Do you remember a time, in summers past, when your porch light was covered in moths? Or maybe you remember moth carnage left on your windshield after a drive at night? With moth populations in steep decline, those sights are harder to come by.
Moths, like most insects, are not faring well in an increasingly human-dominated world full of pesticides, mono-culture crops, and urban sprawl. Especially troublesome for moths is artificial light at night.
Tiger moth (Grammia parthenice) found near the Visitor Center at Dyck Arboretum
Embrace Darkness
True darkness has important implications for biological processes in humans and animals. For millions of years, life evolved with the sun, moon and stars as the only light source (with an occasional fire here and there). Within the last two hundred years, artificial, electric light has forever changed the night sky and the way we interact with darkness.
White-lined sphinx moth (Hyles lineata) are large, docile moths commonly found in garden settings.
Build a Moth Friendly Habitat
Start by keeping the outside of your house as dark as possible. Consider turning off outdoor lights after a certain hour. Then install native plants to feed your moth friends! Like butterflies, most moths drink flower nectar. Some are active by day, others prefer to feed at night. White or pale flowers are attractive to night feeding moths because they are visible in low light. Moths are also attracted to heavily scented flowers, and those that open late in the afternoon or evening.
Any garden designed for pollinators will support moths as well. Plants like Liatris spicata, Asclepias tuberosa, and Aster leavis are perfect for attracting all types of pollinators to the garden. But consider adding more white flowers to hopefully spur some moth activity. Native options available to order for no-contact pickup at FloraKansas include:
For patio containers, consider Gardenia or Datura.
Moths often cling to light colored surfaces. To study moths in your yard, shine a light on a white sheet during a summer evening and watch as the insects gather.
Moths are fascinating creatures. Some are as large as hummingbirds, others as tiny as your pinky nail. Some moths evolved so closely with the plants they pollinate that they have become completely co-dependent! They have a special ecological role in our biome, and deserve our attention and conservation.
Spring is coming. Nature is not locked down, but continues to come to life. We notice the buds expanding and the crocus blooming. Leaves emerging from the depths and plants all around us waking from their winter slumber. As spring unfolds around us, something extraordinary is about come our way again. The Monarchs are coming.
Monarch ovipositing on common milkweed. Photo by Brad GuhrA monarch caterpillar munching on a milkweed. Photo by Brad Guhr
Providing for pollinators
The monarch’s annual spring migration north from Mexico has begun. You can track their progress through Monarch Watch and Journey North. Each year we take note of when this incredible journey passes through our area. It is amazing to think that these delicate creatures can make this trek north and south every year.
Statistics show that the monarch butterfly population in
North America has declined by over 90% in just the last 20 years. This is disheartening. One of the biggest factors in monarch decline
is the increasing scarcity of its only caterpillar host plant: milkweeds.
Monarchs can’t successfully reproduce, or migrate without milkweeds, resulting
in the species decline.
Monarchs also need other blooming native wildflowers, trees, and shrubs that provide nectar for the adult butterflies to feed upon. This habitat, critical to the survival of the monarchs, continues to disappear at an alarming rate. This natural habitat decline is taking a steep toll on wildlife of all types.
Monarch on New England Aster in the fall. Photo by Janelle Flory Schrock
Plant more than milkweed
Many of us are planting milkweeds and native nectar plants in our gardens to help monarchs survive. Here is a list of plants from our Native Plant Guide that monarchs prefer:
Perennials
Aster ‘October Skies’
Aster ‘Raydon’s Favorite’
New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae sp.)
Blackeyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
Coneflowers (Echinacea sp.)
Coreopsis
Blazing Star (Liatris sp.)
Beebalm (Monarda sp.)
Milkweeds (Asclepias sp.)
Yarrow (Achillea sp.)
Eryngium yuccifolium
Goldenrod (Solidago sp.)
Zizia aurea
Vernonia ‘Iron Butterfly’
Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Lavender Towers’
Prairie clover (Dalea sp.)
Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium sp.)
Shrubs
Chokeberry (Aronia sp.)
Leadplant (Amorpha sp.)
ServiceBerry (Amelanchier sp.)
Buttonbush (Cephalanthus sp.)
American plum (Prunus sp.)
Elderberry (Sambucus sp.)
Viburnum (Viburnum sp.)
Buttonbush bloom
Trees
Buckeye (Aesculus sp.)
Redbud (Cercis sp.)
