Bluebird Presentation at Crossroads March 9

The Bluebird Doctor returns to Crossroads at Big Creek to present “Learn to Think Like a Bluebird” March 9 at 7 pm.

Dr. Kent Hall is Vice-President and Coordinator of Data Collection and Analysis for the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin (BRAW), and is an engaging speaker with stunning images. He will discuss the importance of bluebirds and other cavity nesting songbirds (tree swallows, wrens and chickadees).

Dr. Hall is considered one of the main bluebird conservationists in Wisconsin. He coordinates a bluebird trail for the Aldo Leopold Audubon Society in Stevens Point, a trail that has produced 14,000 bluebirds in seven years, is home to 1,130 nest boxes, and counts 55 active trail monitors as of last year.

Roy and Charlotte Lukes will be available to answer questions about developing bluebird trails here in Door County. There will be nest boxes and mounting posts for sale at the talk. Dr. Hall will also have copies of the BRAW Informational Packet for sale. This packet is the most complete guide of its kind produced about bluebirds in North America. All proceeds will go to the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin.

Next week Crossroads features a presentation on Asiatic Lillies.

Nate Bremer, a hybridizer specializing in northern-hardy daylilies and Peonies, will be the guest lecturer for the March 16 door County Master Gardeners program. The program is at Crossroads at Big Creek in Sturgeon Bay and starts at 7 pm.

Bremer has served as an American Hemerocallis Society Garden Judge and owns and operates Solaris Farms, where he sells plants, gives tours, hybridizes and serves as a passionate advocate of naturally field-grown, zone-hardy Hemerocallis, Paeonia and Lilium. The century-old farmstead, located near Reedsville, is an Official American Hemerocallis Society (AHS) Display Garden.

Opened in 1999, Solaris Farms is home to more than 2,000 registered daylilies and features a test garden of 10,000+ seedlings and new cultivars under propagation. The farm has been featured in numerous television and magazines profiles, and is a frequent destination of master gardener groups, garden clubs and specialist gardeners. Solaris Farms served as an AHS Region 2 tour garden site in 2004, where it was visited by hundreds of daylily enthusiasts from a five-state area. Mr. Bremer’s most recent Hemerocallis introductions were featured in the garden of the Wisconsin Governor’s mansion for the 2008 Regional AHS Convention.

Mr. Bremer lives with his wife Kimberly, two children and a variety of animal friends at Solaris Farms. When not at work in the lily fields, he teaches middle school science and has been recognized as a Wisconsin Science Teacher of the Year.

Both programs are free and open to the public.