a voice for the natural landscaping movement

N ATIVE P LANTS, NATURAL L ANDSCAPES JOURNAL MAY/JUNE 2004 VOL. 17, NO. 3 HANDSOFF.EDU Once, not so long ago, children grew up with a hands-on understanding of plants, animals, and the interconnectedness of all life. Why is everything inside so different now, and what can we do about it? Excerpted from Noah’s Children: Restoring the Ecology of Childhood, by Sara Stein. Notes from the President: Encouraging Change Through the Use of Fifty children sat imprisoned in their school The children trooped off the bus and, after Regionally Native Plants. 2 bus while a park naturalist climbed aboard to some milling around to partner with friends, Have You Listened to “bring them under control.” He had told me lined up facing the naturalist for his introduc- Your Pine Trees Lately? 5 that this had to be done on the bus because tory lecture. The descent once the children spilled out onto the parking from kame to kettle Let It Burn. 6 lot, there was no way to get their attention or would be 800 feet – and Web Sites: Ours and bring them to order. the climb back the Others. 7 He explained the rules. The students were same. Groan. The chil- Conversations: A New Place for to walk in pairs and never leave the trail. They dren’s home city lies Discussion. 8 were to keep their hands at their sides, not to as level as water in the pick any flowers, and not to touch so much as bed of an ancient It’s All One Piece: An Example of the Dynamics of Extinction. 10 a leaf. They could ask questions when the lake: few of them had group stopped to listen to what the naturalist ever climbed a hill. 2004 Seeds for Education explained but should not talk among them- “Ernest,” said Grants. 12 selves. “If I can hear you,” said the naturalist, one of the class A Win-Win Resolution “so can the animals.” teachers, “you re- for Indian Hill School. 14 The children were two fifth-grade classes member that: thirteen thousand years Corridors for a Healthier Environment. from an urban school in Michigan, and this ago.” “Janice,” she added, “you remember this: 15 field trip was an adjunct to their study of ice one mile thick.” Harry was having trouble glacial geology. They were certainly in the right with his arms: they kept flailing around, The Grapevine. 16 place: the park occupies 200 acres of land that, jostling other children. A teacher moved to his Railroads and Remnants. during the Ice Age’s Wisconsin Stage, which side. By prior arrangement with the naturalist, 18 ended about thirteen thousand years ago, lay wise guys were to walk with teachers. Welcome Wild Ones between two lobes of a glacier. Although So we all set off along the gritty trail to Business Members. 19 blocks of ice toppled from the melting mass our next lecture stop in an old field where one onto the land – and these huge blocks student, posing as a block of ice, was used to The Meeting Place. 20 accounted for the park’s sand and gravel soil, demonstrate how the weight of the ice block On the Horizon. 21 its steep kames and boggy kettles – the inter- forms a kettle hole, while the dirty water melt- 2004 Photo Contest. 22 lobal area has never been scoured clean of life ing from the top and running down the sides by the glacier itself. Its biodiversity was there- deposits a rim of raised sand and gravel How Much Do You Value fore astounding: five hundred species of kames. “These are vocabulary words,” warned the Journal? (Oakland Chapter’s Challenge plants, including over a dozen orchids and a a teacher. “Remember kame and kettle.” Pledge.) and Thank You number of endangered species, two of which The next stop was the poison-ivy lesson. for Memorials and Gifts. Back Cover were the only remnants of their kind in the “How many leaves?” asked the naturalist, state. The composition of the forest ranged holding a sample by its stem, which he had from southern trees like tulip poplar to boreal wrapped carefully in a spicebush leaf. “Three,” ones like larch, so I knew what a treasure of ventured several voices, but the naturalist was Celebrating 25 years diversity I was about to see. expecting that wrong Continued on page 3. restoring native plants Inside this Special 2004 Conference Issue of the Wild Ones Journal: and natural landscapes. Entire conference schedule with session details. • Mail-in registration form. Biographical info on national board candidates. • Election ballot. Notes from the President… Promoting the Use of Native Plants in Our Landscapes – Not as Plant Fascists, But By Encouraging Change Through the Use of Regionally Native Plants

I recently returned The purpose of the Wild Ones national – to get the word out about the importance from a trip to organization is to promote the use of native of native plants to biodiversity and to our Southern California plants in our landscapes everywhere. We ecological future. The overuse of chemicals where Diane and I can’t accomplish this goal without being and water-intensive landscaping practices enjoyed the cacti and aware of the interrelatedness of our native are destroying our environment – our succulents in the plant environments throughout North habitat, this Earth. While it is not possible native plant gardens America. The Wild Ones Journal is Wild for everyone to return their outdoor en- of Balboa Park in Ones’ primary tool to illustrate this inter- vironment to its original native condition, San Diego, and the relatedness. Coincidentally, the last issue we can ask, as Sara Stein suggests, that mountains and deserts of the Joshua Tree of the Journal contained an article on the everyone start with one small step. Our National Monument. While at the Museum chaparral biome of Southern California. role is not to be “Plant Fascists” but is, of Natural History in Balboa Park, we The Journal has also included articles re- instead, to encourage change through the visited an exhibit of native plant paintings garding native plant species found in other use of regionally native plants. Only by A. R. Valentien completed around the North American biomes. It is Wild Ones’ through many small changes can we hope turn of the 19th century. Besides being intent to continue to expand the content to return health to our environment and blown away by their beauty and precision, of the Journal from the prairies of the retain the biodiversity necessary for all life Diane and I both observed a number of Midwest to meet the needs of native plant in our world. species that are close relatives of the natives enthusiasts throughout our continent, but it found in the Midwest. While there are will always be the responsibility of our numerous examples in the collection that chapters to promote the use of native are native only to the Southwest, the finding plants in landscapes locally. Joe Powelka, Wild Ones National President of native plants in Southern California that The interview with Sara Stein in our [email protected] are similar to those at home serves to con- last issue of the Journal, and her books, firm the interrelatedness of our native aptly define why it is important that Wild plant biomes. Ones promote native landscaping nationally

Wild Ones Journal is published bimonthly by Wild Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes promotes environmentally sound Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes. Views landscaping practices to encourage biodiversity through the preservation, restoration, expressed are the opinions of the authors. Journal and establishment of native plant communities. Wild Ones is a not-for-profit, content may be reproduced for non-profit educa- environmental, educational, and advocacy organization. tional purposes as long as the Journal is credited as the source. Individual articles that carry a copyright are the property of the author and cannot be repro- NATIONAL OFFICE LIBRARIAN duced without the author’s written permission. No Robert Ryf • (920) 361-0792 Executive Director artwork may be reproduced, except to accompany E-mail: [email protected] Donna VanBuecken its original companion text, without written permis- P.O. Box 1274, Appleton, WI 54912-1274 CALENDAR COORDINATOR sion of the illustrator or photographer. Contact (877) FYI-WILD (394-9453) Mary Paquette • (920) 994-2505 editor if in doubt about use rights. Manuscripts and (920) 730-3986 E-mail: [email protected] illustrations are welcome; Wild Ones does not pay Fax: (920) 730-3986 for articles, photos or illustrations. For guidelines for E-mail: [email protected] BOARD MEMBERS submitting material, contact editor or see Wild President Carol Andrews, Minnesota, 06 Ones web site. Advertisers: Contact national office Joe Powelka • (608) 837-6308 Patricia Armstrong, Illinois, 04 for rates and schedule. E-mail: [email protected] Portia Brown, Kentucky, 04 WILD ONES JOURNAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Vice-President & Editor-In-Chief Jerry Brown, Kentucky, 06 Maryann Whitman • (248) 652-4004 Maryann Whitman • (248) 652-4004 Mark Charles, Michigan, 04 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Lorraine Johnson, Ontario, 04 Steve Maassen, Wisconsin, 04 (Please indicate topic in subject line.) Secretary Mariette Nowak, Wisconsin, 04 Portia Brown • (502) 454-4007 WILD ONES JOURNAL STAFF Mandy Ploch, Wisconsin, 04 E-mail: [email protected] Barbara Bray, Contributing Editor Diane Powelka, Wisconsin, 06 Janice Cook, Contributing Editor Treasurer Joe Powelka, Wisconsin, 06 Christian Nelson, Creative Director Klaus Wisiol • (847) 548-1649 Bret Rappaport, Illinois, 04 & Associate Editor E-mail: [email protected] Maryann Whitman, Michigan, 06 Communications Committee Chair Klaus Wisiol, Illinois, 06 Wild Ones recommends that you patronize Bret Rappaport Marilyn Wyzga, New Hampshire, 06 businesses that support our policies regarding E-mail: [email protected] HONORARY DIRECTORS species provenance and habitat preservation. Seeds for Education Director Darrel Morrison, FASLA, Georgia The appearance of advertising in the Journal Steve Maassen • (920) 233-5914 Lorrie Otto, Wisconsin does not constitute an endorsement by Wild Ones E-mail: [email protected] Sara Stein, New York of any organization or product. Web Site Coordinator Craig Tufts, Virginia Peter Chen • [email protected] Andy & Sally Wasowski, New Mexico Printed on recycled paper.