Persimmon (Diospyros sp.)
Linden (Tilia sp.)
Stretch the season
A greater variety of plants will attract a greater variety of wildlife, including monarchs. Try to plant several species of wildflowers with varying bloom times, providing nectar sources that stretch through the season. Different pollinator populations peak at various times through the warm months, so provide for them by having a long blooming garden. Early spring and late fall flowers can help sustain migrating species in the difficult stages of their journey. Research has shown that a lack of late season nectar sources is as crucial to migration success as milkweed. Help these insects get the energy they need all through the year!
If you plant even a few milkweeds in your own garden, you can help reverse the fortune of these beautiful insects. Support habitat and other food sources for monarch butterflies and other wildlife by planting native plants. It is always beneficial to reduce mowing, and limit or eliminate the spraying of herbicides and pesticides. You can be part of the ultimate solution, which is to provide the plants monarchs need for their life cycle. Watch for these incredible butterflies. They are coming.
One final thought I came across the other day:
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” – Audrey Hepburn
If you come to the Dyck Arboretum during these wet spring days, you will be greeted by a unified chorus. I’m not referring to the sound of people with spring fever, singing the praises of nature while walking the paths and enjoying the prairie gardens and native plant communities. You will hear the mating call of the boreal chorus frog (Pseudacris maculata).
This up to 1.5-inches in length amphibian exhibits various shades of brown, gray or green with three dark brown stripes running down its back and an especially noticeable one running the length of its side through the eye from nose to hind leg. If you are patient and observant, you will see one at our greenhouse rain garden.
The boreal chorus frog is one of the most widespread frogs in Kansas with distribution nearly throughout the state. They are commonly found in the daytime during the breeding season from late February through May. Outside of this time, they are seeking refuge under cover of wetland vegetation or soil. After rains or during humid nights, they emerge to forage for small invertebrates. According to the Kansas Herpetofaunal Atlas, in a 1906 article by F.A. Hartman, he reported finding algae and ants in the stomachs of young specimens and spiders in the stomachs of adults.
Follow our paths to the rain garden/small pond by our greenhouse or simply walk toward the unmistakable high-pitched shrill sound to find these critters. When you approach the pond edge, their calls will stop. If you stay quiet and still, one-by-one their clicking trill (like the sound of running a fingernail along the teeth of a comb for two to fives seconds with a slight rise in inflection) will return. At full strength, the volume of their collective chorus may make you want to hold your ears.
A boreal chorus frog on a pot in our plant nursery (photo by Dyck Arboretum grounds manager, Katie Schmidt)
As we humans avoid physical contact from each other during these anxious times of a worldwide pandemic, I find some comfort in knowing that cycles of the natural world are still carrying on around us. Amphibians may be facing other challenges as my colleague Katie Schmidt recently wrote about. But I’m glad these Arboretum chorus frogs are not practicing social distancing at the moment. Their mating call signals that their population will be alive and well here in the future.
Creating Frog Habitat
This interpretive signage next to our rain garden is located between buildings at Dyck Arboretum. The line drawings artwork is by Lorna Habegger Harder.
If you would like to create habitat for frogs, consider restoring wetland habitat in a low place on your property that collects water. I am in the process of holding a virtual rain gardening class through which I will send you a link to a presentation and then set up consultation time to discuss your project and the logistics of making it happen. At our upcoming spring FloraKansas event, you can get the plants that like their feet wet to make habitat for chorus frogs and all other sorts of water-loving creatures.
I’ll leave you with one more serenade from our local population of boreal chorus frogs.
At the Arboretum we talk a lot about how to support pollinators with native plants because we are concerned about the sharp decline in their populations. However, frogs and toads have experienced sharp population declines as well, but without the fanfare and media attention. In fact, nearly one-third of the world’s amphibians are threatened or extinct. Perhaps it is the slimy skin, bulgy eyes and webbed toes that make us less sympathetic to their plight. Whatever the reason, we need to put it behind us and rally around these lovely little hop-alongs before it is too late!
Toads love to hang out in areas of wet mulch and debris. They blend right in! I found this one just outside the greenhouse door.
What is Making Them Croak?
Many factors have led to the dramatic declines in amphibian populations world wide. One prominent issue is habitat destruction and pollution. Amphibians are especially susceptible to these issues because their skin is part of their respiratory system. Even small amounts of pollutants in water systems can seep into their bodies through their permeable skin layer. Or, a change in the habitat such as logging or damming can change the humidity levels within a forest, making it uninhabitable for amphibians with very specific living conditions.
