Events

3rd Quarterly Public Meeting with presentation. Wendy Rihner will offer a discussion of the colorful history of plant taxonomy and why it matters more than ever. Rihner, a retired Delgado Community College English professor, started birding in 1997 but had yet to make the connection between birds and native plants. It was not until 2015 that she made that connection after watching Ruby-throated Hummingbirds feed on the Red Buckeye trees at Longue Vue House and Gardens.  Rihner has been making up for lost time ever since, gardening with natives and even growing them! Her small, seasonal business, Birdgirl's Blooms, grows native plants and sells them February through April and donates all profits to the Orleans Audubon Society's Plants for Birds mission. Rihner is a board member of the Wild Ones Pontchartrain Basin and is both the Education Chair and Chair of the Plant for Birds Mission for the Orleans Audubon Society.