November 2020 - Trees and Shrubs - What's the Use?! In this opener to Prairie Natural Gardening Group's second year, Laura Reeves spoke about wild edibles and other amazing benefits of native trees and shrubs.

December - Part 2 of 2, botanist Laura Reeves presented a variety of native forbs, grasses and, by popular demand, more shrubs!

January 2021 - Jode Roberts from the David Suzuki Foundation opened the New Year with an inspiring talk about how residents and Butterflyway Rangers throughout Canada are bringing wild bees and butterflies back to their neighbourhoods, one native wildflower at a time.

February - Chris Penner, a practicing Applied Native Revegetation Ecologist, spoke on the topic of the ecological importance of the riparian zone, revegetation projects to restore the riparian zone, and provided advice on planting in shade.

March - Aimee McDonald from Prairie Flora and Kelly Leask from Prairie Originals provided an overview of their catalogues and what's new for purchase this year, and Mick Manfield (Gardens Manitoba, Selkirk and District Horticultural Society) outlined some of the preparation you can do this year and next for a PNGG Garden Tour in 2022.

April - Derek Yarnell, Master Gardener, inspired us to mix native plants with conventional or ornamental plantings using examples from his own garden.

May - Peggy Bainard Acheson took us on a photo journey of the Brokenhead Wetland Ecological Reserve , describing the native plants and orchids.

June - Alexis Nazeravich, program coordinator for the Aki Centre* took us on a visual tour of the 49 acre site. *The Blue Thunderbird Land-Based Teachings Learning Centre (Ozhaawashkwaa Animikii-Bineshi Aki Onji Kinimaagae'Inun or Aki Centre) is located in West St. Paul, Manitoba and is part of the Seven Oaks School Division.

September - Bringing Birds Into Our Native Gardens - Ian Cook, Grassland Conservation Manager and Natasha Barlow, Boreal Conservation Projects Specialist with Birds Canada

October - Designing with Native Plants - Lyndon Penner, head gardener for Riding Mountain National Park, guest speaker and lecturer for universities, colleges, and horticultural societies, and writer of several best-selling books about gardening in short season areas.

November - John Morgan of Prairie Habitats Inc spoke about the historical, conservation, and wildlife habitat values of native prairie plants, and described his experience using native plants for gardens and for prairie restorations. Shirley Froehlich, the founder of Prairie Originals (1990), a native plants nursery in Manitoba took part in a Q and A session led by Michele Taylor.

December - Cindy Crosby https://cindycrosby.com/ presented December Delights of the Tall Grass Prairie, an interactive seminar featuring information on and images of the tall grass prairie in the winter and readings about the prairie. Cindy

is a writer and photographer and teaches natural history for The Morton Arboretum, Wild Ones Native Landscape groups, Sierra Club, and other organizations.

2019 - 2020

During the 2019 - 2020 membership year, we had presentations on collecting seeds, landscaping with native plants, garden design, managing weeds, and butterflies, moths and their host plants. We had interactive meetings via Zoom where we virtually toured one member's garden, helped members design their own native gardens, and shared our favourite tools as well as the most challenging corners of our garden. We were invited to join a David Suzuki Foundation webinar on the Butterflyway Project and on preparing your gardens, native and non-native, for winter. We finished the year with the conservation documentary film Hometown Habitat, Stories of Bringing Nature Home.