2 WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 Sara Stein’s Noah’s Children shows us the ecology of childood as it was meant to be. Writers Continued from page 1. answer and so enjoyed apparently couldn’t think of just what the Artists the planned opportunity to explain that it “teasing afternoon breeze wafting through & was a single, compound leaf made up of three the windows” was tempting third-grade Sara Stein, an honorary director of leaflets. It was late September; the poison ivy students to do outdoors, once they were Wild Ones since 1996, is the author of was beginning to turn a stunning scarlet. released from remedial summer classes in a many books for both adults and chil- Classes are not allowed to use the park for city public school. What do children do dren, most notably, Noah’s Garden. collecting fall leaves because poison ivy when they are outside and out of sight? The The excerpt from Noah’s Children was reprinted with permission from the breaks into those three leaflets that are hard middle years of childhood are largely played publisher, North Point Press, a division to identify and therefore might be picked up out behind our backs. There’s no telling of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York. by mistake. I plucked a spicebush leaf to where children might wander from the aca- Barbara Bray is a member of the crush and sniff – but secretly, not wanting to demic grounding we think we give to them. Oakland (MI) Chapter. Her Next be caught. I gave the boys field lenses so they could Generation article about pine trees is We descended, stop by stop, to wetland, examine the stomata on the underside of on page 5. accompanied by a growing vocabulary: leaves, the geometry of pollen grains, the Wayne R. Pauly is a Dane County, muck, marsh, bog, fen, meadow, karr. The anatomy of bees’ legs, the garnet gems in Wisconsin naturalist. An excerpt from naturalist pointed out a rare poison sumac grains of sand. They set leaves afire with the his book, How to Manage Small Prairie growing twenty feet off the trail in the web, lenses. They crisped ants. I duly took them Fires, appears on page 6. shrubby karr but not the equally rare fringed to the American Museum of Natural History Janice Cook is an urban naturalist and gentian blooming brilliantly and by the when they were in elementary school to a member of the North Park Village score at our very feet. show them an exhibit on human evolution Nature Center (IL) Chapter. Her My own partner on this walk was an that featured sculptured reconstructions of Conversations column is on page 8. avid amateur naturalist, about my age, the facial features of various species based Steve Maassen is the Director of Seeds named Maryann. The sight of the gentians on fossil evidence. I didn’t find out until for Education Grant Program and moved us simultaneously to nearly identical they were men that as a result of that lesson Coordinator of the Fox Valley Area reveries. As a child, I once, and never again, they had been able to identify in the woods Chapter Seeds for Education Commit- had found fringed gentians blooming in the a Neandertal campsite strewn with ancient tee. He is a member of the Fox Valley orchard. Maryann, also, and only once, had hammer stones and streaked with blood Area (WI) Chapter. come upon the flower in her youthful wan- evidence of human sacrifice. Lorrie Otto is an honorary board derings. Both of us, stricken by the purity of The afternoon of the day I walked the member of the Wild Ones organization its color and the delicate perfection of its park with that paired line of fifty children, and a member of the Milwaukee North form, had held that moment of discovery in I was taken to an altogether different and (WI) Chapter. a halo of wonder for decades. highly unusual demonstration of childhood Sally Elmiger has a graduate degree in None of the fifty eleven-year-olds asked education. The teacher ran a preschool at Landscape Architecture from the School what they were. her suburban home whose modest play yard of Natural Resources at the University By the end of the next climb, to pristine bordered on a municipal park. Her home of Michigan, and works as a commu- oak savanna, and faced now with the contin- also served as a day-care center for former nity and environmental planner for Carlisle/Wortman Associates Inc., in uing uphill trek back to the parking lot, the students, who were dropped off by the Ann Arbor, Michigan. A member of the children were tiring. Harry’s restless arms school bus and stayed until picked up by Ann Arbor (MI) Chapter, her Corridors swung back to tease the boy behind him, their parents at the end of the working day. article is on page 15. who began what soon became a chorus, We arrived after the preschoolers had The prairie photo on page 6 is courtesy “Are we almost there?” This was against the gone home but just as the school bus arrived of Fermi National Accelerator Lab. rules: the children had been told they would with five ex-students: four girls and a boy, The white turtlehead drawing on page be “there” when they could see the school ranging from seven to twelve. A few years 14 and the beard tongue pods drawing bus, and not before. before, the same children, then aged from on page 21 are by Lucy Schumann of We saw the school bus through the trees; four to nine had participated with their the Milwaukee North (WI) Chapter. we reached the asphalt. And, for the first teacher in researching flood control and The wild lupine drawing on page 18 time, the children came to life: they were to water quality in the local river. With their is from Plants and Flowers, Dover have a picnic in the park. mentor, they had petitioned the town to Publications. Read this sentence carefully; it’s from The allow them to plan a retention basin in the The train photo on page 18 was taken New York Times: “Outside, summer beckons, park, applied for and gotten funding for the by Donna VanBuecken, founding with bikes to be ridden, video games to be project, hired a backhoe to excavate the member and charter president of Fox played, cartoons to be watched, Barbies to basin, and planted the catchment area with Valley Area (WI) Chapter and Executive be pampered for hours on end.” plugs and seeds of wetland prairie species. Director of Wild Ones. These railroad Now, I know some errors slip past Several of the children had given formal tracks run through the Chippewa Valley editors, and this certainly was one of those, presentations to the municipal government in Wisconsin. but some errors also point to a truth, and (one standing before an audience of 250 this was one of those as well: the author people) and conducted Continued on page 4.

WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 3 Continued from page 3. interviews with the education” hardly begins to convey the con- press. All the children, in mud above their trast between memorizing the fact that muck ankles, had planted the prairie. soil is made by decaying plants, and planting During that portion of my Michigan the makers of muck soil. visit, I was staying with my niece Leila, who Yet after the mud-loving children had teaches heat exchange and fluid dynamics finished impressing this adult with the con- to sophomore physics students at the state siderable depth of their knowledge and pas- university. She is one of those gifted teachers sion for water purity, they ran off, as if by who makes every effort to inspire students to common consent, on a tide of ebullience, really grasp the subject, to think it through, dodging the undertow of their education to make it theirs in so deep and comfortable duties. Or so it seemed to me: they surged as a way that they can use their knowledge a unit toward the “Porcupine Trees.” creatively in the same way that one can This was a stand of spruces, closely spaced whittle any figure once the hands know but enclosing a dark circle of prickly-needled wood and blade. But Leila was finding the ground, and entered through a single open- going rough: her students aspired to know ing among the trunks. I wasn’t invited. I fol- no more than how to reach the answer, lowed anyway but not far, because, as I which formula to use, how to score well on emerged out of the hot sun into the cool what would be the physics equivalent of a opening, they were already way beyond me, kame-and-kettle test. high up in the trees. I leaned my back against Naturally, I compared the children of the a tree trunk, bemused by this generational morning with the children of the afternoon, reversal, remembering my own pine hide- and it would be belaboring the point to away from which, as a girl, I spied on the explicate at length the obvious differences mundane doings of adults, at roof level, between those who walk a trail with hands at listening to their terrace talk show below. sides and minds on tests and those who best I tried to catch some shred of these children’s recall squishing plugs of switchgrass into privacy, but they knew my eyes and ears were gooey mud. Both may learn vocabulary turned on them, and they grew shy. (or they may not), but the trendy “hands-on Like animals. ❦

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For more information, contact the national office at (877) 394-9453 or e-mail to [email protected]. Checks payable to Wild Ones at: Wild Ones Merchandise, P.O. Box 1274, Appleton, WI 54912. Prices include shipping and handling. Your chapter may offer these items and more at your regular meetings.

4 WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 The Next Generation Have YouListened to Your Pine Trees Lately? By Barbara Bray

Last April, as I was weeding in my new prairie planting, I heard a thickness. If there is a lot of curious popping noise behind me. I rose to my feet, turned around, moisture in the air, the cones and followed the sound over to the pine trees. I stood there for a soak it up and the dampness moment, puzzled by the noise, and then it hit me – the sound was causes the scales to curl from the pinecones on the trees snapping open! Pine trees are the inward. In dry weather, the scales will curl outward, thus opening the green in our winter landscapes and they provide wood for our cones. This important attribute protects the seeds in the cones from houses and pulp for our paper, but sometimes, if you listen closely, dispersing into a wet environment where they could rot. You can you will hear their “secrets.” explore this surprising adaptation with your child in the following Have you ever seen pine tree flowers? If your answer is no, then experiment. you are very observant. You will not find any, because pine trees You will need one pinecone and a container of water. don’t have the sort of flowers that we would usually Look closely at your pinecone. Does it have any seeds inside? recognize. They do, however, have special male and Place the pinecone in the water and wait for an hour. After one female reproductive structures. The male “cones” hour, how has your pinecone changed? Now, take the pinecone look like dust-coated fingers in late spring. The out of the water and place it in a sunny, warm spot. Ask your female “cones” are tiny, pinkish structures at the child to make a prediction on how long it will take the pinecone ends of new growth. The male structures to open again. Then observe the pinecone periodically. Does it take elongate, and yellow pollen floats away on the one hour for the pinecone to open? Two hours? Four hours? Or wind to cover sidewalks, decks, and cars. Luckily, longer? When you have finished with this experiment, try it again some of that pollen also lands on the female nubs, with different pinecones. If the cones are old, will they react in the which will develop into mature pinecones full of little winged seeds. same way? What if the cones have been painted (such as in old The scales on a pinecone can be used to measure humidity crafts or decorations)? Does this work with any other cones? (or moisture) in the air. The scales on pinecones are of an uneven Have fun, and remember to listen to your pine trees! ❦

WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 5 LetAnother It School Burn Habitat in Danger Excerpt from How to Manage Small Prairie Fires by Wayne R. Pauly Published by the Dane County (WI) Environmental Council and the Dane County (WI) Highway and Transportation Department. This book is available through the Wild Ones Store.

Fire, a tool for managing prairies and The same prairie will not burn the same conditions of moisture and wind, fire can keeping them vigorous, is a dangerous tool. way twice, and the way it burns will change be controlled, but it is always dangerous. In general, a prairie fire burns in a long, nar- from morning to afternoon. Under proper During a few seconds of inattention a fire row line of flames moving quickly through conditions, a grass fire looks tame, but it can change from a safely controlled burn to the grass. It is possible to walk several feet reacts swiftly to change in wind direc- a racing wall of flames. Therefore, there is behind the flames without discomfort from no substitute for experience heat or smoke because flames quickly con- when working with fire. If To many, a well run burn looks tame, and this can sume dry grass and move forward for more lead to overconfidence, which can lead to a fire you have never worked on a fuel. Usually a line of fire carried with the out of control. prairie fire, then get experi- wind (head fire) is 5 to 15 feet deep with enced people to work with flames that leap 8 feet or more, while fire tion, wind speed, and humidity. A change you. Contact local conservation organiza- burning into the wind (backfire or backing in wind direction will transform a creep- tions for permission to watch a controlled fire) is only a foot deep with flames a foot ing backfire into a blazing head fire, a burn, or volunteer to help. Above all, start high. But the description of a prairie fire doubling of wind speed will quadruple small; your first burn should be no more varies considerably depending on the kind the rate of spread of the fire, and a reduc- than a fraction of an acre, and planned with and amount of fuel, height and moisture tion in relative humidity as the day as much attention to detail as possible. Even content of grasses, topography, slope, wind warms up will make a fire burn hotter small fires can get out of control and cause speed, humidity, etc. and faster. great damage. Really the “typical” prairie fire doesn’t Never take fire for granted; the worst exist, because there are too many variables. danger is overconfidence. Under proper

6 WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 Web Sites: Ours and Others Can’t remember your password? P.O. Box 83, North Lake Wondering what’s new on the web site? Wisconsin 53064-0083 Want to help with the 2004 Seeds for Education Grant Program? Over 170 species from southeastern Wisconsin prairies Ever wonder how you get into the secure pages of the Wild Ones website if you’ve forgotten your password? There’s a new menu item on the Wild Member Login page. Just enter the initial part of your e-mail address in the appropriate window and you’ll get your answer. To keep up with “what’s new” on the website and within the realm of Wild Ones, PLEASE click on the what’s new column just below the “What’s New: at a glance” button located SEND just below the “Member Login” (in the upper right-hand corner of the Wild Ones home $1 FOR page – www.for-wild.org). Right now you’ll get the latest info on the status of the Indian SEED Hill School outdoor learning center removal, as well as the recently revised 2004 Photo CATALOG Bob Ahrenhoerster, Contest guidelines. You’ll also find an up-to-date listing of Carol Rubin’s Green Thumb/ Prairie Restoration Green Planet Workshop Tour itinerary. Specialist Also, while you’re on the web site, check out the complete information on the 2004 Seeds for Education Grant Program. If you live in the area of one of the grant recipients, contact the organization and offer to lend a hand with their project. Now that they’ve gotten the funds to purchase seeds and plants, they’ll need all the help they can get to make the project a success. Let them know you agree with what they are doing and that you will support their efforts. If you have any problem accessing the website, or if you would like to offer assistance, VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT http://www. Ameritech.net/users/rasillon/Seed.html please call the national office toll-free at (877) 394-9453 or e-mail [email protected] and let us know. ❦

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WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 7 CONVERSATIONS This “conversation” with our readers was initiated in the March / April issue with the comment from Janice Cook regarding “the placement [of natives] in design.” Janice offered the thought that perhaps using the word “design” in the context of native plants somehow breached the gap between natives and exotics. Our readers responded.

