Our annual volunteer seed collecting workday at Pleasant Valley Conservancy and Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie went off very well. The weather was pleasantly warm (high 81 F); quite a change…

Today was peak fall color at Pleasant Valley Conservancy and the oaks were in their full glory. I continue to be puzzled by the oak colors, because there are so…

Kathie and I are fortunate to have three expert seed collectors working at Pleasant Valley Conservancy right now.How do you become a professional seed collector? There are no university courses…

Every October we have a seed collecting work day around the second Sunday in October. Seed collecting takes place not only at Pleasant Valley Conservancy but at nearby Black Earth…

Our savanna oaks don't show much classic fall color, so it is a joy to run across a splash of red among the woods. The photo shows a small red…

Yellow giant hyssop (Agastache nepetoides) is a State Threatened species that is found in open woods and savannas. We have had it growing fairly well for about 10 years and…

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…