Wondering what you can do to have a fantastic lawn and be good to the environment as well? Then, join the Lake-to-Prairie Chapter of Wild Ones and Sarah Surroz to learn about safe, eco-friendly ways to care for your lawn.

Sarah directs the Conservation@Home* program for Conserve Lake County. As such, she consults daily with homeowners regarding their home landscapes and environmental awareness.

Whether you do it yourself or hire out lawn care, you will gain practical knowledge you can use right now. In this program, Sarah will provide a wide array of suggestions for managing turf grass, including:

• How to save money
• How to improve your property value
• How to save water, time, and effort

In addition, if you're looking for more ways to get started on sustainable landscaping, or just an assessment of your property's eco-friendly-ness, you can schedule a free property visit through Conserve Lake County by calling 847.548.5989 or by visiting their web site ConserveLakeCounty.org.

*Conservation@Home is a program of The Conservation Foundation and is offered in Lake County by Conserve Lake County through funding from the Grand Victoria Foundation and others.

Huge . . . Fantastic . . . Two great adjectives to describe our Nature Up Close program. We had over 66 people in attendance. Thank goodness there was no meeting in the next room as we had to open the wall, literally, to provide additional seating.

The business meeting was short, mostly announcements about upcoming native plant sales (click here to download a copy of the list).

So why was everyone there? . . . to see a fantastic photo collage presented through the macro lens of a camera. If you weren't there, you missed something really special! There were oohs and ahs, impromptu comments from the crowd, and finally, rousing applause from everyone in attendance.

Joan Sayre showed why she has won many awards with her photogrpahy; it spoke for itself. In addition, she provided personal insights on ways you and I can take those same photographs, although few of us probably have the patience and steadiness needed to capture the micro inner workings of nature.

Her presentation covered a wide arrary of subjects, but all from right here in Lake County: Frost & Ice, Butterflies & Moths, Flowers & Mushrooms, Dragonflies & Damselflies, Insects, Spiders, Reptiles, and Other Backyard Visitors

But in addition, she focused our attention on intricate details that only a macro lens can capture, for example:

• feathery ice crystals shimmering in the early morning sun
• peppercorn-like parasites on the underbelly of a damselfly
• eight eyes of a jumping spider staring back at you
• minute scales on the wing of a Monarch butterfly
• a reflection of the photographer in the golden flecking of a frog's eye
• the geometric structure of a single flower within the thousands that are within just one sunflower

So, if you see some woman with a camera flat on her stomach hanging over the edge of the pond at the Chicago Botanic Garden, or crouched in among the flower displays at the Farmers Market, or on her hands and knees slowly creeping up on dragonfly, it's a pretty good guess it will be Joan. Stop and say hello!

Earth Week was a busy time for the Chapter.

• April 18 - Sandy Miller spoke at the Earth Day Fair at Olive May Stitt Grammar School
• April 19 - Rick Sanders spoke on "Attracting Birds with Native Plants" to an audience of ~50 at the College of Lake County
• April 19 - Janice Hand taught a class on "Backyard Habitats" at the College of Lake County
• April 21 - The Lake-to-Prairie Chapter had a booth at the MCCD Earth Day Celebration at Prairie View Nature Center

These photos are from the MCCD Earth Day Celebration at Prairie View Nature Center. The crowds were amazing all day, with lots of young families and numerous home owners asking questions about native plants, how to attract butterflies, "what should I plant?" One of the biggest hits of the day was the opportunity for kids to color and make their own butterfly ring.

L2P members helping out at the booth included, Sandy Miller, Pam Wolfe, Cindy Kaimakas, and Rick Sanders.

Business Meeting announcements:

• A new Lake-to-Prairie program is being formed that will teach youth about native plants and the environment. For more information , contact Cindy at KidsGoNative@gmail.com.
• April 18 - Sandy Miller speaking at the Earth Day Fair at Olive May Stitt Grammar School
• April 19 - Rick Sanders speaking at Earth Week, College of Lake County
• April 19 - Janice Hand speaking on Backyard Habitats, College of Lake County
• April 21 - L2P Chapter booth at MCCD Earth Day Celebration
• May 12 - Plant Sale - Gardeners of Central Lake County
• May 12-13 - Plant Sale - Lake County Forest Preserve District
• May 19 - Plant Sale - U of I Extension Master Gardeners

In front of an audience of over 30, grower David Husemoller reviewed his “Top 10” things to do to be sure we’re ready for the spring growing season. In order:

#10 - Spring clean-up. Cut and clear out last year’s growth. If you are able to conduct a controlled burn on a prairie area, do that before the land greens up. The black ash that lies in the fields will heat the soil faster for a quicker green-up.

#9 – Tool care. Repair your tools and sharpen pruners, clippers, and shovels. A sharp edge on shovels and spades will make digging markedly easier. Use a lubricant like WD-40 to clean and lubricate moving parts on your tools, too.

#8 – Prune properly. David showed some pictures of proper pruning cuts and emphasized that limbs should be cut from trees leaving a small stub, which allows the tree to heal over the scar. Too close leaves a scar that cannot heal and a stub that is too long will be unsightly and may rot. He recommended that homeowners not “bubble-cut” their shrubs, since new growth will be encouraged where the cuts are which means that the shrub will “puff out” along the cut line. Instead, cut out larger, older limbs at ground level to open up the shrub to air and light and trim the top at variable heights.

