Asheville Botanical Gardens educational eco/nature walk

Meet 10 AM Wednesday Aug 20 @ Asheville Botanical Gardens 151 Weaver St AV. 28804.Meet in the parking lot. Look for RFAR signs. Drew Lathin is the guest host for this. (Drew Lathin is the owner of Mountain Native Landscape Design and a certified Blue Ridge Naturalist. He has been playing around with native plants in built landscapes for over 20 years as a native plant nursery manager, designer, and installer. Utilizing ecological principles in his work, he is a fierce advocate for the need to re-wild our urban and suburban landscapes using native plants in thoughtful and legible designs to bring biological diversity and beauty to our everyday lives. Drew is the former President of the Board of the Wildflower Association of Michigan.)Thanks. The Botanical Gardens at Asheville is a 10-acre independent, non-profit botanical garden dedicated to the study and promotion of the native plants and habitats of the Southern Appalachians. Join us for an educational, slow paced walk focusing on our local ecology. Learn about the relationships between native plants, insects, and wildlife up the food chain. Learn why native plants are vitally important for biodiversity and why non native and invasive plants are harmful and contribute to the sixth extinction.

We will walk the half mile loop a couple of times stopping along the way to talk and look at plants. Total distance is about a mile.

This is a nature type walk where we will be stopping to look at plants. The walk is educational in focus. There will be some conversation about species extinction, ecology with native plants as the foundation of the food chain, and some species identification. Please refrain from talking and pay attention when he is explaining the plants etc. (Thanks) It is not a strenuous hike but walking sticks would be a plus. It is a mix of shade and sun, some gravel, some wooded trail, no pavement walking. Free but please bring $$ for donations. (Thanks) . Bring picnic lunch to leave in your car. Bring a chair and we will find a picnic spot. Hope you can make it. Ben 561 425-3077 bbsdob525@aol.com