Grow Native! Webinar: Growing Edible Plants for Food and Wildlife

Grow Native! Webinar: Growing Edible Plants for Food and Wildlife

Missouri Prairie Foundation's Grow Native! Program

Cost: Free

When: Wednesday, July 2, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. et online

Join Dr. Nadia Navarrete-Tindall, Professor and Extension State Specialist at Lincoln University of Missouri, as she highlights some easy to grow native edible plants. She will present information on how to identify, grow, maintain, when and what to harvest, and uses, of a few species that are naturally found in bottomlands and wetlands and have a wide range of adaptation. All these species are perennial which makes them ideal for urban farms and gardens. Some of the native edibles to be discussed are sochan (Rudbeckia laciniata), cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum), wild plums (Prunus spp.), persimmon, and wetland species that produce edible tubers like wapato (Saggitaria latifolia), and wild lotus (Nelumbo lutea). These last two species can be grown in water gardens that can also provide habitat for frogs and other wetland animals.

This free webinar, to be held via Zoom, will include a presentation and a live question-and-answer session. The webinar will be recorded, with a link to the recording sent to all registrants and posted to the MPF YouTube channel.

Dr. Nadia Navarrete-Tindall is a professor, Extension State Specialist, and Director of Native and Specialty Crops Program at Lincoln University of Missouri. She holds a BS in Agronomy from the Universidad de El Salvador, and MS Forestry and PhD Plant Biology from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

She oversees outreach and education projects in topics related to native plants for their benefits to people and wildlife including the FINCA project (Families Integrating Nature, Conservation and Agriculture) that provides educational tools to students, small farmers and the public to identify, grow and market native plants for food, conservation, naturescaping, and those important for pollinators. At present, she is implementing the Urban AgLearning Hub with funds from a NIFA- Capacity Building Grant to coordinate training with other extension specialists on campus, non-profit organizations, other institutions, and local communities. Along with her team, she maintains two native plant demonstration areas on campus including the Finca EcoFarm and the Native Plant Outdoor Laboratory at LU campus with more than 120 native plant species including wild plums persimmon, paw paw, elderberry, herbs, native ferns, perennial greens, and wetland species. The LU-Farmers Market, also located on campus, is under her supervision. A native fruit FINCA plot established at LU-Busby Farm is used for training and demonstration of productive native edible crops.

In 2008 she received the Master Conservationist award which is the highest conservation honor in Missouri and is a committee advisor for the Grow Native! Program in Missouri. She owns a consultation business ‘Native Plants and More’ and farms along with her husband Randy, a quarter acre lot in Columbia, Missouri with about 200 species of native plants that provide food and a safe haven for frogs, mammals, birds, insects, and people.