Please Note: The location of Chapter meetings rotates through various sites within our membership area to facilitate easy access. In addition, Field Trips and also outside activities are in various locations. Therefore, always check the Calendar of Events for this month's location, day and time.

President: Sandy Miller (847) 546-4198 send me an email	Secretary: Janice Hand (847) 940-9482 send me an email	Treasurer: Klaus Wisiol (847) 548-1649 send me an email
Marketing/Publicity Webmaster: Rick Sanders (847) 940-9482 send me an email	Membership: Pam Wolfe (224) 627-6581 send me an email	Member-at-Large: Cindy Kaimakis (847) 254-1380 send me an email

Next Meeting

Tuesday, February 7, 7:15 p.m. - - Planning and Designing the Transition to a Native Landscape
     with Kelsay Shaw of Possibility Place Nurersy

Location: The Byron Colby Barn at Prairie Crossing, 1561 Jones Point Road, Grayslake, IL 60030
For Directions Phone: (847) 543-1202 - - Click Here for a Map

Join the Lake-to-Prairie Chapter of Wild Ones as we use pictures and a case study of a home in Kankakee, IL to take you through the steps of planning and designing the transition to a native landscape. With all the buzz about ecology, sustainability, and environmental restoration, there is a huge movement underway to incorporate native plants into home landscapes. But, many people never get started because they keep questioning, “What should I do first?” “What will the neighbors say?” or “Can I really pull this off?” Kelsay Shaw will take you through the steps of planning and designing the transition to a native landscape based on a case study of a residence in Kankakee County (read about the home at www.possibilityplace.com/our-blog/2011/08/reums-kankakee-illinois/). He will discuss: Assessing the landscape you have Envisioning the landscape you want Segmenting the plan into bite-sized pieces Communicating with the neighbors Finding sources for plants, shrubs, trees and information Considering a contractor and/or doing it yourself Understanding how to care for your new landscape Enjoying the new birds, butterflies, and beauty that comes with a native landscape Kelsay Shaw is a botanist and sales consultant for Possibility Place Nursery. He has a B.S. in botany from Eastern Illinois University and has been doing work in the industry for the past 17 years. He has taught classes on native plants and their uses in landscaping, as well as consulting on larger projects for some of our clients.

Lake-to-Prairie is a chapter of Wild Ones, a national not-for-profit organization that promotes the use of native plants in landscapes.

    Mar 06, 2012 (Tue)    

Saving the Oak Savannas and Restoring the Native Landscapes - - Join Ann Maine, Lake County Forest Preserve District President, as she updates us on major research projects underway by the LCFPD to save the oaks along the southern Des Plaines river and in restoring the native landscapes in Illinois Beach State Park and the areas north. Location: Ryerson Woods Welcome Center, 21950 N Riverwoods Rd Riverwoods, IL 60015, For Directions call (847) 968-3321

    Apr 03, 2012 (Tue)    

Ready, Set, Go! Spring Yard Preparation

Learn what, when, and how you should prepare your native landscape for season-long enjoyment of colors, fragrances, birds, butterflies, and beauty. Part of the presentation will cover "Shopping for Excellent Native Plants . . . The How and Where" 

    May 01, 2012 (Tue)    

Wildflowers of Lake County with Joan Sayr

    Jun 05, 2012 (Tue)    

Planting for Beneficial Insects . . . The Natural Approach to Controlling Insect Pests with Sarah Surroz, Liberty Prairie Conservanc

    Jul 10, 2012 (Tue)    

Spotting and Eliminating “Bad Plants” . . . Weeds, Invasives, and Exotics with Peggy Simonson, Citizens for Conservatio

    Aug 07, 2012 (Tue)    

Rain Gardens . . . Easy, Effective, and Beneficial with Janice Hand, University of Illinois Extension Master Gardene

    Sep 04, 2012 (Tue)    

Fall “Cut and Shut” . . . Timing and Techniques for Putting Your Garden to Slee

    Oct 02, 2012 (Tue)    

Green Design, Using Plants and Technology Togethe

    Nov 06, 2012 (Tue)    

Edible and Medicinal Native Plants, Learning from the Past with Sandy Mille

    Dec 04, 2012 (Tue)    

