White-ish flowers sprinkled with dew.

Happy to see many dewy common blue violets (Viola sororia) blooming In the valley today. grownative.org/native_plant...

Normal looking globular white flower with pond background.

White petals of globular flower with 2 black dots on each looking like ghost eyes.

Taking a closer look at my first blooming Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), I’m fairly certain it’s haunted by tiny little ghosts with the eyeholes cut out of their spectral sheets.

Striking white triangled-lined beetle on a blooming pointed flower head.

This Delta Flower Scarab (Trigonopeltastes delta) was a welcome visitor on one of the many Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium) plants.

Pink, yellow and light green flowers amongst green vegetation.

I like how this rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) is leaning over to photobomb this shot of other flowers.

Sign for Noah Brown’s Prairie.

Sign for Carver Prairie.

Sign for Diamond Grove Prairie.

Noah Brown’s Prairie.

Happy National Prairie Day! If you didn’t get out for it, nobody will fault you for getting out a day late!

Senna marilandica Check out the deal on Senna marilandica at Prairie Moon Nursery

www.prairiemoon.com/senna-marila... This looks like something I should have seen… maybe it was amongst all the partridge pea.

Seed pod split in half laying on wood.

Seed pods on stalk in field.

Today I found Maryland senna (Senna marilandica) seed pods standing tall on my normal walk. I had no idea this had grown in my own backyard this year. So distressing/amazing to me how I can overlook a showy plant with bright yellow flowers. Reminder to me to take my time and enjoy the sights.

The perpetual war. Down here I’m dealing with Multiflora rose and Japanese Honey suckle. Good luck on your front.

Yes, although I don’t have much experience with it, this is my first year doing it on my own. Here is a resource on how to implement it cceputnamcounty.org/resources/na...

What were you using for your spray? Curious to see what works the best. I’ve cut and used tordon on stumps with moderate success, I’ve had about 1/3 grow back.

Removing autumn leaves in residential yards reduces the spring emergence of overwintering insects Seasonal fallen leaf removal is a common landscaping practice in urban ecosystems. Yet, we have little understanding of the practice's impact on overw…

New paper out about benefits of being lazy - not only good for the insects: “…“leaving” things as they are takes less time, effort, money, and carbon…” www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Cut down small honey locust being dragged through field.

Took out a Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) while it was pioneering across my grassland patch. I then took the opportunity to use it as a de facto seed agitator while I dragged it to the burn pile through stands of asters and goldenrods.

Shortly after this photo, this egg case was dispatched and fed to the bluegill in our shallow pond.

Brown egg case of invasive mantis on stem of partridge pea plant.

Here is an egg case (ootheca) of an invasive Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis), where “dozens to hundreds” of eggs lay in wait to indiscriminately attack and kill native beneficial insects. extension.illinois.edu/blogs/flower...

Native seeds spread on snow with glove for scale.

So much potential within the tiny, diverse crowd. After the last snow we had, I scattered these seeds in the fescue patch I’m converting into native forbs. After this picture I raked and spread them out more so as to give them some space to flourish.

Burned grass patch

Snowed over burnt grass patch

Seeds in a measuring cup against snow background

A lot of seeds spread on snow.

Fire and Ice, and a splash of Spice. Let’s see if we can get this patch turned into a pollinator haven. Snow is great for highlighting what areas need to be doused with seeds to try and achieve a decent spread.

In order to control my fire lines I put a piece of tempered glass to good use and smothered the flames.

Small grass patch on fire.

When the world feels like a wildfire, put your mind at ease and prescribe your own fire. Conditions were pretty good today to get a fescue inundated patch (10m X 10m) treated with the flames.

Image of a bat by Pen Brady

The painting, “Moon Embrace”, completed in 1998, features Pen’s interpretation of a bat. The influence from Northwest Coast indigenous art still dominates the image.

Magazine - Conservation Federation of Missouri Read the latest issue of the Conservation Federation, the official publication of the Conservation Federation of Missouri. Click the cover of the magazine to enter the full-screen viewer. To view […]

Conservation Federation of Missouri Magazine: Special Native Grasslands Edition

Small seeds on snow with hand for scale

Foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) in bloom

Hope may be small at times, but it exists nonetheless. Walking through the backyard this weekend created explosions of foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) seeds.

Sad looking taped up milk jug on a snowy porch.

Now drink some hot cocoa and/or eat chili while you stare at your milk jug hoping that just one of the seeds will reach maturity to provide delicious tacky sustenance for some lucky Monarch caterpillar.

Handwritten label for common milkweed

Taped up milk jug

Make a label and place in butchered milk jug, tape to seal so the greenhouse can stay together, then plant it in the snow.

Hand with milkweed seeds

Finger pointing to milkweed seed on top of soil.

Finger tip barely in soil planting milkweed seed.

Let’s get those precious seeds and put them into the soil. For these, I lightly cover (~1/8 inch; 3 millimeters).

Split open milk jug with soil in the bottom half.

Time to get messy: add 4-5 inches (10-12 centimeters) of potting soil and pour water evenly to dampen. Once it starts coming out the bottom holes you might want to stop.

Knife plunged into heart of milk jug

Cut open milk jug showing how it can be opened after cutting through middle.

Cut around the jug (~90%) leaving a bit intact that can act like a hinge.

Knife plunging into the top of plastic milk jug

Knife at bottom of milk jug with hole already made.

Let’s whittle some holes in the top (ventilation) and the bottom (draining). Put your gloves on fool!

Empty plastic milk jug in front of backyard snowscape.

It’s snowing here! Let’s make some cheap greenhouses for starting Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). First grab an empty milk jug - (thread 1/7)

Plastic jugs behind fence on dead leaf ground with pink flags marking native plant locations.

Celebrated the Newness of the Year by carving into milk jugs (and others) to get some native plants cold stratified. Put them in my fall-planted chicken exclosure native butterfly garden for now.

Trees are spreading across the Great Plains. They're actually making climate change worse We normally think of trees as being good for the environment. But in parts of the Midwest and Great Plains, they're heating up the earth as woodlands take over grasslands.

In Kansas, the further west you go the better it is to not see trees. Just because Christmas is over doesn’t mean you can’t take out a few more Eastern Red Cedars from the prairie!