Midwest Native Plant Conference

 

A nymph-stage Snowy Tree Cricket (Oecanthus nivalis) noshes on a disk floret of an Ashy Sunflower (Helianthus mollis). The singing insects (Orthoptera) do not get their fair due for pollination services. This animal has plenty of pollen dusting its face. I have seen pollen-dusted tree crickets snacking on flowers many times.

I took this shot this morning while leading a field trip for the Midwest Native Plant Conference. This was our 17th year for the conference, and as usual it sold out in short order. Thank you to all of the organizers for their hard work in making the conference a success and providing the opportunity to hear lots of interesting speakers, interact with like-minded persons, and access to many of Ohio's top native plant nurseries who bring lots of floral goodies.

Bergamo Center at Mount Saint John in Dayton is our venue and has been for most of the conference's life. It is a perfect site for this type of event, with plenty of lawn space for vendors, a beautiful auditorium, a number of smaller rooms for breakout sessions, dining facilities and lots of lodging. The staff is superb and wonderful to work with. Also, there are plenty of field trip opportunities, both on the expansive grounds and at myriad interesting sites within a half-hour or so of Bergamo.

There were about 150 attendees, in addition to all of the organizers and volunteers. At least nine states were represented, as distant as Delaware and Missouri.

If you have an interest in botany and native plants, I encourage you to attend. The 2027 conference dates have not yet been picked, but it'll be about this time of year. Sometimes it fills with one day of opening registration, so I'd encourage you to use the website to register ASAP. I'll post the 2027 dates as soon as I know them.