From Yvonne Means, Nashville, Tennessee constant mowing, pruning, spraying, and fertilizing was wearing me Frankfort Chapter (Kentucky) out physically, mentally, and money wise – and I still lacked the I understand where you are coming from, but you have to remember wildlife I craved. I read about the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary that many of us started out gardening with a yard of exotics and Program for Backyards in an issue of Wild Garden, sent for their maybe a few natives that were totally incorrect for our region. We packet, and for the past five years my 1/4-acre suburbia yard is read, saw or heard something that then motivated us towards the about 3/4 native plants and a certified Audubon Cooperative path of native gardening in order to attract those birds we always Sanctuary. Cardinals, robins, chickadees, house wrens, mockingbirds, wanted, promised us freedom from the consuming lawn mowing bluejays, sparrows, toads, frogs, and rabbits have all occupied and task, or suggested an alternative from hazardous or unwarranted raised young on our property; and we have received visits from insect and weed annihilation. We bought one or two regional native turtles, opossums, raccoons, and skunks. plants to fill in an empty space or replace an exotic we discovered I native garden front and back yard, and it is always a challenge was invasive or totally useless to attract the wildlife we wanted. Many to keep certain neighbors appeased. This year I have found it of us did start out finding a “placement in our design” to squeeze in necessary with the help of a state horticulturist friend to start plan- a few natives, which was the very beginning of gradually becoming ning to go before Environmental Court to get a waiver to make my totally hooked into full bloom native gardening. gardening natively “legal.” Something about a front yard full of There now may be areas in the United States where native wildflowers and grasses in summer and seed heads in fall and winter gardening is an accepted practice, but not where I live. It is unaccept- being too much vegetation. I definitely can understand why the able, without a disheartening uphill struggle. I began in 1989 with a native plant conference listed their description the way they did. yard of fence-to-fence grass and a foundation planting of exotics, and Converting people from exotic to native gardening isn’t usually an proceeded to fill it in with more exotics. I gradually realized that overnight thing. Conway School OF LANDSCAPE DESIGN P.O. BOX 179 • CONWAY, MA 01341-0179

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8 WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 Janice remarks: propagators, and (c) often rhapsodize about sense of place. I guess I have heard it said that the one thing the ecology/restoration/native I’d rather have substantive conversations with this crowd, and see if plants movement lacks is humor; maybe it lacks perspective as well. we can both progress in understanding. I’d rather see their expertise We need enough perspective to realize that there is little in life that is continue to work on propagating native species not yet commercially pure and perfect or simple. Therefore we need to start where we are available. I’d rather trust that continued exposure to the deeper and do what we can. Alienating our neighbors with unruly plantings ecological issues will shift thinking. is not the way to win them over. Let’s face it, most people are into This means it is our responsibility, the buyers of native plants, to “ruly.” Wild Ones Journal would like to follow up Yvonne’s letter with nudge. Whenever you are buying native plants (or designing or some realistic design articles that will help to bridge the gap in specifying for clients), ask for sexually propagated straight species of understanding to what Yvonne points. By adding some landscaping local genotype. If the plants are clones, then gracefully find out if that looks planned and tended – fencing, some rocks, edging, a there are underlying economic or germination challenges; if there is border, planting tall things toward the back, and developing slowly, a way they could provide what you want next time. Ask them to we can often have the best of both worlds. And maybe, just maybe, label their plants and catalogs with geographic source and propaga- we can influence the neighbors and change the local ordinances tion method. We need to ask, and we need to explain why. as well. For those readers who are designers, please send some (I am back in the Midwest where we are very fortunate to have diagrams, pictures, and suggestions for people who are trying to many native nurseries leading the way for local genotype and make friends and influence people. propagation by seed). One question leads to another. Have plants become divided into The same little Conversation item on native plant material in ecological ones, in preserves, and decorative ones, around people? design also elicited other reactions. One reaction involved the Named cultivars make gardens that are more like decorative collec- horticultural development of patented/copyrighted species and tions of horticultural plants than ecologically functioning communi- varieties based on native plants and the commercial use of native ties and habitats. The divide might be an unfortunate artifact of the plant material in color coordinated flowerbed sweeps and effects. horticultural profession – but it is reinforced by every rainforest From Nancy Aten, Mequon, Wisconsin ecologist whose home yard is turf, yew, and daffodils; by every Milwaukee North (WI) Chapter environmentalist who values the far-away over the next-door. Does As a designer, I react first to the implied connection of design with a ecology matter in cities, along streets, and in front yards? Do sexually superficial ecology; design should, of course, be rooted in ecological propagated straight species of local genotype matter there? I say yes. principles. Design isn’t an excuse for less function; rather it is an Janice remarks: opportunity for deeper experiences. I work as a volunteer naturalist at a large institution that does genetic Like Janice, I have been troubled by the “Actaea pachypoda ‘snow engineering on native plants. The plants that are developed are princess’” crowd. Theirs is an approach that entered my conscious- licensed to the green industry and are a source of income and fame ness once I’d learned enough about plants and ecology. for the institution. The arrangement is a great success in many ways, In commercial nurseries, plants seem often propagated as clones but we who work with natural settings debate loud and long over the rather than sexually. Even for a straight native species, you might development of strange color morphs, size changes, and hardiness unknowingly be buying a clone, or selection, produced this way for ability. However, the money earned helps to pay for the overall economic reasons. More problematic are the named, branded, bred maintenance of a property that is 1/3 native. We don’t want to pay or selected cultivars (eg. “snow princess”), which might even be higher taxes but we want to maintain institutions. The institutions unable to produce viable seed. To me, there are two kinds of prob- are caught in a money crunch. It’s a trade-off. lems with cultivars of natives. The first is ecological: they diminish We must also consider the psychology and history of gardening. local genetic variety and reproduction of native species populations, The “having” of unusual plant material is part of the game. We must which matters a great deal for habitat, function and evolution. also remember that not all people are coming from the same place. The second is human: they encourage the “pretty flowers” cultural By introducing people, albeit in a round about way, to native plant addiction, and a more superficial perception of the plant com- material, we make them aware of something new. Some of them will munity ethic. grow away from horticultural material and toward valid native Darrel Morrison (professor emeritus, landscape architecture) material, just as Nancy has. often references the Leopold quote about people first responding to Another aspect of natives in horticultural design involves the use the “pretty” before moving to deeper appreciation and understand- of native plants in commercial design settings. Well-intended busi- ing. How many of us have inadvertently reinforced the cultural nesses sometimes decide to try a landscape theme using native plants appetite in our response to a newcomer expressing interest in native in large sweeps and for foundations plantings. However, the plants landscapes, who qualifies it by saying they really want pretty, showy don’t always cooperate. They move and die out. The sweep becomes flowers? How often do we remember to show slides of prairies in unruly and unimpressive. Designers may have ideas on which native textural winter, or woodlands in quiet, unassuming late summer? plants are most successful and how they can be integrated into large Remembering the gradual journey I’ve taken toward understanding, scale horticultural designs without selling out native landscaping. stewardship and advocacy, I think it is important to recognize Here is a place where the cloned or bred plant material may link parallels in the potential journeys of talented native plants propaga- native and horticultural plantings. tors and horticulturalists. I have realized that the “snow princess” As you can see, we have opened a broad subject. Come put your native plants crowd (a) love native plants, (b) are knowledgeable two cents worth into the discussion. ❦

WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 9 It’s All One Piece The grass stage is an adaptation unique to the longleaf pine. Ground-hugging tufts of needles surround the apical bud, re- An Example of the sembling stiff-bladed bunch grass. This short-shoot habit of growth Dynamics of Extinction during the seedling years has been attributed to competition by By Maryann Whitman plants for moisture and nutrients, to an inherent seedling trait under rigid genetic control, and to an auxin, or plant hormone, produced The main character in our tale is the longleaf, or southern yellow in buds during early stages of development. Environment also seems pine (Pinus palustris). It is indigenous to the high, sandy hills of to influence the amount of time seedlings remain “in the grass.” North American Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains, south of Virginia It may be three years or less where soil moisture is adequate and through to eastern Texas. plant competition negligible, to 25 years on dry, xeric sites with For over a century, until the mid-20th century, it enjoyed a dense overtopping crowns of scrub oaks and ground cover of worldwide reputation – its even-grained, durable, straight stems wiregrass (Aristida beyrichiana). providing 12-inch by 12-inch by 80-foot, all-heartwood timbers for A rule of thumb among foresters is that the trees begin height shipmasts and later for structural timbers. Often building its own growth when the dwarfed stem has swelled to an inch in diameter railroads, the logging industry marched across the South, to tap the at the root-collar, and not before. When that ground-line size is westernmost stands of longleaf pine in Texas before 1900. By 1940 attained, height growth exceeds three or four feet per year. In a the original longleaf pine forests existed only in memory, replaced region where forest floors are swept by fires nearly every winter, long- by controlled plantations. leaf pine protects itself by clinging to the ground during those early Another actor in our tale is the red-cockaded woodpecker, which years when most vegetation is so vulnerable to fire damage. Then, nests in cavities that it excavates in the trunks of these living pines. well-rooted and with ample food reserves, it spurts upward – not Only old trees possess sufficient girth to accommodate this relatively as a slender, thin-barked shoot, but as a thick stem surrounded by large bird. The rarity of old-growth stands has led to the designation bark and a dense continuous array of long needles. Thousands of of the woodpecker as endangered, and thus the primary driver seedlings survive low-temperature fires during the first few years of behind efforts to preserve the remaining old stands and to restore height growth. After the stems are 10 to 15 feet tall, the trees are such stands to a frequent fire regime. able to survive with very few adverse effects from all but the most severe fires. Ecology of Longleaf Pines Extremely intolerant of shade and competition, the trees that do Pinus palustris is adapted to frequent low-intensity fire. It has a deep survive suppression by these factors gain dominance and rarely taproot and a dwarf form or “grass stage” during early growth. touch crowns. Their lower limbs die and drop off, mainly because

10 WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 of the shade cast by the foliage of their own upper crowns. Profuse production and shedding of needles and ready shedding of lower limbs provide a rapid accumulation of fine fuels, sufficient to sup- port ground fires at frequencies as often as three years. An extremely flammable heartwood and sapwood are shielded by a relatively fire-resistant bark. Another dynamic in this story is the role of brownspot needle blight. Caused by a fungus present in most soils, it infects and kills the needles near the ground. Three successive defoliations are enough to kill seedlings. Foresters learned that controlled fires destroy spores of the disease along with infected foliage, freeing the new needle growth from major infection for a couple of years. Two controlled burns, two years apart, are usually sufficient to launch a generation of seedlings into the sapling stage of rapid height growth. The controlled burns must be cool fires that run quickly with the wind. The needles are rapidly consumed by fire to within a few inches of the bud. So dense and long are the needles that they insulate the bud during the few seconds it takes the fire to pass. Needles are expendable. From the bud promptly sprouts lush-appearing, vigorous foliage to manufacture carbohydrates by photosynthesis. With the reintroduction of fire, by the early 1990s, both long- leaf pines and red-cockaded woodpeckers appeared to be making a comeback.

