Mondays with Martha

Check out the unique tallgrass prairie perennial, rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium). This summertime pollinator plant is unusual in shape and color and will add visual interest to any full sun native planting in addition to supporting our native insects!

This week I share our field findings during the 34th Annual Butterfly Count at Chippewa Nature Center in Midland, Michigan. We had a lot of fun and observed some very neat species. I hope you are able to get outside...

This week I share some entertaining footage of fledgling birds beginning to find their independence at the feeder! Learn how to recognize fledglings from adult birds and what you can do to get them off to a strong start!

This week I demonstrate how to monitor burlap bands installed for selective spongy moth (Lymantria dispar) control. See Mondays with Martha #98 for a full description of the burlap banding technique, #80 for egg mass control in the winter, and...

Happy National Pollinator Week! In celebration, I highlight a beautiful, bee-friendly native wildflower, common spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis). Learn how best to incorporate this prairie plant into your landscape and offer pollinators important resources during that tricky early to mid-June lull...

I follow up last week's post about how to help our native turtles with a behind-the-scenes look at Chippewa Nature Center's (CNC) turtle monitoring program. Learn about how and why they are trapping and tagging turtles, but please do not...

This week I explain why our native turtles need our help and offer a dozen ways you can lend them a helping hand. Especially right now as we enter peak nesting season, watch for them along the roads and help...

Happy Memorial Day! This week I share a cool looking wildflower that occurs in relatively undisturbed riverbanks and floodplain forests, green dragon (Arisaema dracontium). Closely related to jack-in-the-pulpit and shaped much like the fronds of maidenhair fern, this species' flower...