Batavia Plain Dirt Gardeners learn about native plants in Michigan’s U.P.

Join the Batavia Plain Dirt Gardeners for its first meeting of the year where they will hear from naturalist Pam Otto on “Wait a Minute … Where Are the Invasives?” The monthly meeting will be 6:45 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, at the Batavia Public Library, 10 S. Batavia Ave.

Otto will virtually lead you down shaded paths and into sunny glades in the wooded wonderland of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (U.P.).

After retiring last year, Otto began spending increasing amounts of time at her property in the U.P. Forty acres of land that had been logged way back when but, in the century or so since, has largely been left to its own devices.

Today, the mixed hardwood and conifer forest yields a dizzying array of plant life, from sedges and ferns to spring, summer, and fall wildflowers — some familiar to Illinois gardeners, some unique to the U.P., and except for the occasional mullein or hawkweed, all native to the area. Can there really be such a place with no Eurasian honeysuckle, no European buckthorn, and no garlic mustard?

Learn about the plants that thrive in the short growing season up north. Species like Canada mayflower, blue bead lily, and shinleaf might not sound familiar, but their associates’ yellow trout lily, red baneberry, and big-leaved aster probably do. Ferns and mosses and an honest-to-goodness native honeysuckle make appearances too and might spark some ideas for additions to your own gardens.

Otto spent 25 years in the field of nature education. She began her career at the Forest Preserve District of Kane County, moved on to the Fox Valley Park District, and wrapped up her career at the St. Charles Park District’s Hickory Knolls Discovery Center.

The Batavia Plain Dirt Gardeners is open to all people interested in gardening. For more information, visit bataviaplaindirtgardeners.org, or contact bataviaplaindirtgardeners@gmail.com.

It is a 501(c)(3) organization that promotes a love of sustainable gardening and the natural world through education and volunteerism.