‘Walk on the Wild Side’ at Wonder Lake church prairie

The Wildflower Preservation & Propagation Committee’s next “Walk on the Wild Side” will be two walks in one.

It will start at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 22, at Christ the King Church, 5006 E. Wonder Lake Road in Wonder Lake, and then head to John Shiel’s nearby property.

Shiel has been working on his natural yard for over 35 years. About 20 years ago, he started taking seed from his yard and putting it down in an old 2.5-acre pastured farmstead on the church property. When he started finding species that he’d never seeded, he realized that this plot of land had never been plowed and still had an active native seed bank.

Shiel will share his insights on St. Francis Prairie before participants move half-mile down the road to his quarter-acre yard which he began restoring in 1989.

All WPPC garden walks are free of charge and no pre-registration is required.

For details and directions to the properties, visit thewppc.org. For a list of all walks for the 2026 season, see the garden walk page, thewppc.org/garden-walks-2-2/.