Skip to main content

Community Programs

A group of people show their bounty of Chanterelle mushrooms from a WRI workshop.
Chanterelle Workshop 2021

Red Barn Event: Habitat Gardening

Thursday, January 15, 2026
7:00 pm8:00 pm
HYBRID EVENT: WRI's Red Barn 347 Division Street, Leavenworth, WA 98826 or livestream via our YouTube Channel
An orange and black butterfly lands on Pearly Everlasting- a plant with small white and yellow flower clusters

Habitat Gardening: Keystone Native Plants for Central Washington Landscapes

Streaming link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjKEwzF7WQs&list=PLjATQxBXvvgXSiC_qr24e5jmPS-LyJ5T9&index=35

No registration required, but RSVP to receive email reminders and updates about this event!

Doors open at 6:30pm for a community social with beer and wine available for purchase. The presentation will start at 7:00pm.

Native plants are the foundation of terrestrial ecosystems. Invertebrates, especially insects, take the wonderful products of photosynthesis that plants create and make them available to most of the animals that are part of the ecological web. All birds and many mammals would go extinct without native plants and their associated insects. We will explore this critical yet often hidden service and discuss how individual people and their communities can link their landscape to the local ecosystem and help sustain the intricate web of life around them by the selection and planting of particular native plants.

About the presenter:
Ted Alway is a long-time Peshastin resident, orchardist and founder of Derby Canyon Natives nursery. He went to college to study Ornamental Horticulture and left with a degree in Entomology; this presentation includes two of his greatest loves, bugs and native plants!