to cover our expenses.) ."You don’t have to be a plant expert to enjoy these trips and lectures. The locations are amazing and the atmosphere is casual. I’ve enjoyed every event that I’ve attended for many years!"- BB.

What you missed- On Saturday September 19, 2026 we visited the renovated and enlarged Shaker Trace Nursery in Miami Whitwater Forest. This site will be used for education and to grow plants and collect seeds to restore our other county parks. If you missed our hike, search on "Shaker Trace Nursery for many events and volunteer opportunities. Twenty attended on a warm fall day.
Photos (MJ)- Group Photo , Our Guide Sam Settlemyre , New Building .

---October 2026---

Friday October 9, 2026 at 7:30pm – Friday Lecture at Avon Woods Nature Center and by Zoom
“Wildflowers in the Woods of Home” by Ed Soldo

Featured in this presentation are the spring-blooming species most familiar to those who live in the Northeast and Midwest. In a sampling of a world too rarely seen, this presentation will touch upon the evolutionary development of our forests and their essential continuity over geologic time.

Our speaker Ed Soldo taught high school biology and field biology for 30 years. He served as a National Park Service seasonal ranger for 15 seasons in six park areas acting as an Interpreter/Photographer. He worked as an adjunct faculty member in Miami University’s employ for 25 years teaching at both the Hamilton and Oxford campuses, as well as 21 years at Miami’s Geology Field Station in Dubois Wyoming.

Directions- Avon Woods Nature Preserve (a Cincinnati City Park) is at 4235 Paddock Road, Cincinnati 45229. The Nature Center Lodge is located at the end of the long driveway. One route is to get on Norwood Lateral and take the Paddock Road exit (south). Drive south on Paddock for 0.9 miles and turn right at the Avon Woods sign and drive 0.4 miles up the driveway to the Nature Center.

Google maps knows the address 4235 Paddock Road and directs you up the long driveway to the Nature Center Building

Zoom Directions-
The Zoom link will be sent in the email reminder on Tues Sept 8, or contact Bob at Bergstein123@gmail.com or call 513-477-4438

**Saturday, October 17, 2026 from 9:00 am–noon: Give Back Day, Caesar Creek Nature Center, Warren County, Ohio – Please RSVP as soon as possible!

Janet Lasley was one of the founders of the Dayton Area Wild Ones and its first president. Her sudden and unexpected death in January of 2023 was a tremendous loss to our community. Janet was involved in our community in many ways, but what gave her the most satisfaction was the volunteer work she did at the Caesar Creek Nature Center. To honor her memory, a major renovation of the grounds at the Caesar Creek Nature Center is underway. Join the Cincinnati Wild Flower Preservation Society, the Dayton Area Wild Ones and other supporting groups as we remove invasives to assist this project. We will be working in a spectacular area in a beautiful, mature forest overlooking the lake.
br> This is a terrific social, educational, and work activity, with lunch provided.

RSVP to Christine Hadley at 513-850-9585 or christinehadley@earthlink.net

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: The Caesar Creek Nature Center is at 4006 Pioneer Village Road, Waynesville, OH 45068. Drive on past the Nature Center driveway and park at the very end of Pioneer Village Road. (Please note that this event is at the Caesar Creek Nature Center, NOT the Caesar Creek Lake Visitor Center.)
Take I-71 to Wilmington Road (exit 36). Head east on Wilmington Road. Take the first left onto Olive Branch Road (crossing over I-71). Take the first right onto Jeffrey Road. At the first stop sign, turn right onto Oregonia Road. Turn left onto Pioneer Village Road following the signs to the Caesar Creek Nature Center. Drive on past the Nature Center driveway and park at the very end of Pioneer Village Road. Google maps knows “Caesar Creek Nature Center.”

**Sunday, October 25, 2026 from 9:00 am-noon: Give Back Days, 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, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and supporters as we sponsor this volunteer effort in its 18th year to help remove that invasive alien, bush honeysuckle, from the Caesar Creek Lake Spillway Tail Water area.
Come help your friends and kindred spirits continue the protection of this natural treasure. One of the area’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 natural area, which features heavily wooded hillsides above the gorge of beech, maple, hickory, oak and a luxuriant herbaceous-flora-covered floodplain. The work done in this area for the past 17 years has had a very positive impact to wildflower diversity.
This is 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. 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 gloves to volunteers new to honeysuckle removal. Stump treatment will be furnished.

Directions: Meet at the Gorge parking lot off Clarksville Road. Take I-71 to Wilmington Road (exit 36). Head east on Wilmington Road. Take the first left onto Olive Branch Road (crossing over I-71). Take the first right onto Jeffrey Road. At the first stop sign, take Oregonia Road; jog right and then jog left onto Clarksville Road. Follow across the dam, turn left at the gorge sign, and drive one mile downhill to the parking lot. We’ll meet at the gorge shelter, next to the parking lot.

The Society works in several locations in the Caesar Creek Area. Google maps knows this location as “Caesar Creek Fishing Pier”. Look for signs directing you to the event.

