Brought to you by the Grosse Pointe Garden Center
Seminar Topics:
Session one: Nature’s Best Hope – Recent headlines about global insect declines and three billion fewer birds in North America are a bleak reality check about how ineffective our current landscape designs have been at sustaining the plants and animals that sustain us. Choosing the right plants for our landscapes will not only address the biodiversity crisis but help fight our climate crisis as well. Dr. Tallamy will discuss simple steps that each of us can- and must- take to reverse declining biodiversity, why we must change our adversarial relationship with nature to a collaborative one, and why we, ourselves, are nature’s best hope.
Session two: A Guide to Restoring the Little Things that Run the World – A recent UN report predicts that as many as 1 million species will disappear from planet earth because of human activities. Many of these are insects and nearly all species at risk rely on insects. Insects have already declined 45% since 1974. So how do we create beautiful landscapes brimming with life; landscapes that support the pollinators, herbivores, detritivores, predators and parasitoids that run the ecosystems we depend on? Dr. Tallamy will remind us of the many essential roles insects play, and describe the simple changes we must make in our landscapes and our attitudes to keep insects on the ground, in the air, and yes, on our plants.
Master Gardeners: This seminar is accredited for MSUE Master Gardener Education hours.
Dr. Doug Tallamy is a powerhouse in the fields of entomology, ecology, and conservation. He is currently Professor of Entomology, and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. He received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Allegheny College, an M. S. in Entomology from Rutgers, and a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Maryland. Dr. Tallamy is also a Post Doctoral Fellow in Entomology at the University of Iowa. He is co-founder of Homegrown National Park, a non-profit organization promoting habitat restoration and biodiversity on public and private lands through the planting of native plants and the removal of invasive species. Dr. Tallamy is also the author of numerous popular books, including, Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens, How Can I Help? Saving Nature with Your Yard, and Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard, and The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Trees. His vision is simple: “when we all take part, we create the habitats that life depends on.”
Seminar Agenda:
8:15 a.m. Registration, coffee and pastries, vendor shopping
9:00 a.m. Welcome and Introduction of Dr. Doug Tallamy
9:15 a.m. – 10:30 Session one: Nature’s Best Hope and Q& A to follow.
10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Brunch, Book Signing, and Vendor Shopping.
11:30 a.m. -12:45 p.m. Session two: A Guide to Restoring the Little Things that Run the World with Q&A to follow.
12:45 pm – 1:15 p.m. Raffle, Book Signing and Vendor Shopping.
Tickets:
Garden Center members | $100
Non-members | $115
College/University students with school I.D. at check-in | $50