The plains leopard frog loves to hide out in our nursery pots, where the sprinklers keep it frequently moist.
Create Habitat
Rain gardens are a great way to attract frogs and toads to your area. Amphibians are lovers of cool, damp places, such as the shaded banks of a rain garden, which provide ample shelter and attract a plethora of insects for a froggy buffet.
Catch the rainwater from your roof in a shallow depression, and plant the edges of the depression with water loving natives like marsh milkweed, cardinal flower, switchgrass, and Virginia iris. Visit our previous post for more info to start your own rain garden, or attend our Native Plant School class on rain gardens.
Found this great plains toad (Anaxyrus cognatus) in the Arboretum gardens, early August.
Fungus Among Us
Cytrid fungus is devastating the world’s frogs. While we haven’t yet pinpointed how and why the past ten years have seen such dramatic increases in cytrid fungus spread, we do know the pet trade has made the problem even worse. Exotic animals shipped from around the world bring with them exotic pathogens. This exposes native frogs to illnesses they never evolved to resist. Demand for exotic pets also hurts frog populations due to over harvesting specimens from their home country. All in all, it can be a sketchy business. Do your part by not keeping rare and endangered frogs as ‘pets’, and never release a ‘pet’ into the wild. When handling native frogs, leave them in the same area you found them to avoid potentially contaminating new populations.
A very tiny frog found on our greenhouse sidewalks. We moved him outside so he didn’t get stepped on!
Eye on the Fly
While the frogs are watching flies, you can be watching the frogs! Be part of the citizen science effort to track frog populations with FrogWatch USA. Learn their calls, spend time outside, contribute to a nationwide science initiative — a fun way to spend spare time in the spring and summer!
A boreal chorus frog (Pseudacris maculata) clings to the side of a nursery flat.
I hope to start my own rain garden this year in my side yard. If I get any froggy visitors, you can bet there will be a blog post about it!
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, And revery.
The revery alone will do, If bees are few.
Emily Dickinson
Maybe it’s the swaying grasses in a gentle breeze or pollinators clustered on the top of a coneflower on a warm spring day. A primrose opening in the evening like a beacon in the night. The vibrant combination of black-eyed Susans and blazing stars growing harmoniously with little bluestem. Or the vital role native plants play in the overall healing of the land.
Whatever your inspiration for creating a prairie landscape, hold onto that dream, but also prepare yourself for a surprise. In my experience, when working with native plants, the resulting benefits of your effort will surpass anything you can imagine.
Connection to the Land
There is something special about native plants. They grow with you in a sense. As their roots grow deeper, you begin to understand the importance of the landscape you have created.
If you live in the prairie, a prairie landscape creates a sense of place. It reflects your connection to the native landscape. This connection is good for you, but also good for the land.
Butterfly milkweed and compass plant
Assist the Environment
Over the past decade, there has been a renewed interest in native landscaping. These plants are naturally adapted to our soils and climates. If properly sited, they require less care, have fewer problems, and create habitat and year-round beauty. A prairie habitat attracts many different forms of wildlife, including birds, butterflies and other beneficial insects.
The prairie is an important part of the web of life in the vast Great Plains. Your native landscape, though small, is one part of a patchwork prairie that, when pieced together, has tremendous environmental benefits.
Aesthetics that Reflect the Prairie
There is a paradigm shift happening on what is considered appealing in the landscape. Not only what is attractive, but what is acceptable to have in your landscape. More and more people are moving away from the traditional lawn by replacing them with vibrant landscapes of diverse wildflowers, grasses, trees and shrubs.
Often we start growing a prairie landscape for what it does for us. However, the special beauty these plants provide will attract a host of other admirers, including our neighbors.
Liatris punctata and Bouteloua gracilis ‘Blonde Ambition’
Economic Impacts
It’s difficult to quantify the savings you gain after a native landscape is established. Savings of time, water, chemicals, and fuel for your mower are long term savings from your investment in native plants. As these plants work in harmony with nature, you benefit in many different ways. These plants will bring a smile to your face as you see the beauty and the return on investment they bring.
Each landscape is a personal choice that expresses your interests and vision. Whether you are planting a small foundation bed with natives around your home or reclaiming an overrun pasture, you have decided that you want more from your landscape. This timeless landscape is so vital to our environment.
