Plant a Mini Porch Prairie Workshop set for June 6, 2026, at Johnson’s Nursery in Menomonee Falls
Container gardening to help the birds and bees
Top photo: Participants in a June 6 “Planting a Mini Porch Prairie” workshop in Menomonee Falls will plant 5 native plants in a container garden to take home to help provide habitat for bees, butterflies and birds. Here, participants in a May workshop in Middleton created their container gardens.
Bottom photos: These are the 5 plants planned: Red Milkweed; Black-eyed Susan; Anise Hyssop; Spotted Bee Balm; Little Bluestem
MENOMONEE FALLS, WI - Want to provide habitat for birds and bees but don’t have a yard? No problem!
Plant a mini prairie to beautify your porch, patio or balcony and help feed birds and bees at a June 6 workshop sponsored by SOS Save Our Songbirds, Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, Johnson’s Nursery and the Milwaukee Southwest/Wehr chapter of Wild Ones.
Participants will get a kit with five native plants and a container filled with potting soil. After a short talk on the featured plants and their care, people will plant their own porch prairie to take home. The workshop runs noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 6, at Johnson’s Nursery, W180N6275 Marcy Rd, Menomonee Falls, WI 53051. The registration fee is $40. Register now via WSO’s website.
“Our Porch Prairie workshops are a great way to get started landscaping with native plants, and a great way to make a small space count for birds!” says Lisa Gaumnitz, who coordinates SOS Save Our Songbirds. “We’re really excited to be teaming up with WSO and other partners to help everyone help our birds!”
WSO Executive Director Alicia King notes that a lot of people don’t think they can attract birds or bees and butterflies because they don’t have a yard. “But creating a patio garden can be so easy and fulfilling. So come join us and see how easy and fun it can be!”
Eric Manges, a meteorologist, native plant enthusiast and wholesale representative for Johnson’s Nursery, will lead the workshop. He experimented with container gardening at his one-bedroom apartment in Wauwatosa starting in 2020, and after moving to the Bay View neighborhood of Milwaukee has “crammed over 250 native species into our little lot.” He’s been sharing his native plant journey every step of the way on his Facebook and Instagram pages, Eric Manges Nature.
Eric Manges with the “porch prairie” he created while leading people in planting their own container garden with native plants in 2025. His experiments with growing native plants in container gardens helped inspire the June 6 Planting a Mini Porch Prairie workshop at Johnson’s Nursery in Menomonee Falls. Eric will lead that workshop.
After the presentation, participants will receive a kit with the featured plants and a container with potting soil and the group will plant together. Red Milkweed, Black-eyed Susan, Little Bluestem, Spotted Bee Balm, and Anise Hyssop are the native plants planned for this workshop.
Gaumnitz says Porch Prairie workshops SOS offered in 2025 and May 8, 2026 in the Madison area were inspired by an SOS volunteer who lives in an apartment and wanted to SOS to add materials and events geared toward helping people who do not have a yard provide bird habitat around home.
SOS is a volunteer group that launched in March 2023 to empower people to take three actions at home to help save declining songbirds. Those actions are to plant native plants good for birds; protect birds from windows, and purchase bird-friendly coffee grown on farms that protect habitat where many of Wisconsin’s songbirds winter.
Nearly 30% of North American birds have vanished since 1970, according to a landmark 2019 study. Scientists consider habitat loss the biggest reason bird populations are declining.
Shop and save at Johnson’s Nursery before and after the workshop
Before and after the workshop, participants are invited to explore Johnson’s Nursery, a third-generation family business that specializes in locally grown and Wisconsin native plants.
They’ll enjoy special savings if they’re an active member of Wild Ones. Every June, active members of Wild Ones receive 30% off Wisconsin native plants in containers purchased at their retail site in Menomonee Falls. All active Wild Ones Members need only present their valid membership card; the sale benefits three Milwaukee-area chapters of Wild Ones: Menomonee River, Milwaukee North, and Milwaukee Southwest/Wehr, one of the sponsors of the June 6 Porch Prairie.