By Bob Kipfer, Springfield Plateau Chapter of Missouri Master Naturalists Have you ever heard of “frost flowers“? If so, you had to get out early in the morning during the first few hard frosts. Frost flowers, also known as “ice ribbons,” are formed by super-cooled water being extruded through plant stems and freezing the minute they…
By Ed Schmidt One of the more unusual things that has happened during my presidency of the St. Louis chapter occurred in late September. I received an email from Wild Ones executive director Donna VanBuecken asking me to respond to an email she received from one Geoffrey Soyiantet, stating that…
Twenty-five members met at Joan and Larry Hummel’s property for our annual Saturday potluck lunch membership meeting. Joan led a tour of her woodland garden and Larry’s prairie. The Hummels purchased their property in 1995. Larry described experiences they have had in restoring the property to a native ecosystem and…
Join Wild Ones for the annual honeysuckle removal project in Forest Park on Saturday, November 3rd from 9AM to noon. This is the 14th year for the project, and the 2nd year Wild Ones has participated. You can help reclaim Forest Park from its tangle of honeysuckle. So, come join us,…
Even though it’s October, be on the watch for monarch caterpillars on milkweed (including vining milkweed) and chrysalises in your garden. And possibly elsewhere – my neighbor discovered a chrysalis inside a running shoe left out on his porch.
by Betty Struckhoff “I never imagined there was a residential landscape like this in the St. Louis area.” That was one of the comments as Wild Ones members strolled through a buffalo grass lawn, a woodland with a bubbling stream and acres of prairie at the beautiful home of Joan…
By Amy Redfield At last, a follow-up to the Mystery Plant post of May 30, 2012. This photo was taken August 20. Turns out the pollinators love it! It has been identified as Eupatorium altissimum, known as tall thoroughwort, tall boneset or tall joepyeweed. Either way, it’s tall! Many thanks to our…
by Betty Struckhoff Saturday, September 22, was a gloriously beautiful day. What better way to spend it than giving a young family a new front yard landscape of native plants. Wild Ones members enjoyed installing the design created by our own Jeanne Cablish and who knew Scott Woodbury has stump…
I didn’t know for sure, but then Kathy B. came by on her way to the grocery story and gave me a name. Is there more than one species represented here? Male and female of the same species? Different life stages of the same species?
Forest Park Forever Park Ecologist, Peter VanLinn, presented a walking tour around the Deer Lake native restoration area which includes prairie, savannah, wetland and an education area with demonstration plants. Management processes were discussed. Ed Schmidt emphasized the importance of supporting projects as this for their native habitat value. Ed…
