Admission is free with non-member class registration

Sustainable Lawn Alternatives

One significant thing we can do for the environment is redefine the way we think about lawns.  Explore design and plant alternatives to the traditional lawn and how to be successful with them.

Schweyer is vice president of Salsbury-Schweyer, Inc., in Akron Ohio. She is a national award-winning landscape designer, a certified permaculture consultant, a well known lecturer on sustainable landscaping, and a guest columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Composting Made Easy

Food waste and yard trimmings makes up a large portion of the trash that is in landfills.  Instead of tossing your apple core in the trash, why not compost it?  Compost bins are relatively cheap and easy to make and maintain.  During this hands-on, indoor program, find out how you can get started composting.  We will discuss different methods of composting and ways to make composting more convenient for you.  

Fireside Lecture Series:

Varied Perspectives on Nature

A Gift of a Garden

Often called Youngstown’s hidden treasure, Fellows Riverside Gardens in beautiful Mill Creek MetroParks is a free public garden located at the northern end of the park. This 12-acre display garden features a landscape of remarkable beauty with diverse and colorful plant displays, roses of all classes, seasonal displays of annuals, perennials, and flowering bulbs, and scenic vistas. Discover how Elizabeth Fellows’ dream of a garden for all to enjoy, free of charge became a reality by joining Lynn Zocolo, horticulture educator at the gardens, for an informative afternoon on the past, present and future of Fellows Riverside Gardens and Mill Creek MetroParks, the first park district in Ohio.

The High Alleghenies

To the east and southeast of Ohio lie the western ramparts of the Appalachians, the High Alleghenies of West Virginia, western Pennsylvania and Maryland. Rising to nearly 5,000 feet in West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest, these wild and scenic hills harbor black bears, dramatic waterfalls, deep canyons, wild rivers and spectacular floral displays of pink azalea, mountain laurel and rhododendron. In this slide program, you’ll visit Allegheny National Forest, Swallow Falls, Ohiopyle State Park, Blackwater Falls, Canaan Valley, Spruce Knob and the rugged Dolly Sods Wilderness.

Adams is an environmental photographer specializing in natural, rural, historical and garden photography. Since 1985, more than 5,000 of his color photographs have been published in books, posters, calendars, magazines and other publications. He has published 17 photography books and conducted more than 150 photography workshops and seminars.  His books include The Holden Arboretum, Backroads of Ohio, Our First Family's Home: The Ohio Governor's Residence and Heritage Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden: Green For 150 Years and A Photographer's Guide to Ohio .

Preserving our Pollinators

We can thank pollinators for one out of every three bites of food we take. But do we know who to thank, or how to make them feel more at home in our yards and gardens? Come meet the pollinators and learn simple but important actions every gardener and naturalist can take to help preserve our pollinators. Learn what's happening across the state and close to home to protect our food supply and our ecosystems.

Ellsworth directs the honey bee and native pollinator education program through the Ohio State University Department of Entomology on the OARDC campus in Wooster. In this outreach position, Denise supports and teaches beekeepers, farmers, and gardeners through a variety of workshops, written materials and electronic resources. She earned her master of science at OSU's School of Natural Resources and bachelor of science from OSU's Department of Plant Pathology. She is also a garden writer for the Akron Beacon Journal.