Upcoming Illinois Native Plant Sale positively impacts monarch butterfly population

Jeff Williams:
Welcome to Community Voices, a production of NPR Illinois. I'm your co-host, Jeff Williams. In the studio with me today, Alana McKean. Alana, how's it going?
Alana McKean:
Very good. How are you?
Jeff Williams:
And Susan Helm, how's it going? Susan Helm: Good. Jeff Williams: And you're both with the Illinois Native Plant Society, right on. Very cool. So Alana, what brings you both in here today?
Alana McKean:
Well, we just wanted to share a little bit about our upcoming Illinois Native Plant Sale that's coming up on May 9th at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
Jeff Williams:
Right on.
Alana McKean:
It's grown to be a really large, well-attended event. We have about 60 or 70 volunteers that come together every year to offer thousands of native plants, trees, shrubs, perennials, you name it, we have it. Just offering those to Springfield gardeners and people who come from... far, far afield.
Jeff Williams:
Right, And so it's on the 9th, and it's at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Which building or area?
Alana McKean:
It's at the Reisch Pavilion. Used to be Food-A-Rama.
Jeff Williams:
Oh, okay. Yeah, so can you, for people, if they're coming from out of town or anything like that, or some in Springfield also, parking, how's that, how's that work out there?
Alana McKean:
Parking is really pretty easy around there. You can, there's parking all around the building and stuff, so it's easy to pull up. You can, if you end up with a large load of plants, It's really easy to pull right up at the checkout there and load your stuff up.
Jeff Williams:
Okay, very accessible. Very good to know. And that's so people know also, it's not like, you know, it's not like during the state fair, you can just pull right in, right? You can just pull right in. So anybody out there in case you're wondering, you can just pull right into the main gate.
Alana McKean:
We usually have some signs and stuff up around to kind of direct people. Okay, We usually put some good directions up on our like website and Facebook page about how to get there and stuff and some maps and things like that. It's a large area. If you're not familiar with the fairgrounds, it's always a good thing to get that information.
Susan Helm:
You might wander around a bit. But if you go in the main gate, it's really the first stop sign and turn left. It's right there.
Jeff Williams:
The main gate. So if you're circling around or anything, just go to the main gate and it's easy enough. Susan, how long have you been involved in the Illinois Native Plant Society?
Susan Helm:
Well, I've been involved with native plants probably since 2012. Community volunteer on steroids and so my first experience was at the Dana Thomas house. I put in a lot of native plants there. And then I've, the rest is history. And I used to be the person that would get there at like 6 o'clock in the morning and stand in line and wait till it started. But now I drank the Kool-Aid. I'm on the other side.
Jeff Williams:
Okay. All right. on. And Alina, how long have you been involved?
Alana McKean:
About 15 years now. I've been just getting more and more involved with the organization of the sale itself and growing some of the plants and things and kind of deciding what we're going to grow or order each year. The sale actually started out back in the early 90s with just a handful of members who were swapping seeds and it grew out of that to where people thought, well, this is great. We enjoy sharing our plants among ourselves. This is also a good opportunity to spread the word about native plants. Make them available to a larger crowd of people, so it's just grown and grown. They went from Washington Park, outgrew that space, and then moved to the fairgrounds, and now I think we've... between what we've ordered and what we've grown ourselves, we probably have about 7,000 plants, 200 different species. So the best selection you're going to find probably in the state.
Jeff Williams:
Yeah, Let's see, I've got two things to ask you here now. I want to ask about how you, the approach, I guess we'll start with that, the approach of when you got a hold of the state fairgrounds or that process, you know?
Alana McKean:
The people at the fairgrounds have been really just great to work with as far as like setting things up the way we want and just helping out however they can.
Jeff Williams:
Right on, very cool.
Susan Helm:
And the way the IMPS works is, they raise a lot of money, obviously, at this plant sale. And then they give away grants. And that's where I come in, too.
Jeff Williams:
Okay.
Susan Helm:
I've received a lot of their grants. They're competitive, but they're available year-round. In other words, you can apply in January, which is really nice. Okay. They've helped me do a lot of things in the community, like install 11 pollinator gardens in our parks and do a beautiful, out the fairgrounds, do a beautiful monarch flyaway exhibit of native plants by gate 2. Just, you know, lots of opportunity and I've taken advantage of that.
Jeff Williams:
Yeah, very cool. So, that's like it. Are you saying that that's open to if there's people they can submit to get a grant? Is that how?
Alana McKean:
There are grants of up to $1000 that can go to groups or individuals that are doing native gardening projects or habitat restoration projects that are here in the central Illinois region. I think the program actually started back in 2002 and they've granted over $75,000 now since that time to It could be, schools or churches that are putting it in a pollinator garden. It could be somebody doing invasive species removal, tree plantings, funded lately.
