Discovery Journal

I just wanted to pop back in to update you on what I have been doing lately.

You will notice, I haven’t created a blog post since February 2023, more than three years ago. In March of 2023, I attended a Woodcock Walk event hosted by Crabtree Nature Center in Barrington, IL. They host a few of those events every year and I highly recommend attending one if you get a chance. At that event, I happened to meet the volunteer workday leader for Crabtree Nature Center, and she was recruiting volunteers. As I had just left a volunteer position with a nonprofit that kept me behind a desk for 60 hours a week, I was looking for volunteer work that would keep me connected to the outdoors.

Everyone knows that planting milkweed is good for the Monarch butterfly. But did you know that milkweed is beneficial in other ways? In addition to feeding monarch caterpillars and to being a great plant for pollinators, milkweed fibers are particularly suited to being used in the construction of oriole nests.

I will locally be giving away extra milkweed seeds. These are the seeds I will have available and information about them for those who may be interested.

Milkweed seeds usually require cold-moist stratification (CMS) for good germination. This means they are best planted outside in fall or winter, allowing nature to perform the cold-moist stratification for you. You can simulate CMS with a refrigerator following certain processes, but I have never done this, so please be sure to research CMS methods for milkweed if you do not plan to plant in the fall/winter.

I see a number of nonnative plant species at the Ruth Macintyre Conservation center, but one of the most disturbing is Purple Loosestrife.

This year we added the native plant Royal Catchfly to our gardens and it is rapidly becoming one of my favorites.

Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal Flower) is not the only lobelia seeing pollinator action in the gardens right now. Lobelia syphilitica (Great Blue Lobelia, sometimes referred to as Blue Cardinal Flower), is a bee favorite.

A few more first bloom dates in the garden over the weekend:

Monkey Flower is now blooming in the backyard rain garden.
First Bloom Date this Year: 7/17/2020

Whorled Milkweed is now blooming in the backyard gardens.
First Bloom Date This Year: 7/16/2020

Cardinal Flower is now blooming in the backyard gardens.
First Bloom Date This Year: 7/15/2020