Gaillardia aristata, Blanket Flower
If you are motivated to start a native landscape and need help with your landscape design or have questions about where to start, attend one of our Native Plant School classes or read previous blog posts about design or pollinators. We would be happy to help.
I don’t know what your resolutions are for 2020*, but one of mine is to spend more time outdoors. Whether working in the garden, fishing along a stream or simply taking a walk with a friend or loved one, there are not many activities that can benefit us more than spending time outside away from screens.
I would like to encourage you to start 2020 off right by determining to intentionally get outside to connect with the land. I realize there are additional perks, but here are five benefits of spending time outdoors:
Improved Sleep
It is well documented that people are not getting enough sleep. Our harried schedules and longer work days don’t usually allow for much time outdoors. Spending too much time indoors away from natural light disrupts our circadian rhythms, which changes our sleep patterns. We can synchronize these rhythms by spending more time outdoors. Take in the sun for a better night’s sleep.
Increased
Psychological Health
I’m reading a book this month that promotes the many benefits of moving. Not moving to a new city, but physical movement. It doesn’t really matter how you make it happen, but simply reminding yourself to get outside and then intentionally going for a walk has incredible physiological and psychological benefits. It boosts the good chemicals in our bodies to help us reduce stress and anxiety while sustaining a positive self-image. A little time outside helps to keep everything in balance, mind and body.
Increased Vitamin D
Intake
There is a balance we need to take, but exposing your body to the sun around the noontime helps increase vitamin D in our bodies. There is evidence that low Vitamin D levels in the body increase the risk of certain cancers and heart disease. Sunshine helps keep our bones stronger and lifts our spirits. It only takes 10-15 minutes of sun exposure several times each week to do some good. So make a point to get out into the light – just don’t take in too much sun.
Woodland phlox in the open woods
Increased Enjoyment
of Nature
This a big one for me. Every time I force myself to get outdoors and closely look at nature, I am amazed. The intricate beauty of a coneflower in bloom, diverse pollinators, Mississippi Kites flying around, snow collecting in switchgrass, birds earnestly searching for food before a rainstorm and so many more experiences help signal my body to slow down. I can’t explain it, but it works every time.
Monarch Butterfly Eggs on Milkweed
Take in the Fresh Air
Whether it’s the freshness after a rain (Petrichor), lilacs blooming in spring or newly turned soil, the smells of nature are subtle, but powerful. The fresh air of the outdoors has tremendous calming qualities and often conjures up memories from the past. Step outside to breathe some fresh air!
What are we waiting for?
I think most of us know all about these and other benefits from experience. And yet, if you’re like me, we struggle to remember those benefits when we most need them. Ironically, I don’t get enough outdoor time even working at the Arboretum. But when I do, I have found that it is good for my mind, body and soul. That is why in 2020, I am striving to spend time enjoying the outside world. I encourage you to join me.
Penstemon cobaea
*From Wikipedia , 2020 (MMXX) is the current year, and is a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2020th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 20th year of the 3rd millennium, the 20th year of the 21st century, and the 1st year of the 2020s decade. 2020 is really a cool year when you think about it.
Winter is a great time to curl up on the couch and enjoy some cozy relaxation. But for wildlife, it is a three month battle for survival! There are many ways we can help wildlife get through these difficult months. Of course, the best way to attract and support biodiversity is to fill our landscapes with native plants, providing seeds, host plants, shelter, and an active soil biome. But if you missed the boat on planting this past year, there are still some things you can do today to attract furry and feathered friends.
Native plants add beauty and shape to the winter landscape (Photo by Brad Guhr).
Food
I am an avid birder, so I love to put out feeders in winter when food is scarce to witness a diverse set of species as they drop by. Make sure your feeders are hanging high, away from potential predators (read: neighborhood cats!) and that they offer high-value feed like sunflower seeds or suet cakes.
Besides birds, I like to see rabbits and other small mammals hanging around. Toss out food scraps like carrot skins or wilted salad greens, either in a compost pile or along a fence line to attract rabbits and opossums. (Opossums?!? Why would you want them around? Here’s why)
I used to live near a small field that is home to deer. Some people in our neighborhood scatter corn on the edge of their yard to draw them out of the woods. They come out just as the sun is going down, peacefully nibbling the grains.
