In the last couple of days we have had visitors here for short tours of Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie and Pleasant Valley Conservancy. These two State Natural Areas could not…

Those following these posts know that we have been battling invasive sunflowers for some years. When we began savanna restoration, we had fairly small patches of sunflowers around the edges…

Since it heats up early, the south-facing slope at Pleasant Valley Conservancy is always the first area to be burned (this year on 23 March 2010), and also has early…

One of the big events at Pleasant Valley Conservancy in late May each year is the arrival of a new crop of interns. This program, that Kathie and I help…

A few years ago I found a single plant of veiny pea (Lathyrus venosus) in one of our bur oak savannas. I lost track of it for a while but…

We have always had a nice native population of the more common Baptisia alba, but none of the rarer cream baptisia (Baptisia bracteata). A few years ago we managed to…

The upper part of our south-facing slope is a fine savanna with some nice large bur oak trees that are completely fire tolerant. They produce acorns, of course, which tumble…

I've been going back and forth about whether I have sweet Indian plantain (Hasteola suaveolens), a wetland plant, in our savanna. My earlier post had a misidentified photo. It was…

This is peak season for spraying resprouts, and Kathie and I have been keeping busy. We worked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Amanda has also been working all these days too.Unfortunately,…

Folks who have lived in Wisconsin a long time are aware that you can't plant tender plants before May 15. But how about the native plants that thrive in our…