Native Plant Gardens Tour, Tiny + Wild Book Signing, And “On the Wing” Exhibit

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When: Garden Tours – Saturday and Sunday, June 24 and June 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
When: Presentation and Book Signing – June 24, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
When: “On the Wing” Exhibit – Now until August 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Kettle Pond Visitor Center, Bend Road in Charlestown (map below)
Cost: Free

Garden Tours
Kettle Pond Native Plant Gardens will be open for tours each day. URI Master Gardeners will greet visitors in all the gardens, ready to answer questions and share science-based horticultural information about best gardening practices.

Kettle Pond Native Plant Gardens were established in 2017 and are populated with over seventy RI native plants, including grasses, ferns, and shrubs. The garden is lovingly tended by URI Master Gardener and US Fish and Wildlife Service volunteers and showcases the importance of biodiversity, attracting a wide variety of pollinators seeking sweet nectar or pollen. The swathes of color and the buzzing of the insects are a joy to behold. The gardens are situated from areas of full sun to shade with the right plants in the right place. These well-designed gardens demonstrate layering as well as bloom times through the seasons. Look out for Monarch butterfly eggs or larvae on the milkweed plants as you stroll through the space.

Presentation and Book Signing
Tiny and Wild: Build a Small-Scale Meadow Anywhere is a new book published in March about building a small-scale meadow anywhere. The book was written by Rhode Island native and URI Department of Landscape Architecture alum Graham Laird Gardner ‘06.  Graham Gardner also designed the native plant garden at Kettle Pond Visitor Center!

The “On the Wing” Exhibit Continues
The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators New England Chapter’s “On the Wing” exhibit explores the various aspects of migration for birds and insects such as butterflies. This exhibit of Natural Science Illustrators explores migratory birds and butterflies and their habitat. The 12 artists represented live in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut and use a variety of media. Come and view the exhibit, explore the refuge, and see why it is important. Our area of the planet is part of one of the main migratory flyways, the Atlantic Flyway, which concentrates migrants along the northeastern seaboard.

Kettle Pond Visitor Center is located on Bend Road, directly off of Rt. 1 in Charlestown