Irvine Nature Center

Three dynamic speakers, who are experts in their field will be featured during Irvine Nature Center's Native Plant Seminar & Sale on Saturday, August 21st. This year's seminar will take place from 9:30 to 1:00 p.m. with workshops from 2:30 - 4:30 p.m.

Now in its 19th year, the Native Plant Seminar & Sale provides an opportunity for nursery and landscape professionals, land managers, garden club and native plant society members and home owners to increase their knowledge about native vegetation, sustainable practices and the conservation of native landscapes. Admission is $60 for Irvine members and $70 for non members.

Renowned plant experts Dr. Donald Leopold, Ned Tillman and Claire Sawyers will participate in the seminar to be held at Garrison Forest School (300 Garrison Forest Road, Owings Mills, MD). Leopold, professor at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (Syracuse) and author of six books including Native Trees of the Southeast, will review the ecological conditions that help define the natural plant communities and the dominant species within them. Tillman, environmental scientist and author of The Chesapeake Watershed, will help broaden attendees' perspectives of the role native plants and fungi have played in the past, and how important they are to us and to the future of the Chesapeake Bay. And Claire Sawyers, author of The Authentic Garden: Five Principles for Cultivating Place, will show how we can create gardens that are both deeply rooted in their surroundings and deeply satisfying to their creators and owners.

After the seminar, four afternoon workshops will take place from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Irvine Nature Center. To attend these workshops, participants must pay a $25 fee which is not included with seminar registration (Creating a Bog Garden requires a $35 fee including materials). Throughout the day, people interested in learning more about species native to the state of Maryland can visit Irvine's Native Plant Sale from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Nature Center. This sale is free and open to the public. More information, including registration details, can be found at here.  Thank you to our sponsors Biohabitats, Ecological Restoration Management, Inc., and Media Sponsor, Mason-Dixon Arrive.

Irvine Nature Center, the environmental education organization whose mission is to inspire appreciation and respect for the natural world, is bringing an exciting new Farmer's Market to Baltimore County.  The market, to be held from June 17 through mid November, will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. each Thursday.

The market is being brought to the County through a partnership with Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative (LFFC), a nonprofit organic farmers cooperative of 64 farmers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  The Cooperative delivers the best local organic produce, value added products and humanely raised animal products to retail establishments, co-ops, restaurants and institutions.  And sustainable catering company Bon Appétit Management Company, an onsite restaurant company that provides café and catering services "from Farm to Fork" and invests in the health of our communities and future of our food supply, will be on hand weekly to demo how to use local, organically grown foods.  

"We are very proud to offer residents and those working in this portion of Baltimore County another option for acquiring healthy food sources that support the health of the environment," says Irvine Executive Director, Peggy F. O'Neill.

"A portion of our mission is to encourage individuals to sustain Earth's ecosystem.  Food sources have a great impact on this sustainability, and we educate the community about these issues through our educational programs.  The Famer's Market at Irvine is a huge leap forward for us as we expand our role in the Owings Mills area and beyond as a resource center for environmental education.

For more information on the Farmer's Market at Irvine Nature Center, go to www.ExploreNature.org.

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Founded in 1975, Irvine Nature Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to environmental education.  The Center is located at 11201Garrison Forest Road in Owings Mills, MD.  Call 443-738-9200 or visit www.ExploreNature.org for more information.

Irvine Nature Center would like to extend a warm welcome to the Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance (CSBC) for Green Monday. The event will take place from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Monday, June 7th.  Guest speaker, Dale Hendricks, founder of Green Light Plants, LLC will draw from extensive experience in horticulture and business to dicuss the benefits and beauty of native plants.  Click here for more information.

The Irvine Nature Center kicks off its Native Plant Sale on Saturday, April 17.  Come in to the Irvine Nature Store on weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to buy even more of the Native Plants you have been searching for, including:

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) 

White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra)

Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)

Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium pallidum)

Southern Arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum)

Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)

We will also carry 11 native ferns, 9 grasses and sedges, 28 herbaceous plants and 68 species of trees and shrubs!  Shop early for the best selection and keep checking back as new plants will be arriving throughout the season.  Also, come out to the Nature Store on April 17 and 18 and have your gardening questions answered by the Master Gardeners!  The plant sale is ongoing while supplies last, and plants can be purchased any time between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. For more information call 443-738-9217.