Enter Cogongrass into This Balanced Equation Into our story enters the villain. Native to the Philippines, Southeast Asia, China and Japan, cogongrass (Imperata cylindrical) was intro- duced to North America accidentally in the 1920s, as packing material, and on purpose in the 1940s as forage and as an attractive horti- cultural specimen. It is a perennial, rhizomatous grass that grows from 2 to 4 feet high. Mature leaf margins are finely toothed and embedded with silica crystals, making only the very early immature growth palatable to grazing animals. Cogongrass can invade disturbed ecosystems, forming a dense mat of thatch and leaves that makes it nearly impossible for other plants to coexist. The grass displaces a large variety of native plant species used by native animals as forage, host plants and shelter. It spreads rapidly by rhizomes. Established stands can produce over 3 tons of rhizomes per acre. Another attribute that helps cogon to dominate is that the rhizomes exude allelopathic substances that inhibit growth of other plants. Infestations alter the normal fire regime of a fire-driven ecosystem like that of a longleaf pine plantation. Researcher Carol Lippincott has determined that cogon burns differently than do native species like wiregrass, which it displaces in the ground layer. Fires fueled by cogon occur more frequently, burn hotter, and higher above the ground (to 5 and 6 feet) than do fires fueled by native vegetation (18 inches). These hotter, slower, higher fires affect the cool-fire-adapted apical buds of the longleaf pine, both in the grass stage and during its first year or two of height growth. These fires kill large numbers of seedlings, but suppressing fire among the longleaf pines is not an option.

Time Will Tell Sadly, we have delineated the major actors and forces in an unhappy tale of potential extinction of at least two genera. The tapestry of interdependent lives is an intricate one. Once again the element of time, truncated by man’s heavy-handed intervention, may be the telling factor. ❦

WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 11 2004 Seeds for Education Grants By Steve Maassen, Seeds for Education Director

ur children are the next generation of 2004 Seeds for Education Grant Recipients Onative landscapers. This is the reason Barron Area Senior High, Barron, WI May Whitney Elementary School, Wild Ones developed the Seeds for $400 – Barron High Prairie Restoration. Lake Zurich, IL Restoration of a small prairie wildlife area on $500 – May Whitney Education program as a critical part of our school grounds. (NW Wisconsin – Partner- Elementary School educational goals, so future generations at-Large) Outdoor Learning Center. Transformation of the will continue the work we have begun. Chestnut Park School, Savanna, IL courtyard to woodland, The Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education $500 – Chestnut Park School Habitat. savanna, hill prairie, Construction and maintenance of a nature lab Fund (SFE), established in 1995, supports and tallgrass prairie consisting of Illinois native prairie, a 6-acre ecosystems so schools, nature centers, and other places savanna, and a perennial butterfly garden. students can learn (NW Illinois – Partner-at-Large) of learning for projects involving students about indigenous Illinois plants and creating natural landscapes and outdoor Etna Elementary School, Etna, CA $403 – Etna Elementary Outdoor Learning nature. (NE Illinois classrooms using native plants. Through Center. Establishment of a native area to use – Lake-to-Prairie Chapter.) the generous donations of Wild Ones as an educational tool in teaching students Ophir School, Gallatin Gateway, MT hands-on outdoor science. (Northern CA – members and income from the growing $489 – Native Plant Demonstration Garden. Partner-at-Large) Continuation of the development of a native SFE Fund of the Milwaukee Foundation, Leelanau Conservancy, Leland, MI plant demonstration garden on the school this year’s grants total $3,962. $450 – Native Wildflower Restoration at grounds which serves as an educational area. Applications came from all the coasts Chippewa Run Natural Area. It will be associated with a 100-year-old restored Restoration of an old agricultural field to a homesteader’s cabin. (South Central MT – in the United States and many of the meadow that sustains high quality, native Partner-at-Large) states in between, as did the 26 judges species. (NE Lake Michigan shoreline – Pewaukee High School, Pewaukee, WI Partner-at-Large) who rated them. There were 26 qualified $500 – Pewaukee Village Park Pond Restoration. Improvement of the overall water quality of the applications this year, each deserving of Friends of the Welty Environmental Center, Beloit, WI pond through the development of a shoreline praise and support. Wild Ones was able $273 – Butterfly and Bird Habitat Garden. buffer. (SE WI – Menomonee River Area Chapter) to fund nine of the projects. Grants were Installation of a garden of native prairie plants Rockford College, Rockford, IL with an emphasis on host plants for butterfly based on the actual amount of funds $500 – Returning to our Roots. larvae, nectar sources for butterflies and Restoration of a native prairie and establishment requested, the judges’ ranking in compari- hummingbirds, and seed sources for birds. of a butterfly garden on the Rockford College son to all 2003 grant applications, and the (Central IL-WI border – Partner-at-Large) campus to provide a variety of both formal and available funds. informal educational opportunities in disciplines across the range of the arts and sciences. We thank the donors, judges, and (North Central IL – Rock River Valley Chapter) nursery partners for caring enough about Chapters named in this listing are those located this program to keep it happening each closest to the recipients. year. I’d also like to thank the Wild Ones For a listing of previous SFE grant recipients go to members and non-members who assisted www.for-wild.org/seedmony.htm with the administrative process involved in this year’s grant program. Thank you all for helping make this year’s program such a success.

Wild Ones 25th Anniversary Commemorative Historical Booklet Production on the 25th Anniversary Commemorative Wild Ones Historical Booklet is moving forward, and the booklet will be ready for the printer in the near future. But there’s still time for you to be involved. We’re looking for pictures, stories, anecdotes, and fun memories of Wild Ones days gone by – and we’re hoping you can help. The 32-page commemorative booklet will detail the history and growth – and the special challenges (and special people) who have been such an important part of Wild Ones. So if you have some interesting old photos of Wild Ones people and events, or if you have a story to tell, please let us know. For more information on this important project, to learn more about endorsements – or to reserve your copy of the booklet, contact Wild Ones National at [email protected] or toll-free at (877) 394-9453.

12 WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 ach year, nursery partners supply 2004 Seeds for Education Nursery Partners Eseeds, plants, discounts and, of course, California Oregon advice to grant recipients in their areas. By Menzies Natives Nursery, Weed Forestfarm, Williams participating in the Wild Ones Seeds for (530) 938-4858. Ferns, trees and shrubs (541) 846-7269. Shade plants, trees and shrubs Plant Oregon, Talent Education program, our nursery partners Illinois (541) 535-3531. Trees and shrubs demonstrate their commitment to natural Blazing Star Inc., Woodstock landscaping. Many also advertise in the (815) 338-4716. Prairie and shade plants Wisconsin Journal. We thank them for their support! Enders Greenhouse LLC, Ridott Agrecol Corp, Madison (815) 332-5255. Prairie seeds and plants, wet (608) 226-2544. Prairie, wet mesic, shade and Grant recipients are encouraged to mesic, shade and wetland plants wetland plants (primarily wholesale) contact the nursery partners for seeds and Marshland Transplant Aquatic Nursery, Libertyville Applied Ecological Services/ plant materials. Using native grass and (920) 376-0699. Prairie, wet mesic, shade and Taylor Creek Nurseries, Brodhead wetland plants (608) 897-8641. Prairie, wet mesic, shade and flower plants and seeds that originated as The Natural Garden Inc., St. Charles wetland plants close as possible to the project site will go (630) 584-0150. Prairie plants CRM/Prairie Ridge Nursery, Mt. Horeb a long way toward ensuring a project’s (608) 437-5245. Prairie, wet mesic, shade and Michigan success. wetland plants Native Connections, Constantine Dragonfly Gardens, Amery In addition to the seeds, plants, and (269) 580-4765. Prairie seeds and plants, wet (715) 268-4660. Prairie plants mesic, shade and wetland plants discounts from nursery partners, each Leaning Pine Native Landscapes, South Range grant recipient also receives a copy of the Sandhill Farm, Rockford (715) 398-5453. Wetland plants, shoreland trees (616) 691-8214. Prairie, shade and wetland and shrubs, and ground cover Wild Ones video, A Tapestry of Learning: plants Creating School Natural Marshland Transplant Aquatic Nursery, Berlin Thomas Greystone Gardens, Honor (920) 361-4200. Prairie, wet mesic, shade and Areas to use in future (231) 326-5855. Prairie plants, shade, wet mesic wetland plants plants development efforts. Midwest Prairies, Fort Atkinson Wildtype Native Plant Nursery, Mason (920) 563-3165. Prairie seeds When the grant re- (517) 244-1140. Prairie plants, trees and shrubs quirements are met, which Monches Farm, Colgate (262) 966-2787. Prairie and shade plants includes a year-end report, Minnesota Prairie Nursery, Westfield each recipient will receive a Prairie Moon Nursery, Winona (507) 452-1362. Prairie seeds and plants (800) 476-9453. Prairie, wet mesic, shade and Wild Ones yard sign for its wetland plants project to show that the project truly is in Montana W & E Radtke, Inc., Germantown (262) 253-1412. Prairie and shade plants known harmony with nature. Blake Nursery, Big Timber (406) 932-4195. Prairie plants, vines, trees and as Northern Sunset Perennials We encourage Wild Ones members to shrubs For a complete list listing of all nurseries learn more about the SFE projects in their WestScape Wholesale Nursery, Bozeman that have volunteered to partner with the communities and to support them in any (406) 539-4738. Prairie and shade plants, trees SFE program in the past go to and shrubs way possible. www.for-wild.org/seedmony.htm Westland Seed, Inc., Ronan (406) 676-4100. Prairie grass and forb seeds Wildwood Landscaping, Big Sky (406) 995-4829. Prairie and shade plants, trees and shrubs

Plans are well under way for the first annual S-H-H-H-H-H-H e-mail, write to [email protected] national Wild Ones silent auction. Commit- and use the word “BID” in the subject line. ments for donations have already started Bidding will cease as of 5:00 PM, Saturday, coming in and we’re looking forward to a very August 7, 2004. To make your bid by mail, successful auction. Donations can be made send a note to Silent Auction, Wild Ones, by businesses or individuals, and especially P.O. Box 1274, Appleton, WI 54912, and by Wild Ones chapters, and must be native mark the envelope with the word “BID.” landscaping -oriented. All proceeds from the silent auction will be used toward Examples might be seed mixtures, books, art pieces, special sustaining national Wild Ones educational efforts. This is the t-shirts and mugs, or gift certificates. first fundraiser National has attempted outside of its annual To see a list of auction items, go to the Wild Ones web site at funding appeal. Please help make it a success. www.for-wild.org/chapters/national/SilentAuction.htm. All items For more information please e-mail silentauction@ will have been committed by July 24, 2004. To make a bid by for-wild.org or contact the national office at (877) 394-9453.

WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 13 The Prairie Gets a Reprieve A Win-Win Resolution for Indian Hill School by Lorrie Otto

On a Sunday summer day, two men drove where they watched her fork out purple Erskine’s yellow lady slippers and her off a Wisconsin interstate to change drivers. coneflowers from rows in her nursery. Each twin-leaf Jeffersonia. They missed the entrance to the public park- child was handed one, which was grasped as As the seasons have progressed, each ing lot and turned into the one at Indian a treasure and carried in newspapers back to species has found its favorite spot and com- Hill School. One man sprinted away from plant in the savannah area. panion. Fourteen years have passed and the his car and ran toward the principal’s butter- Maintenance personnel provided strong school has become ever more famous for its fly garden, calling out the Latin names as he wooden signs to identify the woodland, diverse, intriguing display. Not only do did so. Then he slowly sank down on his wetland, and prairie areas. A matching chair videos of it circulate through the United knees as if he were before an altar. After a was added for the adored principal to rest in States, but also in England, Italy, Japan, and moment he looked up and exclaimed, and admire her butterfly garden under her Israel. The Keeper of the Forests, from “Where am I? Who created this splendid office window. A sundial and five stepping China, came to visit me, but the only pho- place? Is it a private college?” stones with teacher’s names were added tographs he took home to his country were Too bad that the principal was not there years later. of Indian Hill – an American grade school to tell him that it was a K-4 public school. But back to the beginning when we did ensconced in American flowers. Martha The message was so different from the one everything right and nipped trouble before Stewart TV has made an August date to that the maintenance man had expressed in it began. Letters went home to parents return to Indian Hill. her office as he introduced himself. “I’m a explaining what was happening on the With all of its fame and exquisite beauty, grass man, myself. I want mowed lawn, school grounds. Botanist Kopitzki gave an one would never dream that a maintenance nicely clipped shrubs and annual flower evening slide lecture to them and auctioned man could convince school officials to gardens here. I don’t wanna drive up to off charming prints of his wildflower water- replace the gardens with lawn. That almost my school and hafta look through stuff colors. During the September, 1990 plant- happened. However, at this writing it to see it.” ing, a grandfather gardener donated a load appears that Indian Hill has been saved, for Fourteen years ago, Deb Harwell, past- of topsoil that was spread over the sand by now, from the Holiday Inn look. When the president of Milwaukee Wild Ones, de- the front entrance. In the spring it exploded monstrous new drainage system is installed, signed and installed the wildflower gardens. into a solid ground cover of garlic mustard! it will be healed over with dry-prairie grasses They extend across the front of the entire For the following weeks, Monday nights and flowers. Whew! Thank you all for length of the one-story school building. It were weeding nights for parents and helping us get this far. ❦ began as a children’s garden. They put news- children. papers over the grass. With their little Later, when the native plants were buckets, they helped teachers spread truck- flourishing, the wives of maintenance men loads of sand. Under the supervision of and school board members began calling David Kopitzke and Dan Boehlke, two own- the budding plants “Winicki’s weeds” or ers of native plant nurseries, the students saying, “It looks like an abandoned school.” planted potted flowers. The village of River And so we had a meeting. The principal Hills brought freshly collected leaves that spoke about her ideas of environmental the children mulched around the native education. Then Deb Harwell talked as a plants. Jo Ann Gillespie installed a rain mother, and I finished off as if I were a garden pond to collect water from four grandmother to all children in the world. downspouts. A child-size bridge arched over (How silent they were. We had a ball!) it. One afternoon after a morning of In July, 1991, a grant of $11,000 tests, then principal, Karen Winicki, was awarded to Indian Hill from the treated the children by bussing Wisconsin Environmental Education them to land doomed by Council to further the efforts of the teachers development. There they and students. For three of the following dug wild strawberries years the Citizens Natural Resources and small rosettes of wood- Association gave $3,500 for seed, plants, land species to plant under and maintenance. Later a foundation was the old apple trees established to hire a botanist to add plants, in front of the school. guide, guard, and lecture on that scat- On another day, Winicki tered piece of native vegetation. What began repeated the celebration by as a children’s garden became a secret taking the children to local garden for adults. Some contributed special grower Yvonne Jensen, plants from their estates such as Tula

14 WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 Connecting to the Future Corridors for a Healthier Environment By Sally Elmiger This is the second article in a series that discusses how corridors connecting natural areas can help sustain our environment, native plants, and local wildlife, and how Wild Ones members can start creating them in their own communities.

So, after reading the first article on corridors, Natural Corridors did you rush out to see if your community’s In many developed and developing How do Corridors Help Native Plants? natural spaces were “fragmented”? Did you communities, there are two types of This article sounds like it’s more about see a bit of woodland down the street, or a naturally occurring corridors – a river or wild “life” than wild “plants”! Well, the lesson here is – if we help wildlife to move wetland at the back of your neighbor’s yard? stream corridor, and a tree line or hedgerow from natural area to natural area, we will Or did you see open spaces linked by corridor. While both corridor systems are also help the wild plants do the same. A study undertaken by researchers at the stream channels, naturalized utility routes, complex in structure and function, we’ll University of Florida showed that more and rail-to-trail bikeways? If you saw the describe them here in general terms just to birds were flying between natural areas that had a connection, than between latter, you needn’t read any further. How- understand their basic characteristics. natural areas that weren’t connected. ever, for those who didn’t, this article The “riparian” corridor is a water route Birds eat berries, and are important dispersal agents for the seeds in the describes the types of potential corridor dominated by a river, stream, or other linear berries. In a similar study by the same opportunities for your community – the water feature. The river or stream is also group, it was shown that plants were more consistently pollinated between many elements in our everyday landscapes usually vegetated on both banks by flood connected natural areas than unconnected that can be used by plants and animals (and plain and then upland vegetation. Riparian ones. This means that the butterflies and bee pollinators could make it safely from people too!) to move from one green place corridors are often left undeveloped, and one area to the other through the to another, and live life in between. therefore provide an opportunity to act as a connecting corridor. A Review link between natural areas. Because water, Definition of a corridor: “…avenues along rich floodplains, and uplands are all part of stream in place, providing erosion which wide-ranging animals can travel, riparian corridors, they provide a great protection and minimizing sediment in plants can propagate, genetic interchange diversity of habitats. Diverse growing condi- the streambed. So the riparian corridor not can occur, populations can move in re- tions support a large variety of plant species. only provides a link for moving wildlife sponse to environmental changes and Plant diversity also promotes animal safely from one green space to another, it natural disasters, and threatened species can diversity through varied food sources and also protects the water quality within the be replenished from other areas.” nesting sites. In addition, the availability of stream itself. Before looking at different types of water and upland areas allows many Tree rows, sometimes known as corridors, let’s briefly review why these links wildlife species to carry out their full life hedgerows, also provide an opportunity for are important. The natural world functions cycle within the riparian corridor. wildlife and plant migration. These land- on an “ecosystem” level, or combinations The vegetation along streams and rivers scape elements are often narrow rows of of landscape elements that all work to- also provides significant benefits to the fish, trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants that are gether. When one landscape element is animals, and organisms that live in the in place to separate properties or farm fields disconnected from another, it forms a streams. A major threat to water quality is in agricultural areas. Tree rows can be made “patch” or relatively small area with limited sediments and pollutants that are washed up of native or non-native plant species, habitat variety. Many patches are formed by off surfaces such as parking lots and lawns depending on the amount of past distur- human development, which isolates land- (fertilizers/pesticides) and into streams. bance. If native vegetation exists, the tree scape elements from each other. Small, But if the storm water must first cross a row can be an important source of seed in a isolated patches of plants and animals vegetated “buffer,” then the stems and highly disturbed landscape. Tree rows can don’t have the genetic diversity to adapt to detritus from the plants help to slow the be continuous, or can provide “stepping changes in their environment, or a new water down, allowing the water to infiltrate stones” from one large habitat area to threat or disease. the soil and be taken up by the plants. The another. The Michigan Department of This is an example of “fragmentation.” slowing of the water also allows sediments Natural Resources reports that a patchy tree Fragmentation not only changes the way to settle out before reaching the stream. row with trees and shrubs can attract up to our landscapes look, it changes the way our Trees and shrubs along a stream also con- 38 different bird species, and a similar but landscapes function. And the more frag- tribute organic material to the water, such as continuous tree row can attract up to 48 mented our natural areas become, the more leaves and logs or branches. The leaves tend different bird species. Many communities difficult it is for plants and animals to sur- to biodegrade in the water, providing food strive to retain tree rows as important land- vive. If we have fragmented landscapes, we for aquatic organisms. The logs and scape elements when farm properties are need to create links between them. These branches provide habitat structure for developed. links expand the available habitat by pro- spawning fish, and loafing turtles and ducks Human Corridors viding a relatively safe travel route, in- to name a few. The streamside vegetation As you can imagine, there are creased opportunity for genetic interchange, also shades the water and keeps it cool for many types of corridors that and a place to go if a species’ current living fish and other aquatic inhabitants. Lastly, are the result of human quarters no longer meets its needs. the roots of the plants keep the banks of the Continued on page 17

WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 15 The Grapevine By Maryann Whitman

Traditional American lawn on the way out? Roundup-Resistant Bentgrass Creeping Your Way? How about an odorless, bugless, and waterless lawn?

