Linda Verardi, President
My indigenous plant path has been decades in the making and has been experienced in the company of like-minded people. I cannot think of a time when I haven’t been involved with plants, from my earliest childhood memories of running through the flower-filled land near our home, to recent days of learning what it means to restore and conserve the forested land of my home. The beauty and feeling of being in communion with the earth and her plants, insects, and mammals have filled my senses and call me to a deeper relationship of reciprocity. The opportunity to share my indigenous plant passion and knowledge, and to learn with and from members of the Wild Ones community, is a dream realized. I identify as a lorax/she/they/ecofeminist.
Loris Damerow, Vice President and Program Planning Chair
As a former Master Gardener and lifelong plant enthusiast, I believe that our co-creation with the natural world is a precious, fascinating, and revitalizing relationship. For nearly a decade, I ran A New Leaf Garden Design, helping clients enjoy beautiful green surroundings in Northern, Illinois. In 2011, I became a Wild Ones Fox Valley Area Chapter member in Wisconsin. Now, here in Michigan, my husband and I live in a multi-generational household with a big yard where I am often digging in the dirt. Serving on the national Wild Ones Board of Directors is also lots of fun.
Bob Hauser, Director-at-Large
Bio coming soon!
Wayne Jones, Treasurer
Since retiring, I’ve become a student of native plants and ways to improve habitat that is beneficial to biodiversity. Wild Ones has been a major part of my learning, and I’ve been active in the Ann Arbor Area chapter for a number of years. I’ve served on the board as treasurer for the past three years. The chapter is a perfect gateway to the wealth and diversity of expertise and enthusiasm for native plants in the Ann Arbor Area and beyond, and I value this association greatly. I live within a fifteen-minute walk of Matthaei Botanical Gardens, and I volunteer in the Great Lakes Garden weekly during the growing season. MBG has become a special resource for me to learn more about native plant communities in Michigan.
Susan Margoshes, Secretary
My exposure to the wilds of Michigan began in childhood, exploring my maternal grandparents’ 80-acre farm and woodlands in Allegan County, now part of the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy. Collecting, identifying, playing—it was amazing. Over the years I enjoyed gardening everywhere my late husband and I landed. I returned to Ann Arbor in late 2023, where I joined Washtenaw Bird and Nature Alliance, learned about rain gardening, and discovered the Wild Ones organization. The mission of Wild Ones is also one of mine. I listened and learned, and by the summer of 2025 I had four small native gardens and a rain garden on my compact, wooded city property.
I am enjoying being part of the Wild Ones Ann Arbor Area member community. As a board member I hope to inspire others to learn to plant native in whatever capacity they can manage.
Joy (JJ) Jacobs, Membership Chair
I discovered native plants as a first-time homeowner in 2008. I made the common mistake of investing $1,000+ into typical landscape plants that all unfortunately died. While battling Chinese Sumac, I discovered the Wild Ones Ann Arbor listserv, and I attended my first Wild Ones meeting around 2010. My interest in native plants grew over time, and I have slowly built up a couple of native plant beds. I loved seeing the transformation on my property (including the appearance of monarchs and several native species of bees) and learning how our food network is completely dependent on native plants. When I went to work in Northern California and obtained a second property, I had to learn about the native plants of that ecoregion (but without the advantage of a local Wild Ones chapter!).
With my background in engineering, psychology, and corporate processes, I’m hoping that during my tenure on the board I can help build infrastructure to make it easier for gardeners, both new and experienced, to embrace the low-maintenance path of native planting!
Dina Lehmann-Kim, Director-at-Large
My first introduction to the importance of native plants came in 2009 through the Master Gardening training program in Arlington, VA, after which I began replacing my backyard lawn with native plants; I deeply enjoyed the more frequent visits from feathered friends. I also helped maintain a demonstration garden specializing in shade plants which provided an example to the public of which plants, including natives, could thrive in shade in the local ecoregion. Over time, my colleagues and I grew the garden’s collection of native plants. I recently moved to Ann Arbor after retiring from federal service, and I have a brand-new garden which will soon be filled with natives. There’s almost nothing I enjoy more than getting my hands dirty in the garden, the many unexpected surprises Mother Nature provides, and the sense of awe that often ensues. I am looking forward to serving Wild Ones, getting to know its membership, and growing my personal collection of native plants.
Marta Manildi, Immediate Past President
I live on a house built into a Michigan slope—fairly steep but short, carved by glaciers, then flattening out into the floodway of the Huron River. Gardening here is so much fun. Before moving here more than twenty years ago, I gardened conventionally, but I could see that conventional plants weren’t going to work on this site. So I asked around and met people who suggested native plants and recommended an organization called Wild Ones. It has been fun and learning and friendship and joy ever since. Wild Ones is a perfect fit, and I feel lucky, and grateful, to be part of it.