Susan Helm:
Well, actually, one of the ones that was a little bit on the unique side was they helped fund a Grab A Java local coffee shop. Oh, yeah, so that gentleman, that owner, all three of his stores had native pollinator gardens in them.
Jeff Williams:
Yeah.
Susan Helm:
And it was a big reach because Normally, businesses in Springfield like Stelladora, Daylilies, Knockout Roses, and Hostas in Full Sun, which is nothing sustainable, nothing environmentally friendly. So, the fact that owner decided, hey, I'd like to do something like this, but it's more expensive, it's more time-consuming to get it started, but he's been extremely happy and it's.
Alana McKean:
It's really gotten more beautiful every year. I love, I don't need an excuse to go to grab a java. I get to enjoy seeing how the gardens are coming along.
Jeff Williams:
Right, No, that's cool too.
Alana McKean:
I think the offerings we have this year, one thing that we started a couple years ago was offering some garden kits. And with 200 different species, that can be kind of like a little overwhelming, I think, to people, like figuring out where to get started, because there is a little bit of a learning curve. Figuring out, you know what's going to do well in shade or sun or wet spots or dry spots or this or that. But we do have some curated kits this year. We have one that we call the short and showy kit that is 25 plants, nine different species, that are all going to be kind of short, tidier things for people who are a little worried about like anything that's going to get too big and flop over. If they have a HOA or something like that, you know, where they need their garden to be a little tidier, then this is a great choice. We also have one that caters to monarchs this year.
Jeff Williams:
Oh, that's awesome.
Alana McKean:
Yeah, it has, you know, obviously milkweed for their caterpillars as well as a lot of great nectar plants and stuff. This one's going to be a little bit taller and everything, so you need to have the space really that fits that works for those plants. And then new this year we have a shade kit that we're doing which there's been a lot of people asking us for that because it's really a great idea to plant like right under your trees. Oh yeah, People have been talking about wanting to be able to like leave the leaves on the ground and stuff because that's really great for overwintering insects and wildlife instead of like mowing right up to your tree if you just have a garden bed that's really great, you know pollinator plants and things right under your tree, then you can just let those leaves be the mulch and let the plants come up through that and just beautify your yard and do something good along the way.
Jeff Williams:
Yeah, like a little initial work for you, but then in a way it kind of helps you with... It makes your maintenance in a way of your yard better because you're not trying to keep on top of in bird dog all of these other things that aren't sometimes aren't even supposed to really be in this region, and so it.
Alana McKean:
Still takes a little bit of maintenance. But to me, it's more enjoyable because you're getting to watch all these things come together. You're getting to see the butterflies and bees and birds and things in your yard. And that's just been really rewarding to me as a gardener and seeing so many other people interested in that, coming to the sale every year is just really a great thing.
Susan Helm:
And because we have 60 to 70 volunteers on hand that day, any one of us can answer questions at any time and we will. So, if you come up and say, hey, I'm looking for a tree that doesn't get too big, but you know, we can say, hey, we recommend that. And I think what people don't realize about native plants is after they are established in the first year, you will never water them again. Now, Mother Nature will, of course, but you will never intentionally water them again. They are drought proof. They like our clay soil. They like our cold winters. None of that phases them.
Alana McKean:
They don't need anything fancy.
Jeff Williams:
Well, that's kind of what I was meaning about. So once they're up and established, you kind of, they're used to being, you know, they're.
Susan Helm:
Doing some weeding, but they fill in each year. They're going to be different each year. And that's kind of exciting. The wildlife that they attract is stunning, really, over time. It's very impressive, not just the pollinators you think of, but just all kinds of other wildlife come along.
Jeff Williams:
Right on. So like with that, with, as you mentioned, volunteers, if somebody wants to become involved with volunteering, how do they go about, you know, something like that? You.
Alana McKean:
Can definitely visit our website, illinoisplants.org. You can hop on and become a member on the website there. Our central chapter, well, of course, it's a statewide organization, and our central chapter that's kind of located here in Springfield, we meet every second Thursday of the month, usually, with May being an exception because we're preparing for the sale. I just have too many things going on, you know, but most second Thursdays of the month, our group meets and we have speakers, plan field trips, if they want to get directly involved with the sale this year, they can go to the website and find contact information on our central chapter page there too.
Jeff Williams:
Sounds like you've got a good amount of volunteers, but we're always happy to be involved.
Alana McKean:
I know I've learned so much from, you know, the other members that I've worked with, you know, through sales and other things.
Susan Helm:
So this is a great group, I mean, just for friendship, but also sharing information and knowledge. And that doesn't always happen. So, it's really fun when you have a program or you're at the sale or whatever. You're always talking. You’re always sharing… always giving advice.