We Are Not Alone number of “The field of landscape design is changing, other currently Amendments, becoming more sensitive to the environ- registered Additions, and ment. The traditional American lawn – herbicides.” just ‘mow, blow and go,’ using chemical Apologies fertilizers and lots of water to keep it green – You Heard It • In the March/April issue, the article titled Cookie-Cutter Capitals should have been is being gobbled up by plantings of orna- Here First attributed to Janet Allen. Our apologies, Janet. mental grasses; native plants are replacing Odorless, bugless, and, best of all – • Pat Armstrong, owner of Prairie Sun Consultants bulbous shrubs.” This is the assessment of waterless grass. Orange County, the in Naperville, Illinois and frequent speaker at native landscaping conferences and workshops, sent along the landscape architects interviewed by Astrolawn company, and the Metropolitan this reminder as a follow up to the Chaparral Newsweek and printed in the March 1, 2004 Water District of Southern California are article. I enjoyed the article on Chaparral. It is good issue (pp 62-63). trying out synthetic lawns at several loca- to feature plants that are not from the Midwest. However, people that live in the chaparral zone tions and so far, reports the Los Angeles know that these plants are considered fire climax, Monster in the Making? Times, suburbanites love them. A “soft, and planting them close to your house will no doubt help the wild fires consume your house. Roundup-Ready Creeping Bentgrass supple virtual lawn” is expensive at $6 to $7 People should not build their houses in fire climax (Agrostis stolonifera L.) a square foot, and at first the green blades vegetation. If they do, the best defense is a very Creeping bentgrass, by best estimates, was shine with a disturbing sheen. But the sheen large mowed land and no trees or shrubs close to the house. I guess a moat would be the very best brought to this continent in the mid-1700s fades, and more than one homeowner solution. for use as a forage plant. A facultative wet- reports that Astrolawn feels like the real • Due to space limitations and editorial cuts last land inhabitant, spreading by seed and thing. If the experiment succeeds, the water month, the Spring Ephemeral piece was misleading. Ephemerals are plants that are indeed transitory; underground rhizomes, it has become district says it will pay homeowners a rebate the whole plant matures, flowers, seeds, and established throughout the Great Plains and for installing waterless lawns. ❦ disappears within a short time period. Pat Arm- strong also sent along a list of true ephemerals that into California. Besides providing forage it you might want to choose from, depending on your has also been recognized as useful in lawns site and location. Another word that comes to mind and especially in golf courses. with these plants is “shade” plants. But these plants do require sun; they grow early and quickly Recognizing an opportunity, Monsanto before the canopy leafs out. A few of them will created a genetically modified version of grow in a meadow setting, where it is summer forbs and grasses that provide the canopy. this plant that can withstand applications of Depending on how the word is used, they are not glyphosate (Roundup). Using such a grass, really shade plants. If grown on the north side or in golf course managers can count on being heavy shade they will probably drop out over time as they exhaust their root storage system and are able to grow monocultures – a highly unable to replenish it. desirable faculty. Notes from Wild Hyacinth, (Camassia scilloides) Bulbous Spring Cress, (Cardamine bulbosa) The Animal and Plant Health Inspection the Library Purple Spring Cress, (Cardamine douglassii) Service (APHIS) of the U.S. Department of Pennsylvania Bitter Cress, (Cardamine pensylvanica) Did you know there is an index of materials Wild Chervil, (Chaerophyllum procumbens) Agriculture, has responsibility under the available through the Wild Ones Library on the Blue-Eyed Mary, (Collinsia verna) Plant Protection Act (1990) to prevent the Wild Ones web site? Go to the member log-in Crinkleroot, (Dentaria diphylla) introduction and or dissemination of plant on the Wild Ones website home page, Toothwort, (Dentaria laciniata) www.for-wild.org, and check it out. Rob Ryf, Squirrel Corn, (Dicentra canadensis) pests into the United States or interstate Wild Ones national librarian, would love to Dutchman’s Breeches, (Dicentra cucularia) introduction/dissemination. hear from you. He can provide you with a Shooting Star, (Dodecatheon meadia) variety of information and answer many of Harbinger of Spring, (Eriginea bulbosa) With Scotts Co. (manufacturers of your questions. All you have to do is ask. White Trout Lily, (Erythronium albidum) Ortho, Miracle-Gro, Roundup and Turf Rob’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Yellow Trout Lily, (Erythronium americanum) Builder products), Monsanto has submitted A new DVD is available through the library Virginia Blue Bells, (Mertensia virginiana) Violet Wood Sorrel, (Oxalis violacea) a request to APHIS for a determination of entitled Oak Openings Region: Discovering Our Natural Heritage. Produced by WGTE Photos of most of these flowers may be found unregulated status for Roundup-Ready Public Broadcasting, it is an introduction on the Connecticut Botanical Society web site: Creeping Bentgrass, arguing that this to the Oak Openings Region – a rare jewel www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/ in northwest Ohio, and the efforts of the galleryindex.html Agrostis does not present a “unique plant partners of the Green Ribbon Initiative to pest risk.” They note that “the agronomic preserve these undeveloped lands that create corridors connecting fragmented protected consequences of volunteer [modified] creep- land. This 30-minute DVD was donated by ing bentgrass would be minimal because Jan Hunter of the Maumee Valley Seedling the plants are easily controlled by mechani- Chapter and co-owner of Naturally Native Nursery, one of our newest advertisers. cal means or by [application of] one of a

16 WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 Continued from page 15 development and sparks from the rail cars often started fires wildlife openings were established and are technology – roadways, railroads, utility next to the tracks, which, in turn, sustained now being managed to benefit wild turkeys, linecorridors, canals, and trails to name a the plants within the railway corridor. as well as other wildlife species. few. Unlike natural corridors, the main pur- Remnants of these communities exist today What’s Next pose of human corridors is to move people next to abandoned rail lines, providing Now that you know which landscape from place to place. However, conservation native food sources and habitat for wildlife, features constitute a corridor, check out of the natural landscape on both sides of as well as native seed for dispersal. your community to see how your natural these corridors can also provide significant – Utility line right-of-ways are another areas are linked. If your town or city has and in some places the only – connections opportunity to enhance or create wildlife some work to do, the next article in this between patches of nature. In this article, corridors. In most cases, utility companies series will talk about several successful corri- we’ll focus on two of these corridors: the trim trees and mow the ground layer of a dor projects that extend habitat areas, pro- abandoned railroad right-of-way, and the utility easement so that the lines are easily mote non-motorized transportation and utility line corridors. accessible for repair and not affected by offer recreation, all through the same linear At the height of railroad transportation, vegetation. This maintenance can be expen- routes. These popular amenities are called there were almost 300,000 miles of rail sive. Creative partnerships have been made “greenways,” and are growing in popularity lines. Today, this form of transport is grad- between concerned organizations to assist and miles. ❦ ually being replaced with the automobile the utility companies in maintaining their and truck. When the trend in transportation easements, but in a much more wildlife- References Ecology of Greenways. Design and Function of shifted, and rail lines became obsolete, friendly manner. Linear Conservation Areas; Smith, Daniel S., people started transforming the lines into For instance, an alliance between the Hellmund, Paul Cawood, eds.; University of Minnesota Press; Minneapolis, Minnesota; 1993. “rail-trails.” As of 2002, more than 11,600 National Wild Turkey Foundation, the U.S. American Wild Lands web site: www.wildlands.org. miles of rail line are being used as bikeways, Forest Service, Outward Bound, and the East Power Lines; Haywood Electric Membership Corp.; hiking and horse trails, and in-line skating Coast energy company of Haywood EMC Waynesville, North Carolina; December, 2003. Rail-Trails and Safe Communities; Tracy, Tammy routes. was formed to enhance habitat for wild and Morris, Hugh; Rails-to-Trails Conservancy; But rail-trails have more to offer than just turkey in utility easements on U.S. Forest Washington D.C.; 1998. places for human transportation and recrea- Service parklands. This project was centered Michigan Department of Natural Resources website: www.michigandnr.com tion. In the Midwest, many railroad lines in North and South Carolina, and Georgia. University of Florida News and Public Affairs traversed fire-dependent plant communities, The group worked together to identify six web site: www.napa.ufl.edu. such as prairies and oak openings. The sites where permanent grass and forb

WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 17 Railroads and Remnants By Donna VanBuecken

Many of the last great prairie remnants are found along railroad tracks.

My husband, John, and I Amtraked to In answer to Lancaster, Pennsylvania last May where Donna’s question, I participated in the Native Plants Confer- Wild Ones member ence sponsored by Millersville University, Joy Bower, who is the and John explored the wonderful world of Outdoor Education yesterday’s trains. On the way out of Supervisor at the Chicago I was busy reading The Ghosts of Gibson Woods Nature Evolution, by Connie Barlow, as we passed Center, responded with through Chicago and into Indiana. But on the following interest- the way back, I was eager to get home, so ing information. I watched more intently as we ap- Recently, Donna asked me about some Websites for further research proached Hammond. On the east side of natural areas that she observed during a Indiana: Places We Protect: Southern Lake Michigan Rim Project Office. nature.org/wherewework/ the railroad tracks just after the Broad- train trip that brought her through northamerica/states/indiana/preserves/art5854.html way Street sign, I noticed a quarter mile Northwest Indiana. In spite of the fact The Migrant Trap – Indiana Birding Guide. or so of spiderwort. Then, as we slowed that many industries are located along www.indianaaudubon.org/guide/sites/migtrap.htm Nature and Science at Indiana Dunes National prior to the Hammond station, hoary the lakefront, many natural gems still Lakeshore. www.nps.gov/indu/pphtml/nature.html puccoon, spiderwort, and blazing star remain which contain some of the rarest If you have questions about this area, on one side – and the big lake plants in the state. contact Joy Bower at (219) 844-3188 or e-mail teetrsnipe @aol.com on the other. Were we near While passing through Gary, East the Gibson Woods Nature Chicago, Whiting, and Hammond Center at which Gibson on the Amtrak line, there are many Woods Chapter meets? areas where hundreds of species As we approached Chicago, of native plants and animals TheThe NNatatururalal I started to see some little still thrive. Many efforts past bluestem, and although I con- and present have helped to pro- GarGarden,den, Inc.Inc. tinued to see spiderwort, I also tect these remnants. Many dune plants, The Nursery Specializing in Native & began to see invasives, i.e., teasel, wild hoary and hairy puccoon, butterfly weed, Ornamental Perennials & Grasses Since 1953 parsnip, phragmites, and purple loose- and wild lupine, to name a few, inhabit strife. What a shame. Many of the the sandy dune ridges. Wild Lupine last great prairie remnants are (Lupinus perennis) They are home to the federally Quality Plants found along railroad tracks, but endangered Karner blue butterfly that Handgrown with care for just as many railroad right-of-ways contain depends on the wild lupine to survive, and a BetBetterter EnvironmentEnvironment nothing but the scars of some forgotten the state endangered Franklin’s ground Natives,Natives, PPlantlants & SeedsSeeds invasion. squirrel. Over 250 Species Representing These last remaining wild places are the Local/Regional Eco-types References first landfall where migrant birds, flying Perennialserennials - Familiar & Unusual The Ghosts of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing over Lake Michigan, can rest and feed before Partners, and Other Ecological Anachronisms, by HerbsHerbs - Extensive Collection Connie Barlow. ISBN 0-465-00551-9. Copyright, 2000. continuing on their long journey. They are BulbsBulbs - For Landscaping Millersville University’s 14th Annual Native Plants also a valuable seed source for prairie and Conference. www.millersvillenativeplants.org savanna restoration projects. Thankfully, Midwest invasives. ww.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/er/ invasive/nonnative.htm they add a little interest and color to an Service & Resource Editor’s Note: See also Reading the Landscape otherwise bleak landscape. of America, by May Theilgaard Watts, a classic in Experienced eco-literature. Thank you, Donna, for noticing the Sales Team natural beauty that can still be found here. Four Acre Garden Center with Display Beds

