Join us for the Conservation@Home Native Seed and Plant Share on Thursday, October 29, 2026, from 5:30 to 7:00 PM at the Peoria Public Library North Branch; I will be attending.
Most of what I read about native gardening this month was the same advice recycled. Plant for pollinators, go local, skip the mulch. Fine, all true, none of it told me anything I could act on that weekend. Then a search for something completely different put an Extension event listing in front of me, and I have been thinking about it since.
Where the Reading Took Me
The trail started with a simple question about seed I had collected and whether it was worth sharing with anyone. That pulled up University of Illinois Extension material, which pulled up their Conservation@Home program, which is how the seed share turned up.
A swap is the cheapest way to build a native bed that I know of. You bring what you have surplus of, you leave with things you did not have, and the cost of the evening is a dish for the potluck.
Meet Your Hosts
- U of I Extension ILRiverHort is the horticulture side, run by Nicole Flowers-Kimmerle, the Agriculture and Natural Resources educator covering horticulture for the unit.
- The Fulton Mason Peoria Tazewell Unit is the parent page, handling programming across all four counties.
The One Line That Stopped Me
Buried in the listing is an instruction about plant starts. Roots have to be washed, to avoid spreading any undesirables. That phrasing is doing a lot of quiet work and I did not know what it meant, so I looked it up.
Why It Says Washed Roots
Jumping worms. Illinois confirmed its first in 2015 and Extension now counts them across 49 of the 102 counties. Tazewell is on that list, which is one of the four counties this Extension unit covers, so this is not a caution imported from somewhere else.
The adults die off at the first hard freeze. What they leave behind are cocoons sitting in the top few inches of soil through winter, poppy seed sized and dark, and late October is exactly when they are there. I have looked. I could not see a thing.
How I Am Doing Mine
- Root ball goes in a bucket of water.
- Soil comes off with fingers, not a hose.
- Rinse water and grit into the trash, never onto a bed.
- Then either potted in fresh sterile mix or carried bare.
Fingers rather than a hose because the fine root hairs are what feed the plant and a jet takes them clean off. That took me two attempts to get right on a coneflower division.
What I Am Taking
- Seed, labeled properly.
- Two divisions, roots washed.
- Something for the potluck.
Label everything. I would not put an unmarked packet into a bed I had spent seasons settling, and I doubt anyone else at that table would either.
The Real Reason I Am Going
Conservation@Home certifies private properties across Fulton, Mason, Peoria and Tazewell counties for conservation minded landscaping. I had read about it and then let it sit, the way you do with anything that involves a form.
You can begin the certification on the night, with staff and current members in the room idea. That is the part that turned this from an event I might attend into one I registered for.
The Costume Contest
Different theme each year. Mushrooms last time, nocturnal creatures this time, and it is there to flag up what is coming next season. A print or a t-shirt counts. I am not buying anything.
Details, and Come Find Me
- Thursday, October 29, 2026, 5:30 to 7:00 PM.
- Peoria Public Library North Branch, 3001 W. Grand Pkwy, Peoria, IL 61615.
- Hosted by University of Illinois Extension.
- Free registration at extension.illinois.edu.
- Ainsley Olsen handles accommodation requests.
If you have been reading the same recycled advice I was, this is a better hour and a half than another evening of it. I will be the one with the bucket rinsed divisions and too much seed. Say hello.