Tuesday, November 26th
7-9pm
Creating Native Plant Perennial Beds
for Pollinators around your Home
By Dave Tylka


Dave Tylka author of
Native Landscaping for Wildlife and People
Creating perennial beds using native plants does not have to be complicated.  Why not mimic nature around your home?  By observing the character of natural communities, such as sunny glades and prairies or shady bottomland and upland forests, and then applying this information to the different localities in your yard, you can successfully establish and maintain perennial beds.  Dave will explain the importance of these factors in your home landscape: sunlight amounts and intensities, compass directions, soil ingredients, and basic moisture content of your soils.  After doing this simple analysis, you can then determine which natural communities might best be mimicked in the different areas of your yard.  

After this first step is accomplished, Dave will discuss some of the best pollinator perennials found locally around St. Louis.  The best plants lure pollinators to their flowers by offering pollen and nectar and by evolving visual and olfactory cues, such as nectar guides, color and fragrance.  He will focus on which bottomland and upland shade perennials are the most attractive to pollinators.  Then he will discuss which sun-loving native species attract pollinators in prairie-like beds versus glade-like beds around your yards.  Pollinators serve as environmental barometers. Healthy landscapes boast large numbers and a wide diversity of pollinators; contaminated or altered landscapes do not. Come gain practical advice on selecting a wide range of native plants that will attract various groups of pollinators around your home.

Dave Tylka is a semi-retired Professor of Biology at St. Louis Community College at Meramec, where he taught full time for over 20 years.  He still teaches native landscaping and Ozark ecology courses.  When not in the classroom, he and his wife are outside enjoying their home native landscape where they grow over 100 different species of native plants—they love biodiversity.  Dave was the first St. Louis Urban Biologist for the Missouri Conservation Department, a position he held for 14 years.  While with the Conservation Department, he also co-produced and hosted “All Outdoors” on TV Channel 11 in St. Louis.  In 2002, he wrote the Missouri Conservation Department book, Native Landscaping for Wildlife and People, which he then revised in 2009 for the second edition.  Dave has also written several popular pamphlets on backyard landscaping, bird feeding, and butterfly gardening.  As a widely recognized educator, biologist, nature author, and photographer, he brings together a wealth of information on native species and ideas that can inspire any landscaper. 

Reminder of our new meeting space...
We're meeting in ROOM 2 (second floor)

Any snacks to share with the group is appreciated. Tea and water are provided and you may bring beverages to the meeting room.

STL Bees meeting
5200 Shrewsbury Avenue
St. Louis, MO  63119
  Shrewsbury City Center
http://cityofshrewsbury.com/