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 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…
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 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…
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…
