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…]

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

Plant Conservation Alliance (PCA)

October 11, 2017 By Donna VanBuecken Leave a Comment

Bitterroot (*Lewisia rediviva*) is found in western USA primarily because it likes well-drained gravelly soils. It is unusual because after the leaves wither, these striking flowers emerge in varying shades of pink to rose and sometimes white. Photo by Andrea Kramer courtesy PCA.

One of the organizations I list on my website is the Plant Conservation Alliance (PCA). Since this is the time of year we’re out gathering seed, I thought it would be a good time to mention the PCA. The PCA is a public-private partnership of organizations that share the goal to protect native plants by ensuring native plant populations and their communities are maintained, enhanced and restored.

It is made up of Non-Federal Cooperators consisting of more than 300 state and local agencies and not-for-profit organizations and of Federal Cooperators consisting of 12 federal agencies, all interested in native plant conservation in America. Federal and Non-Federal Cooperators work collaboratively to solve the problems of native plant conservation and native habitat restoration, in an effort to ensure the preservation of ecosystems in America.

The showy red structures of the Indian Paintbrush (*Castilleja miniata*) technically are bracts and not petals. Their inconspicuous flowers are long and tubular and found at the base of the bracts, where they are visited by hummingbirds and bees. Photo by Andrea Kramer courtesy PCA.

The basis of their focus is the National Framework for Progress in Plant Conservation and one of the strategies within that framework is the National Seed Strategy.

NEW COOPERATORS

New Cooperators in PCA are always welcome! Joining is easy, and there’s no financial obligation. Your organization can be as involved as it chooses. Find out if your organization or agency is a part of the PCA.

For questions about the PCA or about joining, e-mail

This post was prepared with the assistance of Evelyn Williams, Co-Chair PCA Non-Federal Cooperators Committee, Chicago Botanic Garden