Register by June 3rd! Come to Our Annual Meeting June 11

Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer is the location of the NC Native Plant Society annual meeting. Graphic by Craig Maxwell
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By Carrie DeJaco and Laura Domingo

Our highly-anticipated NCNPS annual meeting will be June 11 at Pfeiffer University, Misenheimer. All NC Native Plant Society members are welcome and must register by June 3. The event will feature a native plant sale and auction, picnic, rain garden tour, and fun! Members may register for themselves and one guest. Registration details are on the website.

The 71st annual meeting overall will be co-chaired by Dr. Carrie DeJaco, Pfeiffer University associate professor of biology and environmental science, and Laura Domingo, a naturalist at Reedy Creek Nature Center for Mecklenburg County. This is the NCNPS Annual Members’ meeting where the membership will participate in the election of officers and be apprised of NCNPS activities and other business for fiscal year 2021-2022.

The change of location to Misenheimer was made because the Society has experienced an increase in its membership. The new venue at Pfeiffer University will accommodate 200 people this year. Registration must be made by June 3rd.

Campus Details

Parking on the Misenheimer campus of Pfeiffer University is free and carpooling is encouraged. Misenheimer is roughly half-way between Salisbury and Albemarle, and a half-hour’s drive to the northeast from UNC-Charlotte. Directions and Campus map

The annual meeting will feature a popular plant sale and auction, a picnic, awards presentations and election of officers and board of directors, and a tour of the campus rain garden and a riparian area.

Potted native plants grown by society members will be on sale and auctioned at the annual meeting. NCNPS stock photo

Native Plants Will Be For Sale

One highlight is the native plant sale and auction that annually raises much of the funds necessary for the management of the Society. Native plants will be sold from potted seedlings grown by NCNPS members; special and unique native plants will be auctioned. The event will be outdoors at a shaded canopy area. In the event of rain, the sale will move inside the Knapp Health and Fitness Center. Mandy Bloom, a lifelong nature enthusiast, a professional environmental scientist and dedicated NCNPS member, will oversee the plant sale and auction.

We’ll Have a Picnic

The picnic will be based in the spacious air-conditioned Knapp Gym. People are welcome to eat indoors or outdoors.

The picnic will be both indoors and outdoors at Pfeiffer University’s Knapp Gym. Photo: Schlachtenbummler, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Tour the New Rain Garden (and more!)

Another event highlight will be an opportunity to tour a rain garden on the campus of Pfeiffer University. This native plant area showcases 30 different plants that attract pollinators, help prevent soil erosion, and provide stormwater management. Designed and installed in 2020 by Dr. DeJaco and her reconciliation ecology students, they also removed all existing invasive non-native plants.

Native Plant Society members are welcome to explore other areas on campus that were once an abundance of invasives and now are being transformed with native plants. Some areas were mentioned in an interview with Dr. Carrie DeJaco, the garden’s creative force behind the school’s rain garden, in The Falcon Connection April 2022.

NCNPS members are welcome to make donations of plants to the university and contribute their physical activity to remove invasive nonnative plants and install native plants. Contact Carrie at Carrie.DeJaco@pfeiffer.edu to donate native plants for campus landscaping, or to contribute time and effort to help with either planting natives or removing invasives.

Enjoy a picnic, a native plant sale and auction, a rain garden tour, and have an all-around great time! We look forward to seeing you June 11.

By Carrie DeJaco and Laura Domingo
Native Plant News – Summer 2022


Dr. Carrie DeJaco,  Pfeiffer University associate professor of biology and environmental science, is a member of the NCNPS Southern Piedmont Chapter

Laura Domingo, a naturalist at Reedy Creek Nature Center for Mecklenburg County, is a co-chair of the NCNPS Southern Piedmont Chapter