…as we slowed prior to the Hammond station, hoary puccoon, 38W443 Highway 64 spiderwort, and blazing star on one side – and the big lake on St. Charles, IL 60175 the other. 630.584.0150 • Fax 630.584.0185 www.thenaturalgardeninc.com

18 WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 Welcome Wild Ones Business Members Renewing their membership is Hiawatha National Forest of the U.S. Forest Service in Marquette, Michigan, where visitors are always welcome to see the progress they’ve made in restoring the ecosystem OUTBACK NURSERY through weed control, preservation of rare plants and reseeding of areas with native species. Contact Jan Schultz, Forest Plant Ecologist We specialize in at (906) 228-8491 or via e-mail at (906) 228-8491 for more infor- Minnesota native trees, mation or to volunteer your services. Or see their website at shrubs & perennials. www.fs.fed.us/rd/hiawatha. Also renewing their affiliation are Dale Hendricks and Becky Long with Consulting, design & North Creek Nurseries Inc. Located in Landenberg, Pennsylvania, this landscape installation. native plant nursery specializes in eastern natives, perennials and grasses, as well as cultivars. Contact Dale or Becky at (610) 255-0100 “Where Ecology or go to their website at www.northcreeknurseries.com. and Horticulture Northern Sunset Perennials from Germantown, Wisconsin is our Unite” newest wholesale nursery. The Northern Sunset Perennials brand name consists of over 1,200 varieties of perennials, including about (651)438-2771 120 native species of forbs, ferns and grasses. Look for the “NATIVE: (651)438-3816 Fax Naturally!” logo on the tag when shopping for new seedlings. For more information e-mail [email protected] or go to their 15280 110th St. South web site at www.northernsunset.com to find the location of a nursery Hastings, MN 55033 closest to you. www.outbacknursery.com Shooting Star Nursery, located in Frankfort, Kentucky, has also joined us as a business member. This nursery, with its friendly, knowledgeable staff, offers a diverse assortment of plants and seeds native to the forests, prairies, and wetlands of the eastern United States. Contact them at (502) 223-1679 or via e-mail at [email protected]. And don’t forget to check out their website at www.shootingstarnursery.com. Prairie Moon Nursery More than 500 species native to the midwest Prairie • Woodland Savanna • Wetland

Free Catalog & Cultural Guide 31837 Bur Oak Lane, Winona, MN 55987 Toll-free 866-417-8156 Fax 507•454•5238 Order online at www.prairiemoon.com

WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 19 The Meeting Place Chapters, please send your chapter contact information to: Calendar Coordinator Mary Paquette N2026 Cedar Road • Adell, Wisconsin 53001 (920) 994-2505 • [email protected] Chapter ID numbers are listed after names. Meet us online at www.for-wild.org

ILLINOIS MICHIGAN St. Cloud Chapter #29 Greg Shirley (320) 259-0825 [email protected] Greater DuPage Chapter #9 Ann Arbor Chapter #3 Fourth Monday, 6:30 p.m., Heritage Nature Center. Message Center: (630) 415-IDIG Susan Bryan (734) 622-9997 Pat Clancy (630) 964-0448, [email protected] [email protected] St. Croix Oak Savanna #71 Third Thursday Jan. Feb., Mar., Sept., Oct., Second Wednesday of month (except April), 7.p.m., Mary-Clare Holst (651) 351-7351 Nov., 7 p.m. Willowbrook Wildlife Center, Matthaei Botanical Garden, Room 125 [email protected] 525 South Park Blvd. (at 22nd Street), Glen Ellyn. Third Thursday, 7 p.m., Stillwater Town Hall See web site for details. Calhoun County Chapter #39 Marilyn Case (517) 630-8546 Twin Cities Chapter #56 Lake-To-Prairie Chapter #11 [email protected] Marty Rice (952) 927-6531 [email protected] Karen Wisiol (847) 548-1650 Fourth Tuesday, 7 p.m. Third Tuesday, 7-9 p.m. Meetings at Prairie Crossing, Grayslake, west side Calhoun Intermediate School District building Nokomis Community Center, of Rt. 45, south of IL 120, north of IL 137. on G Drive N. at Old US27, Marshall. 2401 E. Minnehaha Pkwy, Minneapolis. See web site or contact above for March-April North Park Chapter #27 Central Upper Peninsula Chapter #61 meeting schedule. Bob Porter (312) 744-5472 Pat Landry (906) 428-4053 [email protected] [email protected] Second Thursday, 7 p.m., MISSOURI Detroit Metro Chapter #47 North Park Nature Center Mid-Missouri Chapter #49 Connie Manley (248) 538-0654 5801 N. Pulaski, Chicago Lesa Beamer (573) 882-6072 [email protected] [email protected] Rock River Valley Chapter #21 Meeting dates and times vary. Please call for details. Second Saturday, 10 a.m. Tim Lewis (815) 874-3468 [email protected] Location varies. See: wildones.missouri.org Third Thursday, 7 p.m., usually at Burpee Museum Flint Chapter #32 Ginny Knag (810) 694-4335 of Natural History, 737 N. Main St., Rockford. St. Louis Chapter #31 [email protected] Scott Woodbury (636) 451-3512 Second Thursday, 7 p.m., [email protected] INDIANA Woodside Church, 1509 E. Court St., Flint First Wednesday except December, 6:00 p.m. Gibson Woods Chapter #38 Kalamazoo Area Chapter #37 Location varies. See web site. Joy Bower (219) 844-3188 [email protected] Nancy & Tom Small (616) 381-4946 First Saturday during winter, 10 a.m., Fourth Wednesday of month, 7:30 p.m. NEW YORK Gibson Woods Nature Center, Christian Church, 2208 Winchell, Kalamazoo 6201 Parrish Ave., Hammond New York Capital District #69 (Seedling) Red Cedar Chapter #41 Melinda Perrin (708) 579-5695 Mark Ritzenhein (517) 336-0965 [email protected] [email protected] KENTUCKY Third Wednesday, 7-9 p.m. Frankfort Chapter #24 Room 139, Radiology, MSU campus. Katie Clark (502) 226-4766 [email protected] For details: www.for-wild.org/redcedar OHIO Second Monday, 5:30 p.m., Oakland Chapter #34 Greater Cincinnati Chapter #62 Salato Wildlife Education Center Barbara Bray (248) 601-6405 Roberta Trombly (513) 751-6183, Greenhouse #1 Game Farm Rd, Frankfort [email protected] [email protected] off US 60 W (Louisville Rd.). Third Thursday, 7 p.m., Chris McCullough: (513) 860-4959, [email protected] Lexington Chapter #64 Old Oakland Township Parks/Police Building, Monthly meetings or field trips; see web site. Susan Hofmann (859) 252-8148 4392 Collins Rd., Oakland Township. [email protected] See web site for program info. Columbus Chapter #4 First Wednesday of month, 7:30 p.m., Marilyn Logue (614) 237-2534, McConnell Spring MINNESOTA [email protected] Second Saturday, 10 a.m., Louisville Metrowild Chapter #26 Arrowhead Chapter #48 Innis House, Inniswood Metropolitan Park, Portia Brown (502) 454-4007 Carol Andrews (218) 727-9340 940 Hempstead Rd., Westerville [email protected] [email protected] Field trips: See web site or contact above. First Wednesday of month, 6:30 p.m., May through summer, meet fourth Thursday for Location varies. outings; see web site. Maumee Valley Chapter #66 (Seedling) See web site for May-June meeting schedule. Jan Hunter (419) 878-7273 Woods Saturday Work Day: Otter Tail Chapter #25 [email protected] Ward Wilson: (502) 299-0331, [email protected] Karen Terry (218) 736-5520 [email protected] Allan Nations: (502) 456-3275 Fourth Monday, 7 p.m., North Chagrin Chapter #73 (Seedling) Prairie Wetlands Learning Center, Fergus Falls Barb Holtz (216) 382-3595 [email protected] MAINE Cleveland The Maine Chapter #75 (Seedling) Continued next page. Barbara Murphy (207) 743-6329 [email protected] Oxford County

