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Tag Archives: prairie planting
33 years of community lead grasslands restoration in NW Cook County, IL
By the Poplar Creek Prairie Stewards This is the fourth of four introductions to our upcoming field trips for our GRN workshop August 16 and 17. Registration for this year’s GRN closes on 7/31, make sure to get your spot … Continue reading
Prairie planting #135 Grist Mill unit
By Bill Kleiman The Nachusa Grasslands seasonal crew were led by Anna Scheidel and Matt Nugent. The Nachusa crew harvested, processed and planted enough seed to plant two units, including this 25 acres at Franklin Creek Natural Area, FCNA, which … Continue reading
Beware what seed you buy
by Bill Kleiman You likely don’t know invasive Lespedeza daurica. I will tell you why in a bit. But it is similar to the invasive Lespedeza cuneata, but more likely found prostrate like the specimen I put in the pot … Continue reading
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Tagged Bill Kleiman, invasive legume, invasive plant, Lespedeza cuneata, Lespedeza daurica, prairie planting
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Planting #117 a success
By Bill Kleiman This 2015 planting at the Senger tract is awesome. 35 acres planted with 1,400 pounds of un-cleaned seed from 117 species. Below are some photos looking down. Above is purple milkwort (pink), western sunflower, wide leaved pussytoes, … Continue reading
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Tagged Nachusa Grasslands, prairie planting, prairie restoration, prairie seed
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Nachusa prairie planting #133
This Fall we began the process to turn a retired agricultural field into a mosaic of wetlands, wet prairie, mesic and dry prairie. Below are the photos and maps of this work. At the end is a link to the … Continue reading
The Timing of Prairie Seeding Matters!
By Julianne Mason, Restoration Program Coordinator, Forest Preserve District of Will County Here is a strong visual example of how the timing of prairie seeding matters. A former agricultural field in Will County, Illinois was seeded with rather diverse mixes … Continue reading
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Tagged Julianne Mason, prairie planting, prairie restoration, seeding, winter seeding
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Planting prairie #97 with the full monty
By Bill Kleiman, The Nature Conservancy The photo above is from this season of a 2010 planting, our 97th at Nachusa Grasslands. There is a lot of gayfeather and white indigo. Harder to see are the thimbleweed, coreopsis, lupine, various … Continue reading
Lesson learned: Plant all species you want on year 100 on year 1
A generation ago it was said that to plant a prairie you start by planting a “matrix” of rough and tough native plants to make the soil ready for the more finicky plant species to be added years later. These finicky, or … Continue reading
Lesson learned: Plant a high diversity of seed by starting early
To create diverse prairie, you not only need a lot of seed weight per acre but you need a lot of different species of seed. We start harvesting in May and go into November. The photo above was taken in spring from … Continue reading
Sometimes we wait
By Bill Kleiman Recently I wrote how it could be a good thing to use a tractor applied boom spray across a failed restoration to return it to grass. But there is the other way too, waiting. Fourteen years ago we … Continue reading
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Tagged Kleiman, prairie planting, prairie restoration, prairie seed
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grassland restoration network 