Holiday Potluck Get Togethe

Recap of our January 3 meeting: "Back in Time . . . Pre-settlement Northern Illinois"

Speaker: Ed Collins, McHenry County Conservation District Natural Resource Manager Over 20 people were treated to a step back in time as Ed Collins used historic archives and botanical intuition to explain what has transpired across the landscape of Northeastern Illinois since pre-settlement times. Ed described his work as "Forensic Ecology." In his words, "Understanding the land and how it has changed since large scale settlement began in the mid-nineteenth century is critical to successfully restoring native plant and animal communities." Ed pointed out that "the earth remembers what it was, and with our help, it can be returned to that same condition." Lake and McHenry counties were part of the Northwest Territory. When the government decided to sell property to the settlers, they divided the entire region into parcels (sections); ownership was subsequently recorded in the 1880 Plat book. To understand your property, you can search this Plat book, using the legal description on your tax bill through your township office, and identify previous owners. With that, you can further search related documents to identify how the land was used, stories associated with it, and even why certain uses of the property might have occurred. Ed suggested we check old surveyor records because many times they have a physical description of the landscape noted for each quarter section. Other good sources are the Soil and Water maps (in Woodstock), topographical maps, and local historical libraries. If you like sleuthing through historical records, Ed mentioned a couple of other sources you can pursue, including newspaper references in the McHenry Plains, interview quotes in historical records, history books online, Travel Gazetteers, Ancestory.com, and even Google Earth because it can show both aerial and historical views. An amazingly simple observational tool you can use is check the color of the agricultural fields in the spring. If the earth is brown/gray, it was probably forest; loamy/brown, it was prairie; and dark/muddy, it was wetlands. Ed left us with a great quote for the evening ...."The best fertilizer for the land is the owner's footsteps." We all want to thank Ed for helping us to garner a fundamental understanding of the ecological landscape, and how tracing that history can help create richer prairie, woodland and wetland restoration projects.

Recap of our November 1 meeting: "Attracting Birds and Butterflies with Native Plants"

Speaker: Rick Sanders, birder, biologist, and gardener. At 6:45pm, Wild Ones members and guests met at the Fremont Public Library in Mundelein to learn why native plants are the best possible way to attract birds and butterflies. It was a marvelously attended meeting with 30+ in attendance. And as an added treat, Rick showed a "pre-meeting" slide show featuring the insect pictures of Joan Sayre and the bird pictures of Doug Tallamy. Rick's presentation was a wonderful combination of the what, why, and how of native plants combined with riveting facts and complimentary pictures. He covered: What Attracts Birds Food Sources Why Native Plants Sustainability and Turf Issues What to Plant Specific Plant Examples Resource List But the overall message was, "Native plants that attract the most leaf-eating insects [Lepidoptera family] also attract the most birds, butterflies, dragonflies, etc." Rick presented several charts, courtesy of Doug Tallamy, that rank ordered the total Lepidoptera species attracted by plant. This was a real eye opener as few in the audience picked trees like oak or black cherry to be the top insect attractors. Another chart that attracted a lot of attention was one showing a list of native plants that are the best at attracting beneficial insects and the times during the year in which they bloom and are at their peak. In support of the charts, Rick went through individual slides on the top thirty trees, tall shrubs, low shrubs, plants, vines, and grasses along with their key statistics, pictures including some leaf pictures. During the wrap up, Rick fielded numerous questions and also provide handouts of his resources; Janice Hand handed out the Lake-to-Prairie list of resources for native plants. Resources: Doug Tallamy datasheet of plantsNative vs. Alien, Woody vs. Herbaceous,with # of Lepidoptera species per plant http://udel.edu/~dtallamy/new_xls/webplants.xls Attracting Beneficial Insects with Native Flowering Plantsnativeplants.msu.edu/pdf/E2973.pdf LCFP Species Databasehttp://www.lakecountyspecies.org/ “Go native to sustain songbirds and other wildlife in your garden”http://www.saintpaulaudubon.org/publications/go-native-to-sustain-songbirds Plants for Lake County Illinois Watersheds http://www.indiancreekwp.org/pdfs/Plants-for-Lake-County-Watersheds.pdf Illinois Wildflowers (including flower-visiting insect database)http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/ “Trees and Shrubs That Attract Birds”The Morton Arboretumhttp://www.mortonarb.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=868&Itemid=6 “Native Plant Guide for Streams and Stormwater Facilities in Northeastern Illinois” ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/IL/techres/npg/NPG200408.pdf

