Cap Sauers Holding Saturday June 17
Saturday morning efforts centered on cutting the heads off reed canary grass, a very prolific invader in our preserves. We had a willing group, including first-time Palos volunteer Joe.
In addition to reed canary, thistle was on our watch list. I wasn't able to stay due to the Swallow Cliff walk (below), but was told by other volunteers that neither invasive was found in large numbers, allowing them to cover a large expanse in the three hour session. That's always good news!
Swallow Cliff Woods Nature Walk, Saturday June 17
Thank you Jessica Rock and patrons of Palos Park Library for another enjoyable time. Thanks also to the walkers for indulging me on a detour looking for fire pink that it seemed we weren't going to find. Until we finally did, (breathes sigh of relief).
The next day, at Black Partridge Woods, we stumbled across more fire pink in bloom than I'd ever seen before. Steward John Marlin deserves the credit; he's gone out and collected seed repeatedly, each time sprinkling it in a wider arc, to get a larger patch going. It's working, quite well in fact.
We'll resume nature walks with the library in September, after a short summer break. Looking forward to them already.
Black Partridge Woods Sunday June 18
In addition to the fire pink mentioned above, we saw a variety of other good plants, including purple milkweed, thimbleweed, and wafer ash, the latter one I don't see in other local preserves. Eventually, with the help of first-time Palos volunteer Rafal, we located a considerable number of fading garlic mustard plants to bag, making our morning a hybrid of plant tour and invasive removal.
Black Partridge is always a treat during the growing season, and this day was no exception.
Saturday morning efforts centered on cutting the heads off reed canary grass, a very prolific invader in our preserves. We had a willing group, including first-time Palos volunteer Joe.
In addition to reed canary, thistle was on our watch list. I wasn't able to stay due to the Swallow Cliff walk (below), but was told by other volunteers that neither invasive was found in large numbers, allowing them to cover a large expanse in the three hour session. That's always good news!
Swallow Cliff Woods Nature Walk, Saturday June 17
Thank you Jessica Rock and patrons of Palos Park Library for another enjoyable time. Thanks also to the walkers for indulging me on a detour looking for fire pink that it seemed we weren't going to find. Until we finally did, (breathes sigh of relief).
The next day, at Black Partridge Woods, we stumbled across more fire pink in bloom than I'd ever seen before. Steward John Marlin deserves the credit; he's gone out and collected seed repeatedly, each time sprinkling it in a wider arc, to get a larger patch going. It's working, quite well in fact.
We'll resume nature walks with the library in September, after a short summer break. Looking forward to them already.
Black Partridge Woods Sunday June 18
In addition to the fire pink mentioned above, we saw a variety of other good plants, including purple milkweed, thimbleweed, and wafer ash, the latter one I don't see in other local preserves. Eventually, with the help of first-time Palos volunteer Rafal, we located a considerable number of fading garlic mustard plants to bag, making our morning a hybrid of plant tour and invasive removal.
Black Partridge is always a treat during the growing season, and this day was no exception.
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