UUVA Dinner Explores Creating Gardens

The Upper Unadilla Valley Association invites the public to learn more about the importance of using native plants to create gardens and landscapes that respect and sustain all living things at its annual banquet Friday, Nov. 6, at the Horned Dorset Inn in Leonardsville.

Maggie Reilly, vice president of the Wild Ones Mohawk Valley and a retired environmental engineer, will explain what she calls “compassionate gardening” by using native plants and traditional design techniques to create beautiful gardens that help preserve healthy, biodiverse ecosystems for plants, pollinators, wildlife, and humans alike.

The banquet, which begins at 6:30 p.m., costs $64 and features a prix fixe dinner that includes the Inn's signature hot cheese dip, butternut soup with fall crumble, beef bourguignon, and tiramisu.

Substitutions are available only for dietary restrictions and food allergies and should be noted when making reservations.

Tax and tip—but not beverages—are included in the price.

A cash bar will be available.

Reservations are required and can be made only by sending a check to Larraine McNulty, 156 Pritchard Road, West Winfield, NY 13491.

Checks, made payable to "UUVA," must arrive by Oct. 28.

The UUVA, whose mission is to preserve and protect the region's natural and historic resources, also will present its annual conservation and historic preservation awards that evening.

Gardening became an integral part of Reilly's life while growing up on the banks of the Raquette River in Northern New York.

She has long focused on garden design and the study of plants, taking many garden design and horticulture courses throughout her adult years.

During the latter part of her career, she worked on nature-based stream and floodplain restoration projects in the Mohawk Valley area that exclusively used native plants.