Recap of our October 4, 2011, meeting: "Controlled Burns - - in Your Own Back Yard"
with Leslie Berns, Land Management Ecologist, Lake County Forest Preserve, lberns@LCFPD.org, 847-968-3293

The meeting started with an unexpected surprise - - we were locked out of the Reed-Turner facility. But after a few minutes, one of the attendees found a nice park table in the back and we conducted our first ever "under the stars" meeting. Ms. Berns reviewed the LCFPD’s standards for Where and When to conduct controlled burns and provided personal experience from conducting burns on her own and neighboring lands.

Among key points that she made were:

• Is it best to conduct a burn on a day without any wind? A: No, controlled burns do need wind of 5 to 10 mph (this dissipates smoke).
• A firebreak of 2 to 3 times the height of the flames is needed. If flames are anticipated to be 5 feet high, firebreaks around the fire need to be between 10 and 15 feet wide.
• Generally, the two best times of the year to conduct a burn is fall (esp. October) and spring (esp. March), although burns can be conducted in other months. Key considerations are: what plants may be harmed? Will nesting birds, amphibians, or mammals be affected?
• In addition to needing an Illinois State EPA permit, many municipalities have additional requirements about notifications, insurance, and permits.
• The weather forecasting source most used by the Lake County Forest Preserve District is NOAA National Weather Service at http://weather.gov. This source is watched all day during a burn.
• Other key websites for prescribed burns are:

http://www.epa.state.il/us/air/permits/openburn/ (to get a permit)
http://www.epa.state.il.us/public-notices/2008/general-notices.html#smoke-management-plan (to view a smoke management plan)
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicats/fulltext.asp?Name=095-0108 (IL Prescribed Fire Act)

Recap of Activity at our Booth at the September 17, 2011 Citizens for Conservation Green Day

The Lake-to-Prairie(L2P) Chapter had a booth at the Citizens for Conservation’s (CFC) Fall Tree and Shrub Sale and Green Fair on September 17, 2011,(from 9:00 to 1:00), staffed by Janice Hand and Rick Sanders. The L2P oak display board, as renovated by Sandy Miller, was very effective. (It was the only sign there that did not blow over in the breeze.) We handed out old Wild Ones Journals, membership brochures, and had several pieces out to read (the L2P Resources List, the “Why Join?” sheet, and map of other WO chapters in northern IL). Additionally we asked people to provide their email addresses if they wanted to be notified of meetings; 12 signed up. In addition to chatting with everyone who attended, we also made it a point to network with the other exhibitors. As a result, we will add Pizzo Native Plant Nursery to our Resources List; will consider (a) Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation for a potential meeting, as they show wild raptors and other birds, as well as (b) Tallgrass Restoration, LLC (who could provide a speaker on commercial native area restorations). Another organization attending was Safer Pest Control Project (a NFP supporting natural pest control) (www.spcpweb.org 773-878-7378) .

Recap of our August 25 meeting: "Tour of the Prairie at the College of Lake County"

