Licking County Ohio Gardening Meetup

Help At-Risk Plants!

United Plant Savers UPS presents their annual Roots & Seeds Sale - on now! UpS members got first dibs, but some rhizomes and seeds still remain (be forewarned: they may sell out quickly).

Shipping is FREE, and all proceeds support our nonprofit and its mission to protect at-risk medicinal plants, fungi, and their habitats for generations to come.

Choose from:
Ginseng seeds - American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) has an at-risk score of 63 (the higher the number, the more at-risk it is). This is stratified seed, meaning it only needs one more cold cycle before germination. Get your seeds in the ground before the first freeze.

Goldenseal roots - Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) has an at-risk score of 50 of going extinct. Be prepared to plant your rhizomes shortly after arrival, as they are live plant material.

By growing and harvesting your own at-risk plants, you reduce the pressure created by wild harvesting. Planting instructions will be included. Due to shipping restrictions, we can only mail roots and seeds within the U.S.

Thinking about growing ginseng and goldenseal in Ohio? Here’s why people value them:
• Ginseng is taken for energy, focus, stress support, and sometimes to help regulate blood sugar.
• Goldenseal is used for stomach issues, skin care, and is popular in cold and flu remedies.
• Both are native to Ohio woodlands and can be grown sustainably to reduce pressure on wild populations

Conservation and Sustainability
• Wild populations of both species have declined due to overharvesting and habitat loss.
• Growing them legally on private land helps relieve pressure on wild stands and can provide a sustainable source for herbal markets.

What does it really take to transform a conventional lawn into a thriving native meadow?

Join Wild Ones and Sara Weaner Cooper for a candid look at her family’s ongoing lawn-to-meadow project. Sara will share the decisions, methods, successes, surprises, and challenges that have shaped the landscape over multiple growing seasons.

REGISTER for free at the link. A recording will be sent to everyone after the event, as well.

From Lawn to Meadow
Speaker: Sara Weaner Cooper
Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Time: 7 p.m. Eastern | 6 p.m. Central | 5 p.m. Mountain | 4 p.m. Pacific
Location: Online. Join the premiere on YouTube and participate in the live chat!
Link provided with registration. This webinar will be recorded and shared with registrants after the premiere.

About the Webinar
Replacing turfgrass with a native meadow can support biodiversity, strengthen ecological relationships, and create a more dynamic home landscape. But meadow establishment is not an instant process. It requires careful observation, realistic expectations, and management that changes as the plant community develops.

Sara Weaner Cooper, owner and principal of New Directions in the American Landscape, will guide participants through her family’s gradual transition from lawn to meadow, a project featured in The New York Times in 2024 and the BBC in 2025. Rather than presenting one formula for success, she will show how the meadow has evolved through experimentation, ecological processes, changing conditions, and ongoing learning.

Participants will gain practical insights into site preparation, planting, weed management, plant competition, and long-term maintenance. Sara will also discuss how expectations for a meadow’s appearance and function may need to change as the landscape develops over time.

Whether you are considering replacing a small section of lawn or converting a larger area, this webinar will offer a realistic look at what meadow-making involves.

What You’ll Learn
Participants will learn how to:

• Use observation and adaptive management to guide the process
• Evaluate whether a meadow is appropriate for a particular site
• Prepare an area of turfgrass for meadow establishment
• Consider different planting and establishment methods
• Respond to weeds and competition as the meadow develops
• Understand how native plant communities change over time
• Set realistic expectations for appearance and maintenance

Presented in Partnership
This webinar is presented in collaboration with New Directions in the American Landscape (https://www.ndal.org/), an educational organization advancing ecologically informed approaches to landscape design and stewardship.