Water
When the temperatures plummet, puddles and streams freeze over, becoming inaccessible to the animals that desperately need a drink. Heated birdbaths do the trick, but an inexpensive option is to frequently refill a cement birdbath, less likely to crack than porcelain ones. I dump a pitcher of water into my birdbath before I head to work, giving the birds at least a little bit of drinking time before it freezes over again. Easily make your own cement bird bath like this one, a similar process to what we do every year in the EPS summer institute for teachers. I keep my birdbath low to the ground so that it is accessible to birds, but also to other passing friends like rabbits and skunks.
Yes, rabbits can be a bit of a pest, but by providing them with a water source you fortify their place in the food chain, thereby supporting the foxes, owls, and other predators that depend on a healthy rabbit population. By Gidzy [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Shelter
A brush pile is a great and easy way to create high-quality shelter for birds and small mammals. Find a forgotten corner of the yard and collect sticks, limbs, leaves, and other brush into at least a 3 foot by 5-foot stack. Forget taking all that stuff to your local dump; save yourself the work and create habitat for neighborhood critters.
Additionally, planting a few evergreens in the landscape protects tree-dwelling animals from the icy winter winds. Though eastern red cedar is Kansas’s only native evergreen, I have a few other favorites that do well in our climate. Look for Taylor Junipers at our sale (a cedar selection) for a pencil-shaped evergreen good for limited space. Arizona cypress and Green Giant Arborvitae are good non-native options.
(Left) Arizona Cypress tree in the Northwest corner of the Arboretum. (Right) Cypress foliage
Plan Ahead
Spring is, remarkably, just around the corner. Start planning now for how you want to improve your landscape with native plants so you are ready when FloraKansas arrives! A garden with food, water, shelter, and a diverse set of native plants will attract wildlife season after season, year after year.
Growing plants in Kansas can be a challenge. This spring we had an abundance of moisture – too much in fact – and now we are experiencing expanding drought conditions throughout the state. With the landscape in a state of dormancy, you may forget to water those parched plants. With winter upon us, how do you keep your plants alive? Here are some winter watering tips that will save your landscape investment.
Little bluestem in late fall
Should I water my garden in winter?
Even though plants have gone dormant and lifeless, they should be watered periodically. Newly planted perennials, trees and shrubs have not developed the extensive root systems to sustain them through a dry winter. Dehydrated plants will struggle to survive the winter even when they are not actively growing. Your plants are thirsty, so you will need to give them a drink.
Cold weather watering tips
Look at the soil around your plants. If the top inch or two is dry you must water the plants.
If the soil is unfrozen, water on days above 40-45 degrees
Obviously, it is better to water after noon so water has time to infiltrate the soil before freezing at night.
Water through the winter any time the top inch or two of soil is dry.
If it stays dry through the winter months, it is critically important to water as the plants break dormancy next April and May.
What to water in winter
Plants installed this year (perennials, trees, shrubs and cool season turf)
Established cool season (fescue) turf, especially under trees and around shrubs. Roots are competing for moisture with the grass roots
Pay special attention to evergreens as they are more susceptible to winter dry-out.
If it is especially dry, even established trees, shrubs and perennials will benefit from an occasional winter watering.
Taylor Juniper (foreground) and Canaertii Juniper (background) – Don’t let these evergreens get too dry!
How to water in winter
Use garden hoses to connect to sprinklers and water nozzles. These can be easily disconnected from the hydrant. Obviously, irrigation systems will be damaged by freezing temperatures, so don’t restart any underground automatic sprinkler systems.
Established turf and trees, especially those in sunny,
windy, or exposed areas should be a high priority. Watering prevents them from drying
out due to unique environmental conditions.
Don’t overwater your plants.
Soggy soils and heavy clay soils that stay wet for long periods of time
will cause root rot and fungal issues.
Water as needed with one-half inch to one inch of moisture
to rehydrate the top few inches of soil.
Remember to remove hoses from spigot so pipes don’t freeze. Drain hoses of water to eliminate freeze damage to hoses as well.
The winter landscape can be stark and often forgetten since it is not producing flowers or new growth. However, dormant plants are still using water and can be damaged by prolonged periods without moisture. Hopefully, we get some rain or snowfall, but it takes around 10 inches of snow to equal one inch of rain.
Don’t forget about your plants in this busy season of the year, keep checking those plants and the soil around them. We don’t want you to be surprised by dry, dead or desiccated plants next spring. A little winter watering now will keep you from replacing plants next spring.
