Getting rid of large buckthorns is the easy part (really!). But the ferocious seed bank means that small buckthorns will keep coming for (who knows how many) years. These small…

This is the time of year when the prairie grasses take on their rich brown color. Our south-facing slope, which is mostly little bluestem but with scattered Indian grass and…

American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) is now in its colorful phase, with big bunches of red fruit hanging from the ends of the stems. Bittersweet was here even before we started…

Today, coming home from a prairie trip, Kathie and I stopped to look at the prairie installation at the place where the Madison Southwest Bike Path crosses Odana Road. This…

Today Kathie and I joined a group of Natural Resources Foundation members on a trip to Mazomanie Oak Barrens State Natural Area. This trip, led by DNR Conservation Biologist Matt…

This year seems to be a banner year for milkweed bugs. They are all over the milkweed pods, piercing a pod wall and sucking the juices out of the milkweed…

We have always had a fair bit of hazelnut (Corylus americana; also called American filbert) in our savannas and have felt this is a "good" species to keep. The fall…

This is aster season and lots of species are in full flower. At Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie I saw smooth aster (first photo; Aster laevis) and silky aster (Aster sericeus)…

Saturday we had another fine day collecting seeds at Goose Pond. It was an interesting group, some novices and some old hands. My photo here does not show the whole…

We have been restoring Unit 10, one of the bur oak savannas, for about 9 years. It started as a fine stand of open-grown bur oaks that was completely overgrown…