Wild Ones, Cedar Rapids Iowa City

03/14/2026

Our April event is a members-only field trip to appreciate some of our region's most elusive native wildflowers, spring ephemerals.

Early-blooming wildflowers such as Spring Beauty, Dutchman’s Breeches, Blue Phlox, Bloodroot, White Trout Lily, Toothwort, Hepatica, and Bellwort appear fleetingly at Ryerson's Woods before the Oak-Hickory woodland canopy closes.

Master Naturalist (and chapter secretary) Eric Miller will be there to highlight the unique life cycle and ecological role of these fleeting blooms, and the crucial support they provide to early pollinators.

RSVP and get location details at https://cedarrapidsiowacity.wildones.org/events/

02/27/2026

With spring on the way, what’s on your mind? Whether you’re working on winter sowing, garden designs, plant selections, or simply dreaming of warmer days ahead, join us for pizza and a chat with other native plant enthusiasts. Feel free to bring your biggest question or challenge related to native plants.

Everyone is welcome – from beginners to seasoned gardeners – and you don’t need to be a Wild Ones member to attend.

Wild Ones Chapter Social - Join us!
Thursday March 12th
5:30 – 7:00 pm
Lion Bridge Brewing Co.
59 16th Ave SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404 (Czech Village)

02/22/2026

Wild Ones, Cedar Rapids Iowa City is putting together a page to show all of the native plant retailers in Iowa and the surrounding states. If you know of a nursery or native plant business not listed, tag them in the comments or drop a name. https://cedarrapidsiowacity.wildones.org/resources/where-to-source-native-plants/ Link in bio too.

01/06/2026

This Sunday, Karla McGrail will guide us through the process of designing and painting our own yard signs.

🗓️ When: Sunday, January 11th, 2026, 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm�
📍 Where: Ladd Library community room, 3750 Williams Blvd SW, Cedar Rapids, IA, 52404�
💵 Materials cost: $10

Karla will provide a choice of sign shape and/or material (there will be cedar boards, solid white PVC in 2 shapes/sizes, and reclaimed weathered fence slat pieces) and a variety of acrylic paints, paint markers, brushes, and stencils.

Bring your best creative fun self, some cute and/or informative sign sayings or ideas that you might be willing to share, a snack to share, and your messy clothes.

Learn more and RSVP here https://cedarrapidsiowacity.wildones.org/events/

12/20/2025

Let's try this again! Our original seed library event was rescheduled due to ridiculously cold weather.

The chapter's collection of native plant seeds has been growing, both in volume of seeds and variety of species. We will be meeting twice in January to organize, document, and label the seeds, and package them for "dispersal" to chapter members and our wider communities.

🌱 Part I
Sunday January 4th, 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm in Cedar Rapids SE.
• Join us to clean and sort seeds, alphabetize the collection, and update the spreadsheet list of species.

🌿 Part II
Saturday January 24th, 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm in Solon.
• Help us to label the collection of native plant seeds and fill seed packets to give away at community events.

For more details and to RSVP, visit https://cedarrapidsiowacity.wildones.org/events/

12/11/2025

The Winter Gardening Fair is the signature educational event by Linn County Master Gardeners.

In his presentation, Spring Ephemerals for the Shade Garden, chapter secretary Eric Miller will highlight the unique life cycle and ecological role of Iowa’s most elusive native wildflowers, the early-blooming spring ephemerals — and how to grow them in a home garden.

But wait... there's more! While Eric is our “official” Wild Ones chapter-affiliated speaker, the Fair features 9 other classes by Chapter members.

8:30 - 9:45
• Wanda Ohrt, Beaded Chicken Wire Suncatcher
• Karla McGrail, Gardening with Bambi
• Lisa Hinzman Howard, Micro-Prairie Gardening

10:00 - 11:00
• Lisa Hinzman Howard, Vegetable Gardening for All Seasons

11:15 - 12:15
• Karla McGrail, Native Bees
• Wanda Ohrt, Native Plants - Every Square Foot Counts

12:00 - 1:00
• Nick McGrath, Invasive Species and Their Native Replacements

2:30 - 3:30
• Eric Miller, Spring Ephemerals for the Shade Garden

3:45 - 4:45
• Wanda Ohrt, Native Plants - Top Ten Things I Have Learned
• Karla McGrail, Our Bumblebees

We're told the event is guaranteed to sell out, so register now at https://go.iastate.edu/AQ324G

11/29/2025

Congratulations are in order! At our recent annual chapter meeting Karla McGrail, Andy Sohn, and Sarah Reschly were elected to the Board of Directors with unanimous “yes” votes.