(This blog was originally published on October 22, 2014.)
The other day I was driving through town and really noticed the changing leaves for the first time this fall. They are looking particularly colorful this year. The maple trees varieties like ‘John Pair’, ‘Autumn Splendor’, ‘Table Rock’ and ‘Autumn Blaze’ put on quite a show. My favorite tree at the Arboretum is the Sugar Maple called ‘Table Rock’. It has consistent orange-red fall color.
Table Rock Sugar Maple
These leaves, no matter how beautiful, will eventually fall. Then we need to decide what to do with them. Here at the Arboretum we compost them. Leaf compost makes excellent plant food and humus that can be incorporated into your garden or flower bed. Leaf compost is high in valuable minerals such as nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium and other trace elements. Analysis shows that leaves from most trees can contain up to twice as many minerals as aged manure.
American Ash
Why wouldn’t you want to make your own compost from
leaves? Good compost developed from
leaves also adds organic matter to the soil.
This organic matter is great for aerating heavy clay soils or increasing
water holding in sandy soils. Take
advantage of these free gifts.
Steps for composting leaves:
Collect leaves. Shred them into small pieces to speed decomposition. Place leaves on the ground which will make it easier to turn and allow beneficial organisms such as worms to infiltrate the pile.
Initially, put a layer of leaves down several inches deep on the bare ground. This helps aerate the entire pile.
Layer compost pile if possible with alternating green (nitrogen rich) and brown (carbon rich) material. Green material can be grass clippings, food scraps, algae, tea bags or any nitrogen source. These green ingredients speed the decomposition of the brown material. Brown material can be leaves, newspaper, cardboard, sawdust, or straw. These ingredients are generally slow to decompose and clump together. They need time and moisture for optimum breakdown. As a general rule, try to have one-third green and two-thirds brown. The secret to a healthy compost pile is to maintain a working balance between these two elements. Too much green makes a smelly, anaerobic mess. More brown is better than too much green.
Keep pile moist by either manually watering or allowing rain to infiltrate compost. Not too moist though.
Turn the pile every few weeks. This incorporates and mixes all the elements together while aerating the pile. If the pile is never turned, oxygen which is an essential component in the process of decomposition will be excluded. Allow the compost pile to reach an internal temperature of 140-160 degrees to kill weed seeds. If your compost pile is not reaching these temperatures add more green material.
In 4 to 6 months (next spring) the composting process will be complete.
If you don’t have need of fresh compost, the Arboretum is willing to take your bagged leaves. We are again filling our leave house with our leaves but can take more. Just drop your bags of leaves in the bus parking area at the arboretum. We will take them back to the leaf house. The leaf house is a great example of decomposition in action.
Life flies by for all of us and it is easy to miss or forget what happens in a given month. When reviewing recent photographs on my phone, I was pleasantly reminded of all the richness that happened over the last four weeks or so. October in Kansas is that great fall transition period between summer and winter, hot and cold, green and brown, and fast and slow when there is SO MUCH to see. For those that feel that they endure the extremes of Kansas to revel in the moderation that comes with fall, October is your time.
I was reminded from these photos of our Dyck Arboretum of the Plains mission – cultivating transformative relationships between people and the land. Let’s review in the following photos the richness that can be found in that interface between the plants/wildlife of Kansas and the people that enjoy this place in October.
Monarch fallout.
October 1 brought a monarch “fallout” when their migration was interrupted by strong south winds. They momentarily took a break from their journey and sought shelter in our Osage orange hedge row.
Tagged monarchs.
Local monarch enthusiast, Karen Fulk, took advantage of the fallout to capture and tag monarchs with identification numbers that help other monarch observers in Mexico or elsewhere to better understand the speed and location of their migration.
Middle school students measuring tree height with the “rough estimate” method.
Santa Fe Middle School students from Newton were able to witness the end of the monarch fallout on October 2 and also enjoyed various activities on the Dyck Arboretum campus that included insect collecting, plant sampling and measuring tree height. The Dyck Arboretum’s Kansas Earth Partnership for Schools (EPS) Program curriculum has a lesson that teaches students how to measure tree height with five different methods including estimation, shadows, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry.
Measuring tree height.Lorna Harder teaching a 5th Grader about plant identification.