Friday, October 30, 2026 at 10:00am, Friday Field trip

Hilltop Farm Nature Preserve, Dearborn Co., IN

Formerly a family farm, today Hilltop Farm Nature Preserve (owned by Cardinal Land Conservancy) offers a haven for hiking and nature observation. The 1.3-mile Upper Loop trail meanders through a beautiful woodland featuring native trees and shrubs such as Spicebush, Shagbark Hickory, White Oak, and Black Walnut. The 1.6-mile Lower Loop trail encircles a large meadow featuring summer wildflowers that offer an important food source and cover for songbirds, hummingbirds, butterflies, and other native insects.

Directions: From Cincinnati travel I-74 West to Indiana. Take the Brookville-Metamora exit (exit 169), turn right onto US-52 (Harrison-Brookville Rd.). After 2 miles turn left on to Stout Rd. The preserve is about a mile up the road on the left side; there will be a small semi-circle gravel parking area. If you pass Kocher Rd. you’ve gone too far. Address is 28797 Stout Rd, West Harrison, IN 47060.

---------------- November 2026 -----------------

Friday, November 13, 2026, at 7:30 pm: Lecture Program, Avon Woods Nature Center

“A Visit from John Uri Lloyd (1849-1936)” by John Uri Lloyd

John Uri Lloyd: renowned scientist and pharmacist; co-founder of famous drug manufacturer Lloyd Brothers, Pharmacists; Professor to the Eclectic Medical College in Cincinnati. Experience a captivating living history performance by John Uri Lloyd himself, stepping out of the 19th-century lab to share his extraordinary life's work. From his pioneering breakthroughs in plant medicine and the founding of Cincinnati’s world-renowned Lloyd Library to his 1895 subterranean sci-fi novel Etidorhpa, discover how one of Ohio’s greatest polymaths bridged the gap between rigorous science and pure wonder. Professor Lloyd will have a display of pertinent photographs and memorabilia of the Lloyd Brothers and their company.

Saturday, November 21, 2026 at 9:00 am: Give Back Day, Avon Woods Nature Preserve

This preserve is only 15 minutes from downtown Cincinnati. Your assistance on this project directly benefits our Society, since we now have a written agreement allowing our use of Avon Wood Nature Center for five meetings per year in exchange for our volunteer hours working in Avon Woods (and other Cincinnati Parks).

---------------- December 2026 -----------------

Saturday, December 5, 2026, at 9:00 am: Give Back Day, Avon Woods Nature Preserve

This preserve is only 15 minutes from downtown Cincinnati. Your assistance on this project directly benefits our Society, since we now have a written agreement allowing our use of Avon Wood Nature Center for five meetings per year in exchange for our volunteer hours working in Avon Woods (and other Cincinnati Parks).

Sunday, December 6, 2026 at 3:00 pm: Annual Hardy Souls’ Hike, William Harbin Park, Butler County, Ohio (followed by the holiday potluck and program)

Join us for a winter hike at Harbin Park, a Fairfield City Park. We will traverse the 1.8-mile moderately easy Green Trail that takes you on 196 ft of elevation gain. We will meet at William Harbin Parking, 1365 Hunter Rd, Fairfield, OH 45014

After the hike you may proceed to the Gathering at Northern Hills, at 460 Fleming Road for our potluck dinner.

Sunday, December 6, 2026 at 5:00 pm: Potluck Dinner, The Gathering at Northern Hills

Join your fellow Society members & guests for our very popular potluck dinner, followed by our evening program. Please bring a dish to share- appetizer, main, side or desert. Coffee and tea will be provided.
5:15 – Appetizers, wine & fellowship
5:45 – Potluck dinner

Sunday, December 6, 2026 at 7:00 pm: Lecture Program, The Gathering at Northern Hills

“The Unintended Legacy of Ohio’s 18th Century Land Surveyors: Ohio’s Frontier Vegetation and Today’s Remnants of the Past” by Rick Gardner

Join Rick Gardner, Chief Botanist for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), for an update on ODNR's ongoing project to develop a digital map of the natural vegetation documented in the original land surveys of the Northwest Territory from about 1785-1835, plus a deeper dive on remaining places to see this vegetation in southwest Ohio.

Rick Gardner serves as Chief Botanist for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, where he leads the Ohio Natural Heritage Section in tracking rare plant species and unique plant communities across the state. In this role, Rick oversees vegetation surveys, assists with land protection projects, and provides scientific expertise for habitat restoration and conservation planning. He has spent most of his career with DNAP and previously worked for the Division of Wildlife and The Nature Conservancy in Ohio. Rick’s research focuses on Ohio’s flora, including invasive species, xeric limestone prairies, oak barrens, and rare sedges, and he has authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed articles. He also serves as a visiting scholar at The Ohio State University Herbarium. Rick holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Botany from Miami University.

Info about our January-April 2027 Events will be available in January 2027