Jeff Williams:
Right. Well, yeah, that's the thing. When you volunteer like that, you learn more along the way. So you're gaining information. So it's not just like, oh, I'm going to go out here and do this. No, first off, you probably love it because you're getting involved with it, you know, but then you're also finding out more information. So that's a bonus to me in a way. I don't know if you know Joel Johnson.
Susan Helm:
Oh, yeah, he's our trail guy!
Jeff Williams:
I know him from cycling!
Alana McKean:
We had some leftover plants last year. We sent some of our leftover plants to the bike trail.
Susan Helm:
I'm with the Parks Foundation. We fund Joel and Greg, whatever they're doing.
Alana McKean:
I love that Greg… came and picked up a couple.
Susan Helm:
We will do whatever they ask us of us and they don't ask much.
Jeff Williams:
Right!
Alana McKean:
They're like, just give us the plants and they'll go take care of.
Jeff Williams:
Yeah, he's down with it, man. It's great. He's out there a lot of times because we've tried to think of ways where we can try to bring more, like, I don't know if beautify is the right word. Some people use that, but to bring more to look at along the trail systems like you have in like in Madison, Wisconsin or these other places, in that native plants are a huge part of that too, and Joel's been, yeah, I've known Joel forever and he's been.
Susan Helm:
They also have gotten rid of invasive species, because that's a big part of, unfortunately, of the trails, is you don't want certain things there. So, I mean, he's like the Pied Piper. People follow him and he's so humble.
Jeff Williams:
He's a great dude.
Susan Helm:
We are very impressed with this work, and anytime we can help them, we do.
Jeff Williams:
Yeah, love it, love it. Once again, in the studio with Elena McKean and Susan Helm, both with the Illinois Native Plant Society, who will be having a plant sale on May 9th. And tell the hours again for people listening.
Alana McKean:
The sale is 9 to noon, but I will mention that a lot of times, if you have a list of things that you're really looking for that day, it's a great idea to get there a little early. Because people start lining up about an hour before, because we try to offer a huge selection, but quantities are limited, obviously, so to be early and come with their shopping list.
Susan Helm:
And do your research, know what you want. Sure, yeah, definitely. To find it, but, and then we're all, again, all there to try to help you.
Jeff Williams:
Right on. Could you name some of the different varieties? Like shade… like some of the different things that people could be looking for?
Alana McKean:
Yeah, I mean, we have a plant for any situation, you know, if you're looking for shade plants and things. We have tons of really beautiful woodland wildflowers, ferns. We've got a lot of like grasses and sedges and things that are really important. They, of course, like will feed wildlife and stuff. You know, have birds and stuff that'll come and eat the seed heads of those plants. But we also have an awesome selection of trees and shrubs. Shrubs are so important for birds with, providing habitat, providing those like berries and things in the fall, and they could be just beautiful, a lot of great flowering plants and flowering trees and shrubs and stuff. So, and also some milkweed, which is of course the monarch's. We haven't even really mentioned milkweed yet.
Jeff Williams:
That's always a big draw.
Alana McKean:
Yeah, We always, milkweed kind of actually have their own little section at the start of the sale because some people are really, they're looking for that specifically. And that's if you want to feed the monarch caterpillars, that's what you want to have. But of course, the monarch, the adult monarchs, need other nectar plants. So you want to be looking for those things that are going to bloom. late summer and fall when they're migrating and stuff. So our members would be more than happy to point people in the right direction of things that will suit those needs.
Jeff Williams:
Love it, love it. Have either of you been up to like the Emiquon area? Oh yeah. It's cool. It's crazy. It blows my mind to think about that like there was a farmer who owned that and tried to pump a field for like from like 1945. To do that, for all that, energy to try to, and finally, anyhow, glad that's an amazing project. Yeah, that's an unbelievable project. So I've been up there taking my mom up there before and just kind of sit and chill, you know, and.
Alana McKean:
Just watch all the waterfowls come in and everything. They migrate and lower the water levels. Sometimes you get to see like the water lotus is blooming and stuff in there and that's really beautiful. It's always different, whatever time of year you pass through.
Jeff Williams:
Love it, love it. Well, once again, Elena, Susan, thank you so much for coming by and giving everybody this information. It sounds like it's going to be a great event. It is.
Alana McKean:
We're looking forward to it.
Susan Helm:
We are.
Jeff Williams:
All right. Thanks A lot. Thank you. Thank you.
Susan Helm:
I washed my hair for this thing, so by God, I don't have it all smushed.
Jeff Williams:
Oh, man. Oh, man.
Susan Helm:
I put on makeup tape and deodorant today. Big day, Joe.
Jeff Williams:
All right. I love it. I love it. That's Community Voices is events you might have missed and conversations with neighbors, artists, and area business people. Suggest a guest or comment at communityvoices@nprillinois.org. Get to know your neighbors with Community Voices at noon and 10 P.m. and on demand at nprillinois.org. Community Voices is a production of NPR, Illinois.