Accent on Natural Landscaping

Donna VanBuecken

Sprezzatura in the Fall Garden

The following post by Stephpanie Walquist is reprinted from the West Cook Wild Ones website. I found her  description of the beauty of the fall prairie wonderfully refreshing. Rembrandt, an Old Master who used earth tones to offset golden light, used a technique he termed sprezzatura, meaning … [Read more...]

Project Wingspan

This is the time of year our thoughts turn to collecting seed from our prairies. Project Wingspan could use our help. They are looking for enthusiastic seed collecting volunteers in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to help collect seeds from milkweed and other common … [Read more...]

More than Monarchs: The Untold Story of Milkweed

When you think of milkweed plants, you always think of Monarch butterflies. But I remember when my mother would tell us how she, as a young woman during WWII, collected milkweed pods for the war effort. The fluff from the milkweed seeds was buoyant, so it was used to stuff the life preservers used … [Read more...]

Turtlehead (Chelone spp)

Years ago in the rain garden area of my prairie, I had native White Turtlehead (Chelone gabra) and Pink Turtlehead (Chelone oblique).* Over the years, as they've expanded their locations and moved closer to one another, the White Turtlehead seems to be changing. It has adopted a distinct white and … [Read more...]

Fall Equinox 2019

Have you noticed the days have been getting shorter? In fact, today, Monday September 23, 2019 at 2:50 am CDT, we reached the autumnal equinox when the night was about as long as the day. This equality between night and day also happens during the spring equinox in late March. From now on (for 182 … [Read more...]

Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)

I found this wonderful surprise in my prairie this week. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw two spikes of Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) blossoms standing there in between the Woodland Sunflowers and the Spotted Jewelweed. Everything is such a mess all around the area, but there was … [Read more...]