They have each contributed so much to our community that it seemed fitting to make it official.

🌱 Karla McGrail is a founding chapter member. She has been a Linn County Master Gardener for more than 20 years and a Wild Ones member for 15. Since 1995, she’s been tending her woodland-edge garden in northeast Cedar Rapids.

🍁 Andy Sohn is a nature enthusiast from Cedar Rapids with a love for native plants and the creatures they support. He and his wife, Laura, began their native gardening project in 2023 and are currently working on a pollinator garden, a milkweed patch, and a shade garden under a backyard maple tree.

🦋 Sarah Reschly is working on establishing a 2400 square foot native garden in her yard in Solon. She recently completed the Johnson County Master Gardener program and plans to help fellow gardeners incorporate more native plants in their landscaping.

To read more about Karla, Andy, Sarah (and our other board members) please visit our newly created page of leadership team bios. https://cedarrapidsiowacity.wildones.org/leadership/

11/24/2025

Wild Ones Cedar Rapids Iowa City maintains a large collection of native plant seeds to share with chapter members and our wider communities.

The seed library has been expanding (the technical term might be “busting at the seams”) and we have an urgent need to organize and alphabetize the collection, and update a spreadsheet list of species. We will also fill and label seed packets to give away at future events like Eco Fest and The Winter Gardening Fair.

Current chapter members are invited and help us get organized (and pick up seeds for your own winter and spring sowing projects!)

Saturday Dec 13, 2025
12:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Cedar Rapids SE

Full details and RSVP here: https://cedarrapidsiowacity.wildones.org/events/?wo_event_id=10942

11/02/2025

Ooops! We had so much fun at our native plant seed share yesterday… we forgot to take pics 😭😭😭

We were overwhelmed (in a good way!) by how many of you showed up to contribute seeds, select seeds, ask questions, and discuss your native plant garden plans. What you see here is just a fraction of the incredible array of seeds that were shared.

If you still need help with germination codes or any other information related to successfully starting your seeds, let us know. We know the 2026 growing season is a long way off, but we can’t to see how your gardens are looking next summer.

10/29/2025

On Oct. 1, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources added nine more invasive plants to the list of species that are illegal to buy, sell, distribute, or plant in Illinois.

Eight plants are regulated immediately through the update to the Illinois Exotic Weeds Act: tree-of-heaven, garlic mustard, leafy spurge, sericea lespedeza, Japanese stiltgrass, Amur corktree, black swallowwort, and pale swallowwort. The policy will take effect for Callery pear trees on Jan. 1, 2028.

MIPN's Midwest Invasive Plant List has been updated to reflect these regulatory changes. https://mipn.org/invasive-plant-list/

The new species were recommended after being reviewed by the Illinois Invasive Species Council, which includes stakeholders from state and local governments, the nursery and landscaping industry, research institutions, and non-profit organizations. Learn more about the Illinois Invasive Species Council at https://dnr.illinois.gov/programs/invasivespeciescouncil.html.

Read IL-DNR's full press release at https://extension.illinois.edu/news-releases/nine-new-invasive-species-regulated-illinois-expansion-exotic-weeds-act

Photo of stiltgrass, Michelle Beloskur

10/26/2025

Thanks to everyone who came out to Etzel Sugar Grove Farm with us yesterday. We were thrilled to gather so much prairie seed to contribute to and the Wild Ones Cedar Rapids Iowa City Chapter native seed library!

Enormous thanks to our hosts Jean Wiedenheft and Omar Salinas of ICNC for the farm tour, and also to Bob the farm cat who greeted us gregariously, and stayed with us every step of the way. We toured the farm, took a short hike through woodlands, and roamed permaculture field where we learned to recognize some new species and gathered prairie wildflower and grass seeds.

We hope to see everyone again at the Native Plant Seed Share next Saturday, November 1st, 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm at Solon Public Library.

12/04/2024

We will be hosting this event at the Iowa City Public Library in meeting room D. We can use this time to clean seeds, organize the collection, and divide seed that we have a lot of. Sieves, trays, and small containers for catching seeds are welcome!
Room change! Previously we were going to be in room B, but we are now in room D (which is bigger and less drafty).

Send a message to learn more