Southwest Chapter to Change Meeting Schedule

The Southwest chapter of INPAWS has announced a new 2014 meeting schedule in hopes of improving attendance. After an on-line survey and discussion at the July meeting, it was decided that next year…

  • Meetings in May, July and September will be at 6:00 p.m. CDT on the third Thursday of the month. 
  • Meetings in January, March and November meetings will be at 9:30 a.m. on third Saturdays.

This change will allow gardeners to work outdoors on Saturday mornings during good-weather months. Additional events and field trips may still occur on Saturday mornings from May-September.

In May, SWINPAWS members participated in planting wildflowers and native forbs at the Hwy. 41/57 Wildflower Project headed by Keep Evansville Beautiful & Indiana Dept. of Transportation.  An estimated 8,500 native wildflower and grass plugs were planted by hand in the median by over 100 volunteers. (See article in this issue.)

SWINPAWS holds many of its meetings at the Oaklyn Library, which is built into the side of a hill and includes a “green” roof.  The rooftop is planted with a native prairie, including rattlesnake master, pigeon pea, cup plant, baptisia, rudbeckias and coneflowers.  The rooftop prairie has been adopted by Southern Indiana Master Gardeners’ Association. Members of SWINPAWS and Master Gardeners weeded invasives (crown vetch, ragweed, etc.) from the meadow in June.

On June 22, Dr. Chris Hochwender hosted a SWINPAWS field trip to his native propagation garden at University of Evansville.

SWINPAWS President Dona Bergman spoke at the Indiana Urban Forestry Conference in Evansville July 17.  Her topic was the Evansville Bicentennial project, “2012 Trees in 2012.”

At the chapter’s July 20 meeting, members Pam and Deron Drach gave a presentation on how they converted their typical suburban yard into a wildlife habitat they call “The Rescue from Fescue.” Their Sept. 21 meeting featured University of Southern Indiana professor Dr. Edith Hardcastle speaking on “Allelopathy Affecting Native Species.”

Ongoing Projects in which SWINPAWS is participating include  maintenance of the Oaklyn Library roof meadow, eradication of kudzu at Mesker Park, and weeding of the Hwy 41/57 median wildflower planting.