Donna VanBuecken
There is much more to see. The immature Cooper’s hawk is flying around to check out bird feeders because they do go after small birds. The pollinators have just a smidgen of hope to see wildflowers.
Here in Northeast Wisconsin I have seen:
(Click a single photo – then click the photo again for a larger view.)
When I started to plan my prairie in 1986, I didn’t know what I was doing. In fact, I’m not even certain I understood what was a native plant. I learned about the benefit/necessity of surveying my property from Don Vorpahl. Don was one of the first native-landscape designers in Wisconsin and an early member of Wild Ones. His generosity in sharing what he had learned about the fledgling native-landscaping movement was immensely helpful, and I shall always be grateful for his ready counseling. He was a good friend of Wild Ones.
See his article titled “Planting a Woodland” in the Wild Ones book Landscaping With Native Plants.
I started developing my yard by surveying my property, and then as I planned to add to my natural landscaping, I updated my design. This gave me better control over what I was trying to achieve, instead of a “willy-nilly plunking in” of plants in our yard. We now have a very large prairie in our backyard (south) and an adjacent woodland in our sideyard (east).
Where once we had 1-1/3 acres of lawn that took my husband all week to mow because of its soggy nature and Northland Creek’s tendency to overflow, he now has about an hour’s mowing. The rest of our week’s time is spent enjoying the birds, the insects, and the rest of the wildlife that frequents our beautiful yard. We are fortunate to have mature bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) and shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) on our site, so we built our prairie and woodland around them.
The summer storm that came through in July 2019 uprooted our green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) throughout our prairie. It’s always sad to lose a mature tree, but in this case losing the green ash was not so bad. When we planted our prairie, the trees were small and cast little shade on our back yard. But over the past 30 years, they have grown to an immense stature with a very dense canopy and have changed the dynamics of our prairie. Now the dynamics of the prairie will rebound. Never have I seen so many native plants spring up. The yellows, purples, and whites just crept up and filled in the spaces.
Many of the prairie and shade plants in our yard came from plant rescues arranged through my Wild Ones chapter, Fox Valley Area. Other plants came from my chapter’s spring plant sales. Seed for the original planting came from Prairie Nursery. Subsequent overseedings have come from Wild Ones Fox Valley Area Chapter seed exchanges, Prairie Nursery, Wild Ones Fox Valley Area Chapter plant sales, and through the nursery catalogs that have become increasingly more available.
As we grow older, our landscaping grows older with us. Soon, we may not be able to care for it as well as we do now, but our hope is that it will care for itself when we get to that point. I am also hoping that by then the invasive noxious weeds I’ve written about previously will have ceased to be a problem.
For more information about planting your own naturally landscaped yard, you can also read the book Wild Ones Landscaping with Native Plants on the EPA website.
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The e-mail photo is by Donna VanBuecken.
I’ve always loved the Poinsettia. Because I had a December wedding date, I had my bridesmaids and maid-of-honor carry Poinsettias in their bouquets, and all around us were plants of all sizes and shapes. Last Friday, December 4th, we celebrated our 55th anniversary!
The beautiful Poinsettias (genus Euphorbus) we see decorating building interiors this time of the year are not native to the U.S., but rather to Southern Mexico and Central America. But did you know we have a species of native poinsettias here in America as well?
Members of the Spurge (Euphorbiaceae) family, there are a number of native Euphorbus species. The one most like the non-native is the annual Painted Poinsettia (Euphorbia cyathophora). Its bracts turn orange-red, and it is has fiddle-shaped leaves. Sometimes called Fire on the Mountain, it is closely related to Snow on the Mountain (Euphorbia marginata), which has showy, variegated light-green and white leaves.
In the Midwest, Fire on the Mountain seed can be purchased through Prairie Moon Nursery. The plants grow best in full sun or part shade, in drier soil that has not been composted. It is a good reseeder, but excess plants should be able to be pulled out easily because of the rocky, sandy soil conditions in which it prefers to grow.
All have a thick, white sap that can irritate skin and eyes.
None of the native Euphorbus species, however, are as showy as the non-native Euphorbus species.
Interestingly enough, the Poinsettia gets its name from the first American Ambassador to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett. In 1828 he sent the first plants back to the U.S. where he propagated and shared the plant with friends and botanical gardens. (Mr. Poinsett is also know as the founder of the Smithsonian Institution.)
The native Snow on the Mountain (Euphorbia marginata) is different from the invasive non-native Bishop’s Weed (Aegopodium podgraria) often called by the same name.
Read more about the legends associated with Poinsettia.
I want to share with you two resources I am most grateful for. The first one is a Facebook page, and the second is a newsletter.
The Dave Crawford Facebook page
I am intrigued by Dave Crawford’s Facebook page. I have known Dave since 2005 when he was a Wild Ones member. With his great photos and the information he provides, he touches just about everything related to natural landscaping – and nothing seems to escape him. From pollinators to frogs to native plants to what pollen does, he describes it all so well.
Roaming around his land, the Como Park Neighborhood, and in his adventures, Dave snaps photos of intriguing subjects and researches the subjects of his photos to show what he experienced.
To subscribe, like him as a friend.
The Wisconsin Native Pollinators
The Wisconsin Native Pollinators website is a comprehensive resource filled with information on Wisconsin’s native pollinators including bees, butterflies, and birds. Pollinators such as bees and butterflies are in decline, and their losses threaten Wisconsin wildflowers, ecosystems, agricultural crops, and natural areas. One purpose of Wisconsin Pollinators is to raise public awareness and concern regarding this issue. We depend on pollinators to transfer pollen and help plants produce fruits and seeds. Many native plants, as well as many food crops, rely on pollinators.
The website is dedicated to individuals looking for information on native pollinators as well as information on how to support those pollinators. Even a small yard can make a difference.
To subscribe to the Wisconsin Pollinators newsletter, fill out this form. You will get one or two information-filled newsletters a month. Read the current newsletter. Read about the 7 Ways To Use Fall Leaves, the Ant Quiz, Tips On Fall Leaf Mulching, or How to Provide Shelter for Overwintering Bees & Butterflies.