20 WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 Other Conferences and Meetings June 19-30, Madison, Wisconsin April 20-21, Brodhead, Wisconsin Earth Partnership for Schools program offers Two-day workshop at Applied Ecological teacher training in habitat restoration for kinder- Services / Taylor Creek Nurseries, Brodhead, garten through grade 12. The program shows Wisconsin. The Practice of Restoring Native educators how to conduct a habitat restoration Ecosystems is sponsored by the National Arbor on their school property and to use the experi- Day Foundation. ence to develop a restoration-based curriculum On the Horizon that draws on all subjects, from science and April 23-25, Greenville, South Carolina math to language arts and social studies. For The South Carolina Native Plant Society will Wild Ones National more information, contact Libby McCann Earth host its 7th Annual Native Plant Symposium in Quarterly Board Meetings Partnership for Schools Program Manager, Greenville, South Carolina. This year’s sympo- All members are invited and encouraged to University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, sium is entitled Jocassee, Jewel of the Upstate. attend the quarterly meetings of the National 1207 Seminole Hwy., Madison, Wisconsin 53711 Board of Directors If you’d like to participate in April 23-25, Madison, Wisconsin or call (608) 262-5367; [email protected] the meeting by conference call, please contact The Land Trust Alliance & Gathering Waters wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/arboretum/ the national office (toll-free) at (877) 394-9453 Conservancy holds the Midwest Land Trust earth_partnership_index.htm Conference, Conserving a Sense of Place, in for instructions. August 8-12, Madison, Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin. May 22 Hosted by Lake-to-Prairie (IL) Chapter. 19th North American Prairie Conference 2004, Board meeting from 8:30 a.m. to noon, will be May 1-2, Ashland, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin-Madison. Much of the held in the “Yellow Farmhouse,” which among The Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute of the early pioneer work in prairie preservation, man- other things serves as the office of Prairie Hold- Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin will agement, and restoration began in the Badger ings Corp., the developer of Prairie Crossings host the Growing Northern Native Plant Gardens State and appropriately the Conference theme residential development. Following lunch, a tour workshop. Call (715) 682-1490 for information. is The Conservation Legacy Lives On. of the Prairie Crossings will be provided. May 14-16, Nellysford, Virginia www.napc2004.org Suggested motels are Days Inn (800) 329-7466, This is the 21st celebration for The Spring August 24-26, Victoria, British Columbia Best Western Hitch Inn (847) 362-8700, and Wildflower Symposium hosted by The Winter- The SER2004 World Conference (Society Travellodge (847) 549-7878 all located at green Nature Foundation. for Ecological Restoration International. IL Hwy. 21/Hwy. 137, and about three miles from June 3-5, Millersville, Pennsylvania www.ser.org Prairie Crossings. For more information about This year’s 14th Annual Native Plants Conference Various Dates and Places this conservation community, go to at Millersville University features: Carol Rubin, author of How to Get Your Lawn www.prairiecrossing.com/pc/site. Bill Cullina: Nursery manager and propagator, and Garden Off Drugs, (Harbour Publishing), and August 7-8 Madison, Wisconsin. Go Wild! New England Wildflower Society’s Garden in the other books on lawnscape ecology, is conduct- Celebrate the Wild Ones 25th Anniversary, Woods – Natural Models in Landscape Design. ing a number of workshops in conjunction with hosted by Madison Wild Ones Chapter. Annual Holly Shimizu: Executive Director, U.S. Botanic Wild Ones chapters. For a complete workshop meeting of the Wild Ones National Board. Silent Garden – East Coast Native Gardens. listing, call the national office at (877) 394-9453 auction. See notice on page 3 for more infor- or check www.for-wild.org/chapters/Watsnew/ mation. Gary Smith: Landscape architect and artist – The New American Garden Revisited. CarolRubinWorkshopItinerary2004.htm October 2 Hosted by Lexington (KY) Chapter. Dr. Arthur Tucker: Research Professor, Delaware For information on these conferences and Information about quarterly meetings is State University – What is Native? more, go to www.for-wild.org/conf/ or call available from the executive director or the the national office at (877) 394-9453. hosting chapter’s contact person listed in “The Meeting Place.”

The Meeting Place (continued from previous page) PENNSYLVANIA Door County Chapter #59 Menomonee River Area Chapter #16 Judy Reninger (920) 839-1182 Jan Koel (262) 251-7175 NE Pennsylvania Chapter#70 (Seedling) [email protected] Diane Holmes (262) 628-2825 Nathaniel Whitmore [email protected] Time & location vary; check web site. Indoor meetings: second Tuesday, 6:30 p.m., teachers’ lounge, Valley View School, Susquehanna Valley Chapter #68 Erin Chapter #57 Angela Eichelberger (717) 793-8440 W180 N8130 Town Hall Rd., Bob & Bev Hults (262) 670-0445 Menomonee Falls. [email protected] [email protected] Third Thursday, 5 p.m. Third Thursday, 7 p.m., Erin Town Hall, Milwaukee North Chapter #18 Spoutwood Farm, 4255 Pierceville Rd., 1846 Hwy. 83, Hartford Message Center: (414) 299-9888 Glen Rock, PA Second Saturday of month, 9:30 a.m., Fox Valley Area Chapter #8 Schlitz Audubon Center, Karen Syverson (920) 987-5587 [email protected] 1111 E. Brown Deer Rd., Bayside. SOUTH CAROLINA Sharon Duerkop (920) 734-1419 Foothills Chapter #58 [email protected] Milwaukee Southwest-Wehr Chapter #23 Karen Hall (864) 287-3294 Indoor meetings: 7 p.m., either at Memorial Park Message Center: (414) 299-9888 [email protected] Arboretum, 1313 E. Witzke Blvd., Appleton, Second Saturday, 1:30 p.m., Wehr Nature Center, Third Saturday, Red Caboose, or Evergreen Retirement Community, 9701 W. College Ave., Franklin 1130 N. Westfield St., Oshkosh State Botanical Gardens, Clemson University Root River Area Chapter #43 Green Bay Chapter #10 Nan Calvert (262) 681-4899 WISCONSIN Hal Sunken (920) 469-0540 [email protected] [email protected] Usually third Wednesday. Most meetings at Green Sept.-May, first Saturday, 1:30-3 p.m., Central Wisconsin Chapter #50 Bay Botanical Garden, 2600 Larsen Rd., except in Riverbend Nature Center, Racine. Dan Dieterich (715) 346-2849 summer. [email protected] Shawano Area Chapter #74 (Seedling) Fourth Thursday, 7 p.m., Rooms 1&2, Lake Woods Chapter #72 (Seedling) Marge Guyette (715) 787-3482 Portage County Extension Building, Jeanne Munz (920) 793-4452 [email protected] 1462 Strongs Ave., Stevens Point. [email protected] Menominee, Oconto & Waupaca counties. Times, places vary in summer. Check web site. Woodland Dunes Nature Center, Hwy 310 just west of Two Rivers Wisconsin Northwoods Chapter #63 Coulee Region Chapter #67 Diane Willette (715) 362-6870 [email protected] Chuck Lee (608) 785-2205, [email protected] Madison Chapter #13 Fourth Monday of month, Fireside Room, Second Thursday in April, 7:30 p.m. Sue Ellingson (608) 259-1824 Univ. Transfer Center at Lake Julia Campus of LaCrosse Main Branch Public Library [email protected] Nicolet Area Tech. College, Rhinelander area. See web site for meeting info.

WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 21 2004 Photo Contest

Guidelines Notes 1. The subject of all entries must be native plant species or native species Winners may not be selected if the Guidelines Changes ecology found in the USA or Canada. judges deem the photos submitted The photo contest committee has 2. One entry per category; two entries per member. in a specific category are not worthy changed the guidelines for this of an award. Photos will be judged year's contest. Main changes are: 3. Photos cannot have been previously entered in the Wild Ones Photo Contest. twice this year. The first round of 1. No specified time frame for date 4. All photos must be at least 5" x 5" and no larger than 11" x1 4". judging will be by a professional photo taken. 2. Photos will be judged by a 5. Photos may be in color or black and white. photographer who will be to determine first, second and third professional nature photographer, 6. Each print must be mounted on mounting board. (Available through most place in each category and grand as well as annual meeting/ photo shops and art supply stores.) Matting is optional. prize winner chosen from the first conference participants. 7. A completed entry form must be affixed to the back of each entry. place winners. The second judging 3. Size and framing requirements Entry forms may be photocopied. round will be by Annual Meeting have been changed. attendees who will determine first, 4. Due date has been moved up to 8. Photographs will be judged according to the following criteria: second and third place People’s July 20, 2004, with entries being a. Technical merit (composition, sharpness, exposure, color). Choice awards overall. mailed to the national office. b. Appropriateness to category . c. Presentation (neatness of mounting). Entries will be returned by mail only Please go to the "What’s New" if accompanied by self-addressed, column on the web site to get full Categories postage-paid packaging. details, or contact national office at 1. Flora: plant species native to the United States or Canada. By entering the contest, each (877) 394-9453 for a copy of the complete guidelines. 2. Scenery: any aspect of woodland, savanna, prairie, wetlands and rain gardens. photographer will be giving Wild Ones Natural Landscapers, Ltd. and 3. Pollinators: insects or bugs native to the United States or Canada. its affiliates permission to publish his/her photograph. 4. Child/Children: exploring the natural environment (prairies, woodlands, For a contest form or for more information, go to the Wild Ones website or wet areas). at www.for-wild.org or contact Carol Andrews, 2004 Photo Contest Chair, at 5. Landscaping: include residences, businesses, or recreational areas as part of [email protected] or via phone at (218) 730-9954, or Donna VanBuecken the subject at [email protected] or toll-free at (877) 394-9453. 6. Wild Ones activities: educational programs (monthly meetings, conferences, seed exchanges, seed gatherings, garden tours, etc.); public relations activities home & garden shows, festivals, etc.); plant rescues.

22 WILD ONES JOURNAL y MAY/JUNE 2004 Wild Ones Membership Form Name______Address ______City______State/ZIP ______Phone ______E-Mail ______

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Update on the Oakland Chapter’s Challenge Pledge How much do you value the Journal? Thank you!

In the last issue of the Wild Ones Journal, we told of having Memorials and Gifts received a $1,500 challenge pledge from the Oakland (MI) Donations in memory of Betty Czarapata have been received Chapter for the production of one issue of the Journal. When the to be put toward the publication of the 25th commemorative national Wild Ones board recommended that, in order to meet booklet. Fran Galow, Kalamazoo (MI) Chapter, sent $50 and our financial obligations for the coming year, the budget for 2004 Mary Ann Crayton, Gibson Woods (IN) Chapter, sent $70. Thank be based on one fewer issue of the Wild Ones Journal, Jessica you both. There will be a special section just for memorials and Pitelka-Opfer, president of the Oakland Chapter, and her fellow gifts in the Wild Ones historical booklet. members felt an obligation to try to reinstate that missing issue We received a $50 gift toward Seeds For Education from Mark of the Journal into the budget. Since the issuance of Oakland’s and Terri Chelmowski, Milwaukee North (WI) Chapter, in memory challenge we have received responding grants from these chapters: of Jan Schops. Detroit Metro Chapter Ann Arbor Chapter Sister Mary Mark Schilling, Milwaukee North (WI) Chapter, Rock River Valley Chapter of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother in Milwaukee donated $20 St. Cloud Chapter toward Oakland Chapter’s Journal challenge pledge. Gibson Woods Chapter North Park Nature Center Chapter Matching Gifts Otter Tail Chapter We also received a 3-for-1 matching donation on behalf of Walter Mid-Missouri Chapter of Wild Ones Wieckert, and his wife Bev, of Fox Valley Area (WI) Chapter from That is a total of $1,571. When we add in Oakland’s 1 for 2 pledge Illinois Tool Works Foundation. we have a grand total (so far) of $2,356.50. Thank you all for your thoughtfulness and your generosity. The Journal costs us approximately $4,500 (minus income from advertising) to publish an issue. We still need approximately $900 to meet the cost of publishing an issue of the Journal (presumably $300 from Oakland and $600 from other chapters. But consider this: In order to secure Oakland’s total Challenge Pledge of $1,500 we need another $1,400 from the rest of the chapters. Eight chapters out of 38 have responded. Won’t you please encourage your chapter boards to consider sending a donation in response to Oakland’s challenge pledge? We have until July to accomplish this.