On October 6, former and current Dyck Arboretum board members hosted tours of their homes and land near Hesston for Arboretum Prairie Partners. Lorna and Bob Harder gave a tour of their solar photovoltaic-powered home and surrounding prairie landscape and LeAnn and Stan Clark hosted everyone for dinner on their patio surrounded by extensive native plant landscaping.
Lorna Harder leading a tour of the native prairie she is helping steward.Director, Scott Vogt, welcoming Arboretum Prairie Partners to a meal on LeAnn and Stan Clark’s patio.
Hesston Elementary students took a field trip to the Arboretum on October 10 to conduct a leaf scavenger hunt, learn about monarch migration, observe different seed dispersal mechanisms and study insect diversity in the prairie.
Hesston Elementary students search for insects in the Arboretum reconstructed prairie.Finding seeds, grasshoppers, beetles, flies, spiders, true bugs, and more.Insect sweeping.Students found a female striped wolf spider carrying its newborn young on its abdomen.Grasshoppers are plentiful in the prairie during October.Initial insect skittishness turned to fondness during the field trip.Beehives at Earhart.
Earhart Environmental Magnet Elementary in Wichita, a Kansas Earth Partnership for Schools participating school, engages their students in environmental education with hands-on activities such as beekeeping. Students tend the bees, grow and maintain native plant gardens as nectar sources, and regularly camp on their grounds to learn more about the natural world around them.
Earhart students check a birdfeeder while searching for insects in one of their courtyard native plant gardens.Earhart students found a ” burnt marshmallow” Chinese mantid egg casing or ootheca.
On October 17, Walton Elementary (another Kansas EPS School) students came to the Arboretum to collect seed and study how seeds disperse. They each had a target plant they were searching for and from which they were aiming to collect seed. They did the same last year, germinated the seed in their greenhouse over the winter, and had a successful native plant sale in the Walton community.
College students observing a garter snake.
Bethel College environmental science classes visited the Arboretum on October 24 to learn about the native plants and wildlife of Kansas, natural resource management, and ecological restoration. When students become interested in and well-versed about the natural world around them, they will turn into more informed and better-educated environmental decision-makers of the future.
Bethel students found a Pandorus sphinx moth caterpillar crossing an Arboretum sidewalk.‘Tiger Eyes’ sumac from an Arboretum plant sale was in autumn splendor on October 26 at my house.
Part of establishing a rich sense of place for people in any one location involves not only natural history connection cultural enrichment through the arts. The Dyck Arboretum’s Prairie Window Concert Series (PWCS) features eight live music performances each season. Our 2019-20 season was kicked off with October bookend performances featuring Mark Erelli on September 29 and recently The Steel Wheels on October 26.
Mark Erelli – the first show of the 2019-20 PWCS.The Steel Wheels – the second show of the 2019-20 PWCS.
On October 29, a stunning cold front rolled through Kansas and chilling temperatures caused delicately-held leaves on trees like ash, maple, Osage orange, and ginko to fall within hours. Social media posts were featuring leaves dropping quickly that day all over Kansas to make for a memorable fall day.
Ginko leaves and ‘iron butterfly’ ironweed.
The 2019 Eco-Meet Championships will be held at Dyck Arboretum in early November. In late October, organizers and high school teams from around the state were visiting the Arboretum to prepare for the big event. The competition will allow some of the brightest science students from around the state to showcase their knowledge on subjects including prairies, woodlands, entomology, and ornithology.
Students from Smoky Valley High visited the Arboretum on October 31 to prepare for Eco-Meet.
The cold nights and relatively warm days of late October have allowed the grass and tree leaves to show off their bright colors that have been hidden all growing season by the green pigments of chlorophyll. Seed heads are opening and dispersal mechanisms that catch the wind or lure animals are on full display. Good ground moisture and warm temperatures are still even allowing for a bit of late-season flowering from some species.
Sugar maple. Little bluestem.Seeds dispersing from a common milkweed pod.The fall prairie is loaded with seeds this season which is good for seed-eating mammals and birds.It has been a mast year for trees and the ground under this burr oak was covered with acorns.Late season flowering by Leavenworth eryngo.Aromatic aster ‘Raydon’s Favorite’.
I’ll leave you with a video (sorry for the terrible camera work) of one of my favorite sights of every October – when the aromatic asters are in full bloom and late-season pollinators belly up to the nectar bar on a warm fall day. Enjoy.