Speaker: Professor Rory Klick, Horticulture Department Chair/Assistant Professor of Horticulture At 6:45pm, Wild Ones members and guests met at College of Lake County’s horticulture building to learn about prairies in general and the college’s specifically. Professor Rory Klick started the meeting with a slide presentation. She described the four main types of ecosystems: Prairies, Savannahs, Wetlands, and Woodlands. She defined a prairies as “a North America meadow or grassland in which grasses predominate.” In a normal prairie, 75-80% of vegetation cover is grass species. In designing prairies for modern-day landscapes, most designers work for a 50-50% mix of grasses to forbs, which is seen as more pleasing. Native or restored prairies support a tremendous number of species. One study, which looked at square meter sections of prairie, found around 100 species per square. Today less than 1/10th of one percent of native/original prairies remains in the US, yet when settlers moved into the country 80% was prairie. In discussing restoration work she has conducted and which has been done at CLC, Professor Klick said that controlled burns are a critical tool. Weedy plants sprout early in the cool of early spring, so a controlled burn kills these species and warms the soil, helping native plants to germinate. Burns have been controversial; the Yellowstone Park fires of 1988 were the turning point in the conservation community’s debate over fires in natural areas. When the burned area quickly regrew and showed significant increases in diversity, thinking began to change. Locally, the Lake County Forest Preserve District has carefully implemented a public awareness campaign to ensure that residents understand the reason (and support) for burns on Forest Preserve properties. Professor Klick gave some key tips to those who want their own prairie or prairie area in their yard: You have a choice of planting seeds (cheaper, but slower) or plugs (more expensive and labor-intensive). If you seed, mix the seed with sand so you can see where it’s been cast. It takes 4 to 6 years for a prairie to come into its own and 10 years to be fully implemented. After starting a prairie, it is important to (a) monitor it (adjusting what’s not working), (b) conduct ongoing management (esp. weeding), and (c) over seed and enhance where necessary. For a “quick hit” plants, she suggested early colonizers such as monarda, bee balm, coneflowers, and grasses. If you are conducting a burn, invite your neighbors over to watch, which will ease their concerns. After the indoor presentation ended, the group walked to the nearby restoration area where Professor Klick further described the history of the CLC prairie and efforts by CLC to do more native and sustainable plantings on its campus.

Lake-to-Prairie Wild Ones is a chapter of Wild Ones, a national not-for-profit organization that promotes the use of native plants in landscaping. For more information about Wild Ones or to join, contact Rick Sanders (847-940-9482). See our web site for more information about upcoming events, past activities, and chapter contacts. http://www.wildones.org/chapters/lake2prairie/.

Recap of our April 28 meeting: "Native Plants - Getting it Right"

For the first "re-energizing" meeting, Wild Ones Lake-to-Prairie Chapter hosted a panel discussion about native plants and plantings. Two well-known native plant growers, Kelsay Shaw of Possibility Place and David Husemoller of Earth Wild Gardens, entertained and educated meeting attendees.

Here are some highlights of their comments:
• For a definition of "native plant," the speakers recommended that "If it takes the hand of humans to put the plant where it's at, the plant is not a local native plant." The definition of "native" usually refers to a plant that is found within a 250 mile radius of a given site.
• Natives are good choices because they grow reliably, and they feed birds, butterflies, and insects by providing the right food at the right time.
• To determine which natives to use in your own landscape, start first by determining what environment you have – sun, shade, wet, dry, and type of soil – sandy, clay, loamy. Make a map of your site by taking a plat survey and sketching in plantings (with their dates), so you can keep track of what is working.
• To find out what plants are native to your specific landscape, refer to watershed reports for your area: Stormwater Management Commission, Alliance for the Great Lakes, the Illinois Natural History Museum, the well-known Wilhelm and Swink book (Plants of the Chicago Region), the US Department of Agriculture, the Lake County Forest Preserve District, and a series of books by Mohlenbrock (Flora of Illinois). Good web sites: Lady Bird Johnson (www.wildflower.org), Missouri Botanic Garden (mobot.org), the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
• To pick healthy plants, the speakers recommended buying "bag-grown" plants and trees, since these have healthier roots and will generally grow faster. (If you choose instead a tree or shrub that has been dug (roots cut) from the ground, expect 2 – 3 years per inch of diameter before the tree starts growing normally again.)
• As to which plants the two speakers select to offer for sale, David said that he picks plants in the fall and selects those that people like, that are native to the area, and that are grown close by. Kelsay said that his company collects its own seed or uses seed suppliers who collect seed from northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Usually in April of each year, Possibility Place hosts a native plant propagation class limited to no more than 40 attendees. In the fall, they offer a seed processing workshop.

Lake-to-Prairie Wild Ones chapter will host its next meeting at the Grayslake Public Library on May 26 featuring Gene Wells talking about "Thinking Outside the Rain Barrel" – how to make them, how to hide them, and how to care for them.