Accent on Natural Landscaping Inc

Natural Landscaping

February 13, 2016 By Donna VanBuecken 12 Comments

In 2015 I retired after 17 years as the first Executive Director of Wild Ones (Native Plants, Natural Landscapes) and I’m looking forward to my next life adventure which will involve writing and natural landscaping and sometimes other things. I’ve been actively involved in natural landscaping since the 1980s. My husband and I manage a small prairie and woodland as part of our home, and my brothers and I own an 80-acre cedar swamp we use for hunting.

My life now is less stressful, but I miss the contact with everyone. I’ve started this blog as a way to communicate with you [Read more…]

Gathering and Cleaning Prairie Seed

October 20, 2017 By Donna VanBuecken Leave a Comment

Fall prairie plants from one of the WILD Center gardens. Photo by Joan Rudolph.

GATHERING

This is the time of year we plan to gather seed from most of the prairie plants. It’s a pretty easy task to accomplish and is an excellent opportunity to get outdoors and enjoy the fall. Most grass seeds can be easily stripped from the stalk, but not all forbs species are as easy. Some have pods, some have heads which cling tightly to the seed, others have parachutes that help them fly away.

You can gather them into empty plastic milk jugs which have had their tops cut off and their handleS attached to your waist by a belt. Or, you can gather them into paper grocery bags. But plan to store them in the garage, but up off the floor until they are completely dry.

CLEANING

Then when the plants are dry enough to start cleaning, wearing gloves start breaking the seeds free from heads and pods that haven’t loosened the seed on their own. Some you can just strip off on your own. Some like the Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata), you’ll need to roll off on a screen.

RESOURCES

Here are a couple of resources to help you find the best way to gather seed. Enjoy!

Gathering Seed by Wild Ones Natural Landscapers Ltd

Collecting Advice by Wild Ones St Louis Chapter

Wildflowers and Weeds in Their Final Beauty, a book by Jane Embertson

SHARING

If you have extra seed, plan to share with your fellow Wild Ones at your local chapter’s Seed Exchange or with your extended family or friends, or your next door neighbors.

And, as you gather milkweed seed this fall and find you have extra, plan to send the pods on to Monarch Watch. Be sure to read the guidelines on how to handle the seed. If you live in Ohio, you can share your milkweed seed through the Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative. See also Help TPE Collect Milkweed Seed.

Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund Grant Slate Announced

October 18, 2017 By Donna VanBuecken Leave a Comment

This article is reprinted in part from MJV News posted October 6, 2017:

“Yesterday, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation released its grant slate for this year’s Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund. The Fund awarded 23 grants for $3.7 million with an additional $5.8 in matching contributions, generating more than $9 million for conservation. Of those awarded, several projects highlight the work of Monarch Joint Venture partners….

Monarch butterfly nectaring on a native Cupplant (Silphium perfoliatum). Click to see the video.

The Foundation’s Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund is a public-private partnership between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Monsanto, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. This is the third year the Fund has awarded projects.

The 2017 awards will support efforts that increase the quality, quantity and connectivity of monarch breeding and overwintering habitat and enhance organizational capacity. Collectively, this year these projects will:

Restore and enhance more than 43,000 acres
Collect more than 2,800 pounds of milkweed and other native forb seed
Propagate 131,000 native plant seedlings
Host approximately 210 workshops or webinars

To read about the specific projects, see the full award announcement and project descriptions here.”

Be sure to check with grant recipients in your state to see how you or your organization can become involved.

Branched Coneflower (Rudbeckia triloba)

October 16, 2017 By Donna VanBuecken Leave a Comment

Branched Coneflower (Rudbeckia triloba) — the native prairie plant we love to hate. This pretty diminutive species of Rudbeckia is one of the final bursts of color we find in our prairies during the late fall. It’s a delight to see, but it can be the bane of a prairie’s existence. This aggressive little species can take over any little bit of bare ground when given the opportunity. To those who have that meadow-look going, it can be pretty disappointing. To those who have rivers and drifts going, it can be a welcome visitor.

This spring I found it growing into the lawn at the east edge of my prairie. Always looking for an opportunity to mow less lawn, my husband gallantly mowed around the young seedlings. Soon I realized there were other prairie seedlings coming in that area as well — Smooth Penstemon, Indian Plaintain, Flowering Spurge, Monarda — so I added a few more species which I picked up at the Wild Ones Fox Valley Area Chapter plant sale this past spring.

LOVE TO HATE!

Rudbeckia triloba blooms for two months or longer — love it! It apparently is easy to grow from seed — love it! It seeds readily, taking over any open soil — hate it!

Warning: Deadheading is typically necessary to maintain a reasonable show of Branched Coneflower. However, it acts as a biennial or triennial so deadhead sparingly.

Wolf Awareness Week October 15-21

October 13, 2017 By Donna VanBuecken Leave a Comment

Wolf Awareness Week this year occurs during the week of October 15-21. It is a good time to reflect not only on the successful return of the wolf to some of the lower 48 states, but also to ask ourselves why we continue to pressure wild creatures to the point of extinction?

Wolf Awareness Week was first initiated in 1996 with the goal to make humans aware of the role the wolf plays in a healthy Earth. Thanks to the Endangered Species Act and special interest conservation groups, wolves have been successfully reintroduced to various parts of the USA. The Gray Wolf has been removed from protection in some states, but the Mexican Gray Wolf and the Red Wolf populations are still protected.

Timber Wolf Alliance

Here in Wisconsin we have the Timber Wolf Alliance (TWA) hosted by the Northland College in Ashland under the guidance of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute. The Alliance assists “21 organizations and many private individuals interested in promoting wolf recovery in Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula through public education, citizen science and volunteer activities.” The College as well as the TWA partners offer a variety of courses and workshops throughout the year to help educate the public about wolf ecology.

Wolf Awareness Poster

TWA also offer a beautiful two-sided poster every year. It’s available for free to the public except for a $7 s&h fee. This year’s wolf poster The Golden Hour was drawn by Emma Loisch. Educational materials were developed by graduate student Angela Rivera Rautmann as part of her project for TWA.

Resources

The Searching Wolf: Wolf Education Materials

The Wolf Pack of Lamar (Yellowstone Park)

International Wolf Center is in Ely, Minnesota