By Amy Redfield Wielding bypass loppers, hacksaws, anvil loppers, and Japanese saws, Wild Ones members wreaked havoc amongst the tangle of honeysuckle. Trunks as thick as a foot across (are we really sure honeysuckle is a shrub and not a tree??) gave way under the onslaught, only to have their…
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…
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…
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?
Located northeast of Alton, Illinois, Heartland Prairie is a 27-acre reconstructed tallgrass prairie on the north side of Gordon F. Moore Park (Google map). The prairie was planted in 1977 by Sierra Club members, and is managed by The Nature Institute and the City of Alton. Boasting more than 150 native…
By Fran Glass At the University of Missouri-St. Louis our hostess was Jen Fruend of CHERP (Campus Honors Environmental Research Program). CHERP is an urban ecology honors college course studying natural ecosystems to restore wildness to the campus, local parks, and neighborhood. Jen is a CHERP Education and Ecology Instructor…
Joy Buslaff, a Wild Ones member in Wisconsin, created a 3-part series of videos about landscaping with native plants and addressing local land-use ordinances. The first video covers the history of lawns, and motivations for native landscaping.
By Peggy Whetzel The U.S. Drought Monitor is forecasting the drought in the Midwest to continue through September 30. I don’t miss the roar of lawnmowers, the humidity, powdery mildew, mosquitoes or Japanese beetles. But I do miss the butterflies and fireflies. And I worry about the wildlife.
Many of us heard about the St. Louis Audubon Society’s Bring Conservation Home (BCH) program at the March meeting. It encourages homeowners to provide quality habitat for birds and other animals by: Landscaping with native plants Removing invasive plant species Conserving water Implementing stewardship practices to support wildlife
Are we inadvertently destroying the Missouri native plant Space-Time Continuum? (The last 3 words borrowed from Star Trek.) Seriously, I wonder if we are introducing plants into our local gene pool that may change the genetic make-up of our local species. To prevent this, the source of origin should be…
