Here are some photos from the May meeting at the home of Chris Siewig, owner of Nature’s Re-Creations. Photos by Bill Hoss and Brian Hall. Click any thumbnail for a larger image. Once you’re viewing a large image, you can click it to see the next photo.
By Amy Redfield A lovely, small plant with darling white flowers has made its home in my native border. I suspect it came in as a give-away at a Wild Ones meeting, but cannot recall what it is! It has definitely made itself at home, spreading with abandon. I’d love…
By Susan Orr To my delight, three male Red-breasted Grosbeaks have spent the last two weeks at the feeders outside my kitchen window!
As several Wild Ones have encountered, deer are becoming increasingly common in urban landscapes. They can be fun to see, but they can also be hard on landscape plants. At our Earth Day booth, several people asked about plants that deer are less-likely to eat.
By Susan Pletscher Can anyone identify this plant with distinctive seeds? It looks neat, but I need to know whether to pull it up or not before it drops seed. I know that I have a definite weed next to it — like a thistle or something that is for…
By Kathy Bildner In March I brought a cocoon of a Polyphemus Moth into my house. I found it in the backyard on a bittersweet vine that grows up my silver maple tree. I knew what it was because last spring I did this same thing. Mid April it emerged…
The Sustainable Backyard Tour is a self-guided, open-house-style tour of sustainable outdoor spaces in and around St. Louis. Attendees get to see how others have integrated sustainable living practices including rainwater harvesting, composting, keeping chickens, bees, or goats, using renewable energy, permeable surfaces, recycled art and more. The concept of…
by Betty Struckhoff Yesterday morning I was stretching in my favorite spot at my gym, next to a second story window overlooking some Deciduous Holly (Ilex decidua). A mockingbird was nestled in the branches full of fresh new leaves. Finally she poked her head up and opened her mouth like…
by Bill Hoss With many trees and flowers blooming so early in 2012, I been wondering what bees, butterflies and flies people are seeing. By middle to late March I was already seeing a Spicebush swallowtail, one of the smaller sulphurs, a Cabbage White and a couple Pearl crescents in…
By Amy Redfield Last spring I planted a new shade tree – a hackberry, Celtis occidentalis. Thanks to some pretty intensive babying – slow soaker watering every other day for that entire dry and hot summer – I’ve been rewarded with hackberries! Hackberry trees are among the best food and…
