Beauty Outside Your Door - 2024 Library Program

Growing your own beautiful gardens and landscapes is not only good for pollinators but also you. Flowers support pollinators, attract beneficial insects, elevate our mood and reduce stress. Growing ornamental edible plants is another way to create beauty outside your door while boosting the nutritional value and flavor of your meals.  All gardening is good for the mind, body, spirit, and your household budget. To assist people in finding ways to grow nutritious food and beautiful landscapes, We Energies has teamed up with gardening expert Melinda Myers and Public Libraries throughout Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Together, they are providing FREE webinars, videos, activity guides, DIY projects and other resources and activities through the libraries this growing season to help gardeners be successful no matter their experience level, the size of their budget, or space limitations.

Gardening Webinars, Videos, Activities, and Projects

Sponsored by: 

Gardening Webinars presented by Melinda Myers:

Webinar Recording:  Container Gardening Throughout the Year

Use container gardens to boost the color and seasonal interest in any size landscape, garden, balcony, or deck.  With your budget in mind, we will explore attractive combinations of trees, shrubs, flowers, edible plants, and those that attract pollinators. Plus, you’ll learn strategies for extending your enjoyment year-round by transforming all or a portion of the container planting with the changing seasons.

Watch Recording
Download Handout
 

 

May 1^st, 6:30 p.m. CT

Ornamental Fruits and Vegetables

Increase the nutritional value and beauty of your landscape by incorporating attractive fruits and vegetables into your landscape, garden beds, and containers.  Growing varieties that are both ornamental and productive increases the opportunities for creating a beautiful space right outside your door. We will look at new and proven fruit and vegetable varieties suited to both gardens and containers.

Register for Free

 

June 5^th, 6:30 p.m. CT

Underappreciated Pollinators

The plight of honeybees and monarchs fill the news, but many more pollinators are often overlooked yet critical to the production of food, fiber and other raw materials we depend upon. Native bees, moths, bats, beetles, flies, and birds are also important. We will look at a variety of pollinators, their role in the environment, and their impact on people. Plus, we will discuss ways to co-exist with these often overlooked and sometimes feared or dreaded animals.

Register for Free

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Gardening How-To Videos & Activities

After doing these activities share photos of your container gardens and sunflowers
on social media and include #BeautyOutsideYourDoor to inspire others.

April 2024 - A Container Garden of Greens

Start the garden season right now with a container of greens. These are nutritious, colorful, and fun to grow indoors or out.  All you need is a container, potting soil, and some seeds. In 30 days or more, you will be harvesting some homegrown veggies to enjoy throughout the spring and early summer. Use them to create a salad, dress up a sandwich, or top a pizza.

Download the Activity Guide and Watch the Video (below)

May 2024 - Creating Containers from Repurposed Items

Save money, reduce waste, and create an attractive container from items headed to the recycling center or landfill. Paint, glue, and your imagination are all you need. Start with a walk through your basement or shed, talk to friends, or retrieve some pots from the recycling shelf at the garden center. Once you complete your creation, add some drainage holes, fill it with potting soil, and get started planting.

Activity Guide - Coming soon!

Video - Coming Soon!

 

 

June 2024 - Grow Your Own Sunflower in a Recycled Container or the Garden

Sunflowers are a favorite of gardeners, kids, birds, squirrels, and a variety of pollinators. You can’t help but smile when you see the blossoms or the bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds dining on the nectar and songbirds and squirrels munching on the seeds.  This North American native plant is easy to grow in containers or a sunny spot in your garden. 

Download the Activity Guide

Video - Coming Soon!
 

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