Lobelia cardinalis

Lobelia cardinalis

Rudbeckia triloba

Things have really filled in especially the Bromus pubescens and first year seedlings.  I am still awaiting another round of blooming to take place from my asters and savannah blazing stars.  We'll see what happens this month.

Goodyera pubescens (One of them is bolting)

Lobelia siphilitica

Desmodium canadense (Going out of bloom)

Solidago caesia

On the Cusp of Blooming

sSo since I was lazy I missed posts for a lot of my earlier blooms.  I did not get a chance to post pictures of my columbines or penstemon in bloom.  So I am devoted to catching everything else.  A lot of things are flourishing and adjusting to my garden it has been pretty wet so some species aren't doing very well while others are flourishing.  My Echinacea paradoxa and E. pallida are subdued due to the wetness.  A lot of things came up from seed most especially the asters.  I'm careful not to pull things until I know for sure what they are.  I'm catching my garden just before its summer bloom.  I intend to document the blooms as they occur.  Also I will continue to post plants I find in the wild throughout the rest of the summer.  

Various Aster seedlings

Goodyera pubescens

Desmodium canadense

Rubeckia triloba

Rubeckia subtomentosa

Eupitorium perfoliatum

Lobelia siphilitica

Liatris scariosa

Lilium philadelphicum

    I found these growing about 100 yards from Lake Michigan.  I guess they are endangered in some states.  Sorry I have not been updating lately.  I will try to take more pictures as more things start blooming this summer

Trillium recurvatum with Sanguinaria canadensis

Hepatica americana

I came across this while working in a woodland ravine near Lake Michigan a ways north of Chicago.  I thought I'd post it since this plant is not extremely common.

Round-Lobed Hepatica Hepatica americana

Hepatica americana

Hepatica americana

Spring Time (AT LAST!!)

So here I am finally updating. Sorry it took so long.  Lots of stuff is coming up and I think I'm really going to be getting some nice blooms soon.  I had a bit of rabbitt trouble and had to construct additional fencing material around the gate perimeter to keep the rascal out.  If i had a larger planting I wouldn't really care if the rabbitt browsed a bit, but this planting is so small it would be too much negative impact.  Anyways enjoy the photos and happy planting!

Dutchmen's Breeches Dicentra cucullaria just emerging from the soil.  I took this about 2 weeks ago before the other pictures posted here.  This is from a bare-root planting I put in last fall.

Wild Columbine Aquilegia canadensis flourishing in the spring sun

Jacob's Ladder Polemonium reptans

American Hazelnut Corylus americana
I took this remnant plant from a fencerow in an agricultural field.  It was growing next to some hackberry trees.  I did not harm the rhizome this was one stem of about 200 and left 99% of the plant in tact.  I highly advocate collecting specimens only with permission and with the utmost concern for the health of the remnant area from which you intend to salvage.   I'm hoping it leaves out ok.  I'm keeping it in a pot until I move to a place with a yard.

Dutchmen's Breeches Dicentra cucullaria

Dicentra cucullaria

A small Virginia Bluebell Mertensia virginica surrounded by Dicentra cucullaria seedlings.

Wild Columbine Aquilegia canadensis

Jacob's Ladder Polemonium reptans

Nodding Wild Onion Allium cernuum with Wild Columbine in the background and the faint sedge in front is Common Oak Sedge Carex pensylvanica

Golden Alexander Zizia aurea

Purpose:

Working as a restoration ecologist in Chicagoland I have learned first-hand how drastically the original plant communities of this region have been altered or destroyed altogether.  The once lush and diverse prairies, wetlands, forests and savannas are consistently and increasingly diminished or eliminated mainly from building and road developments, agriculture and invasive species infringement.  Luckily, there are people around who recognize the beauty and importance of preserving the interesting and diverse habitats that once flourished in our area.  Many rapidly vanishing remnant plant communities are small, fragmented patches of land that go about unnoticed behind warehouses or beneath power-lines, places that somehow manage to retain some of their pre-colombian ecological structure amidst the onslaught of the industrial revolution and euro-american development.  Some places do remain relatively in-tact but most require the intervention of humans to eradicate invasive plants.  


My idea for this blog is simply to demonstrate the beauty of some of the plants that have been lost and are largely overlooked by the majority of the population in the region.  I also want to set an example for other people in hopes that they might be inspired to cultivate native gardens in urban environments.  Together we will be able to re-introduce biodiversity in some of the most "unlikely" places. 


My garden is a small elevated planting bed in Chicago.  I have introduced about 30 species of plants mostly via seeding and some bare-root plantings.  I did most of the seeding last fall and am extremely excited to see what comes up. The garden lies beneath a large Catalpa tree and is lit during much of the day with filtered sunlight.  Therefore, the plant composition is a mixture of Savanna and Forest species. So far things are pretty uneventful but I know in the next couple of weeks some good things will start happening.   

Bottlebrush Grass (Hystrix patula) this cool season grass remains green all year.  It looks a bit sad right now but I'm sure in a month it will be flourishing.  These were planted from plugs I obtained from a fellow native plant enthusiast last fall.