Accent on Natural Landscaping

Donna VanBuecken

Johnson’s Nursery offers 40% Discount in June

If you live in Wisconsin and you’re looking for native plants, this is the month to shop at Johnson’s Nursery in Menomonee Falls. During the month of June, Johnson’s Nursery offers a 40% discount on container grown Wisconsin native plants to shoppers presenting their valid Wild Ones member card at time of sale. Additionally, they contribute a percentage of member sales to the three Milwaukee-area Wild Ones chapters — Menomonee River, Milwaukee North, and Milwaukee Southwest/Wehr.

Gnarly Natives

Below is an article by Ben French, propagator at Johnson’s Nursery. Find out why he considers these three native Wisconsin plants “gnarly:” American Beech, Carrion Flower and Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

Gnarly Natives

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Wisconsin and the 19th Amendment

Two of my favorite subjects are woman’s suffrage and dolls, so it is fitting today on the centennial celebration of Wisconsin’s ratification of the 19th Amendment to the federal Constitution, American Girl Doll‘s has created a doll just to commemorate the celebration. It can be seen this afternoon at the State capital and then will move onto the Wisconsin Historical Society until later this fall. She is wearing the parade tunic worn by Wisconsin suffrage supporters during the Republican National convention in Chicago, Illinois in 1916.

The work to grant all women full voting rights was carried out by many dedicated and passionate women of Wisconsin starting in the 1840s and culminating on June 10, 1919 when Wisconsin was the first state to ratify the woman’s suffrage amendment. Following Tennessee’s ratification in 1920, as the 36th state to ratify, the 19th Amendment was finally validated on August 18, 1920 by federal legislators and became a permanent amendment to the Constitution.

Although the Amendment gave us the right to vote in federal elections, it didn’t grant us the right to be equal. Unfortunately, we’re still working on that…

The Wisconsin woman’s suffrage tunic can be seen at the Wisconsin State Historical Museum. Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society.

American Girl Doll

Although I was unsuccessful in finding a photo of the American Girl Doll, I did find a photo of the tunic she wears. It is fashioned after the same tunic worn by the Wisconsin women supporting woman’s suffrage.

She can be seen this afternoon at the State capital and then will move on to the Wisconsin Historical Museum for display until fall.

See Wisconsin journalists played key roles in suffrage movement.

Also, see Nancy Unger‘s discussion on women’s rights activist Belle La Follette, the first woman to earn a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School.

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Doug Tallamy and Yours Truly Speaking

Dr Doug Tallamy is the author of Bringing Nature Home and co-author of The Living Landscape with Rick Darke.

Season 6 of Where Ecology Meets Economy titled Creating Landscapes for a Healthy Planet is scheduled for September 25, 2019 at Boerner Botanical Gardens in Hales Corners, Wisconsin and will feature two presentations by Entomologist Doug Tallamy: Creating Living Landscapes and Treasures Among our Natives. Following his presentations, will be a Panel discussion held by Dan Wilson, Randy Powers, David Wanninger, Ron Gumz, Mike Yanney and yours truly, Donna VanBuecken.

Hosted by SEWISC* and Johnson’s Nursery, the day’s events will feature fun and educational sessions, vendor booths, silent auction, Mike Yanny poetry, Boerner Garden Tours, catered lunch and an afternoon social where attendees will mix with Green Industry and Land Management Professionals.

To learn more about sponsorships.

This educational event is eligible for Continuing Education Units through the Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System (LA CES).

Registration will begin mid-August. Watch this link for up-to-date information.

Special thanks to We Energies Foundation for bringing Dr Doug Tallamy to Wisconsin once again.

*Southeastern Wisconsin Invasive Species Consortium

Download Save-the-Date brochure.

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Today is Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day. The day set aside since 1968 to honor our American soldiers who have fought and sacrificed their lives, minds and bodies in American conflicts.

The red paper poppy has for years been symbolic of Memorial Day, but in the recent past I have not seen them distributed as much by the American Legion Auxiliary. I still have one on my kitchen counter near the sink, however, which I look at every day and remember.

This poster shows the three different stages of a Common Poppy flower (Papaver rhoeas): Bud, flower and fruit (capsule). Also known as Field Poppy,  this flower is a native of Europe and Asia. Poster by Alvesgaspar courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The following piece was taken from The Boston Globe’s Fast Forward newsletter written by Teresa Hanafin. She’s one of my favorite writers. I hope McCrae’s poem brings the same tears of joyful sadness to your eyes as they do to mine.

In Flanders Fields

“Finally, those red poppies you see as the traditional commemorative flower of Memorial Day arose from the poem In Flanders Fields written in 1915 during World War I by a Canadian doctor, John McCrae.

McCrae, a lieutenant colonel, had buried a dear friend who was killed during fighting against the Germans in the Flanders region of Belgium. The next day, he sat in the back of an ambulance and put his grief into words.

In Flanders fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

As you enjoy your cookouts and parades this weekend, please take a moment to remember those who didn’t dodge service by faking bone spurs and whose sacrifice made our celebrations — our very lives — possible.”

teresa.hanafin@globe.com or follow me on Twitter @BostonTeresa

Note:  Waterloo, New York is considered the birthplace of Memorial Day because the town had made May 5, 1866  an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags in observance of their sacrifice. Hence, in the early years following the Civil War, it was often called Decoration Day.

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