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Wayside Prairie
If you’ve recently passed by the northwest corner of Routes 97 & 123, directly across from Historic Wayside Park, you may have noticed some major changes. Over the past couple of years, invasive species, dead green ash, and other trees have been cleared as part of the first phase of an exciting project—the creation of a small shortgrass prairie.
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Ways to celebrate Pollinator Week (June 17-23, 2024)!
Volunteer! Join MCTG members working at Wayside Park or on the square in Petersburg this week—or later this summer. We’ll be weeding, trimming, planting, watering, mulching, and eventually collecting seeds. If you’re interested in adopting a bed or a corner on the square, we can show you the ropes! Scout blooming plants now for later seed collection (see a blog on this subject soon!) Be a citizen scientist! Download the iNaturalist app and participate in the Illinois Monarch Project’s Bioblitz to document local insect activity. Create pollinator habitat at home! While the heat makes planting a little challenging this week, with ample water during establishment, natives will tough it out! Consider…
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Announcement, Community Service, Events, Native plants, Native Seed Sowing, Presentation, Volunteering
Planting Party for Wee Ones
Trails & Greenway is a proud sponsor of this family event organized by Birth to Five Illinois: Region 51 to introduce little ones to gardening with hands on experience of planting vegetable and native pollinator plant seeds. They will also learn about the importance of pollinators for our food supply. See the image below for event details and list of sponsors. If you’re interested in helping out let us know.
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Sip n’ Sow Seed Sowing Workshop
Sip n’ Sow Seed Sowing Workshop 1st & 3rd Boutique & Wine Bar January 12th from 6:00 to 8:00 1st & 3rd Boutique & Wine Bar has generously donated their event space. Please show your support — come early to shop, get a beverage & maybe a charcuterie board! Event Limited to 30 Registered Participants — Fill Out Form at Bottom of Page It’s never too soon to think of spring! Join some adult-only fun at the Sip n’ Sow Workshop! Sip a glass of wine and sow some native flower seeds for your summer garden. Native plants attract pollinators and serve as butterfly host plants, including many species growing…
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Plant pollinator habitat at home
Wanting to add more pollinator habitat at home? Look no further: native plant seed packets are available again in Petersburg! You can find displays at the Petersburg Public Library, 1st and 3rd Boutique, the Talisman, and the Crazy Daisy Gift Shop. This year we are offering 13 colorful species collected from the plantings on Petersburg’s square, Historic Wayside Park and our members’ own gardens and prairies. The packets are free, but we welcome donations that support Menard County Trails & Greenways. The displays will be restocked until we run out! Wondering how to choose? Check out blog posts highlighting the available species: Lanceleaf Coreopsis, Purple Prairie Clover, Golden Alexanders Small…
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Scary Invasive Plants in Your Landscape
Scarier than goblins, witches and ghosts are all the invasive plants we have planted in our yards and gardens! This Halloween we bring you a post about the horrors of invasive plants in your landscape. Some of our Menard County Trails & Greenways members have already been hard at work on the restoration efforts at New Salem in recent weeks. With the arrival of cooler temperatures, we’ll be scheduling volunteer work days soon! Be watching our Facebook page or your email if you’re an MCTG member for those dates. If you’d like to contribute to our forest restoration efforts at New Salem, but you can’t make it to our work…
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Garlic Mustard Pulls at New Salem
Why do we pull garlic mustard? Each garlic mustard plant grows pods called siliques and each plant produces on average 22 siliques, each silique containing as many as 28 seeds. That is over 600 seeds on an average per plant, with some particularly robust plants producing almost 8,000 seeds. That’s why it is so important to remove the plant before it sets seed.
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Winter Seed Sowing Check In
Time to check in with our winter sowers! In the past few weeks, we’ve seen a lot of seedling germination. There is some variation, so it may have taken some containers a long time to show anything, but by now they should all have germinated and growing! Removing the Tops and Watering The weather has been pretty erratic this month, with some very warm days and some very cold nights. Up to this point, the top of the milk jug or container lid has helped to retain moisture and protect seedlings from temperature extremes and wind. Now that the temperatures have turned quite warm some days, it is important to…
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Winter Seed Sowing
Winter seed sowing is a great way to grow most native plants! The seeds of many native species require cold, moist stratification to germinate. This occurs naturally when a seed falls on the soil and goes through an average Illinois winter. These conditions can be mimicked in the refrigerator with a moist paper towel or a spoonful of sand, planting the seeds after meeting the required time for stratification of a particular species. Winter sowing is an even simpler option—great for gardeners of all levels of experience. Planting in a milk jug or other recycled container gives seedlings a head start, as the containers create a mini-greenhouse to trap heat,…
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Pollinator Plants for Your Garden — Part 4
This post wraps up our 4 part blog series describing 12 easy-to-grow plants for attracting pollinators (butterflies, bees, etc) to your garden. View earlier blog posts here. The final three plants described in the post are swamp milkweed, sneezeweed and aromatic aster. All 12 species discussed in the series are available for free (while supplies last!) a locations around Petersburg–see December 12th blog for details.
