This week I share a site visit to Point LaBarbe in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a Mackinac Straits Raptor Watch (MSRW) fall raptor watch count site. Board Chair Ed Pike describes MSRW's research, conservation, and education initiatives and how you can...
This week I share how to identify and conserve a state threatened perennial grass of Michigan's forested river floodplains, beak grass (Diarrhena obovata). Learn how you can help locate, report, and protect this rare species. As promised, the link for...
Named because its rhizome was once believed to cure snakebites (it does not!), white snakeroot is an amazing fall blooming wildflower that offers great late season pollinator support even in some pretty tough site conditions. Learn about its interesting history...
This week I share a video tour of a new public nature area in Midland, Michigan, the Eagle Ridge Nature Area. Special thanks to Lisa Williams with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for being our guide and describing the...
This week I explain why goldenrods are great--from human health, aesthetic, and ecological perspectives. Members of the genus Solidago deserve our respect and should be celebrated as an important part of our American natural heritage and late-blooming pollinator powerhouses! I...
This week I share a showy perennial offering plenty of pollinator support in late summer into fall, great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)! Related to the much-loved cardinal flower, this species doesn't get the attention it deserves. Learn what this species...
This week I share another adventure in butterfly rearing--meet the charismatic and color-changing Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio/Pterourus troilus)! From bird poop, to scary predator, to flying beauties in black, learn how this species survives in our forested landscapes and what larval...
This week I share another great pollinator powerhouse plant, mountain mint, that works well in rain gardens, bioswales, and full to part sun plantings with various soil types. I discuss our two most common mountain mint species here in Michigan,...
With the addition of monarch to the IUCN Red List, I thought it would be helpful to discuss an easy way we can help this once-common species in our landscapes--by providing site-appropriate native milkweed plants to serve as larval host...
