It’s time to stratify native plant species that require cold-moist conditions. Our preferred method is based on original guidance from our friend Ann Casper.
Category: Native Ecology
Co-written by Sarah @littlelovelywhatnots and Dan Barron A lighting bug rests under the flower of Anemone virginiana (Tall Thimbleweed). | Photo by Sarah Barron No matter your garden, or gardening experience, planting native species can be aesthetically pleasing while contributing to local biodiversity. To some, the “native” gardening journey may seem daunting. We’re writing to … Continue reading Getting Started with Native Plants
This Big Blue, Turkey Foot, Andropogon, erupted from sleeping grave, an emergence from the dead, extinct as a union soldier among the toppled limestone graves, a city park, a scarcely populated relic of the past, steep hill, gnarled Oaks, toppled fence and prairie relics shunned to the margins, just beyond acres of pavement encircled concrete … Continue reading Andropogon
When packing up for a short paddling trip in mid-September I noticed a monarch chrysalis on the side of my canoe. I carefully removed it and using masking tape attached it to a wire suspended from my house. Weeks passed and other monarchs matured and emerged but this chrysalis turned very dark, then faded to … Continue reading Unexpected Guests
Vivid warmth in the ridge winds today's distant problems keep a brisk pace while Killdeer run ahead giving away their secrets
When spring winds blow and the frost evaporates into sunlite the Pasque Flowers make a push the annual awakening for a most hopeful appearance despite the deserts adjacent and the tanks of chemicals property of the new paradigm when spring means less less than it did under a century before
Photos taken at Breidel Coulee, La Crosse County Wisconsin on August 27th, 20141. Monarch Butterfly on Eupatorium perfoliatum (Boneset)2. Spur Throated grasshopper (sp.?) on Helenium autumnale (Sneezeweed)3. Variegated Meadowhawk on Scirpus atrovirens (Dark-green Bulrush)4. Various insects on Asclepias incarnata (Rose Milkweed)
A Syrphid fly visits Pasque Flower on a windy spring afternoon. What can you do, in a seasonal desert, but search for perfection, means of living or dying, not by illness, or natural selection, but the economists algorithm.
Neonicotinoids (neo-nih-CAH-tin-oids) are systemic chemicals, which are absorbed into the plant's vascular system, leaving the entire plant toxic to both target and non-target insects. Systemic chemicals affect the central nervous system of insects, resulting in paralysis and death. This class of insecticides is particularly harmful to bees as accumulated neonicotinoids are consumed by adults or … Continue reading On Neonicotinoids
Red cordage marks my west seeding boundary The Townline Road property is located two miles SE of Leaf River Illinois. Consisting of a dry-mesic limestone hill with wet-mesic oak savanna remnant at the base, the property was inherited by my mother and totals 40 acres. This property has been in continual grazing for at least … Continue reading Townline Road Summary 2013