#7 – Mulch correctly. We’ve all seen trees with mounds of much around the trunk—David calls these “mulch-canos” for their volcano shape. Mounds of mulch touching the trunk can cause diseases, provide habitat for pests, and rot the tree’s bark. For flower beds, he recommends mulching with leaf or other organic compost, both for plant health and to reduce weed growth.

#6 – Turn the compost. Especially after the winter, the compost pile needs oxygen. It will also need the appropriate mix of “browns” and “greens” to promote rapid decomposition of the organic matter.

#5 – Reduce turf. The cost of America’s addiction to turfgrass is air pollution and noise (from mowing) and water pollution (from fertilizer runoff). Turf is also very labor-intensive and harms biodiversity since almost no beneficial insects or animals can live in turf. David noted that perfectly-mowed lawns came to America from Europe, where the owners of castles kept sheep to shear the grass around the castle. He cited statistics that lawns consume 30% of all water used on the east coast of the US, while the figure is 60% on the west coast.

#4 – Make a garden plan. Reduce your turf by adding to existing garden beds and adding trees and shrubs. He stressed three key factors that will ensure success: (#1) Right conditions, (#2) right soil, and (#3) right plant. As to how many plants, David recommended planting an odd number of plants – 5 to 7 is usually ideal – and he suggested planting them in a zig-zag pattern (not in “straight soldier rows”).

#3 – Order native plants. Now is the time to get locally-grown plants. In addition to David’s company (EarthWild Gardens), other local sources are Lake County Forest Preserve District’s Mother’s Day weekend native plant sale, and the Gardeners of Central Lake County plant sale.

#2 – Develop a maintenance plan. Set up a specific plan of when to weed, when to water, and make sure that you avoid deer browsing your favorite plants by using repellants early. Deer especially seem to like young plants.

#1 – Consult and network. To learn what to do and to get ideas, David recommends being relentless in talking with others and networking. His hints included Wild Ones, U of I Extension, Liberty Prairie Conservancy, and local businesses.

If you have questions or want more information, you can reach David Husemoller at EarthWild Gardens, info@earthwildgardens.com.

Our program was a big success, with over 36 in attendance.

Business Meeting announcements:

• A new Lake-to-Prairie program is being formed that will teach youth about native plants and the environment. For more information , contact Cindy at KidsGoNative@gmail.com.
• You can get free native plant seedlings from a cooperative project of Native Seed Gardeners, Chicago Botanic Garden, and Citizens for Conservation. See NativeSeedGardeners.org for more information.

Ann started her presentation by first explaining how the last glaciers transformed the soils in our area. She explained that, aided by fire, the area became a prime location for oak-hickory woodlands and grasslands. One of the key woodlands is the Southern Des Plaines River Preserves which The LCFPD has been managing for over 20 years.

An assessment of the ecology of the area shows it to be one of the most diverse ecosystems in Illinois with 85% of the salamander and frog species, 75% of the turtle and reptile species, and 138 of 200 species of birds.

In 1820, abut 1/3 of Illinois was forested. Now, only 12% remains and half of that is oak-hickory woodlands. A cursory look at the woodlands would seem to show they are healthy because of their massive trees, but this is not the case.

Sugar maples dominate the woodland floor and have increased 4000% since the 1960's. Emerald Ash Borer has decimated 100% of the ash trees. Regenerative fires have been suppressed and now invasives, like buckthorn, prevent new slower growing trees like oaks from getting established.

Virtually no light reaches the woodland floor. The canopy in places is so thick that it blocks 85% of the sunlight. Thus, less than 0.2% or the trees are seedlings or saplings, and many tree species are absent all together.

The trees are not the only ones suffering. The lack of these smaller trees also creates a lack of food and shelter for the fauna of the region from foxes to field mice, birds, and insects. Because oaks are a keystone species, the next phase of managing these preserves, will be canopy management.

In Phase II, management activities will focus on increasing sunlight penetration and encouraging oak and other tree regeneration. This may require the selective removal of some trees, or the girdling of others, but a healthy forest generally has 10-20% dead trees which can provide both nutrients and shelter. Thus as the woodlands regenerate, the biodiversity will increase.

Ann then explained the restoration work going on in the Chiwaukee Illinois Beach Lake Plain. This is a massive 4,500 area on the coast of Lake Michigan spanning both Illinois and Wisconsin preserves. It has 14 different vegetative communities, 500 plant species, 300 animals, and over 160 different types of birds.

This project has been underway for four years. It is funded in part by a Federal grant, and has a long, long list of partners from State, local, and non-profit organizations in both Illinois and Wisconsin.

The major focus of the project has been to control the cattails and other invasive plants. And the results after just four years are impressive.

• Tripled the overall species richness
• Reduced cattails to 1/10 of what it was
• Increased floral quality by 50%

No materials were handed out (due to photo rights), but if you have questions or want more information, you can reach Ann Maine at AMaine@lakecountyil.gov.

The meeting started off a bit askew as our speaker, Kelsay Shaw, discovered he was missing a key cable that would enable him to show his prepared slides. Fortunately, he was able to make a connection to another device, and shared some slides from a different but relevant presentation.

He started the presentation by asking for questions and got one related to soil compaction. He noted that average urban soils are compacted within 5# of concrete and almost always need amending. He recommended spreading compost, and then just flipping the soil - - not trying to roto-till it.

He next went through a slide of Challenges facing the use of Native Landscaping. He pointed out:

• We need to overcome the dogma of Native plants being difficult to work with and instead show how they can be used just as effectively as common ornamentals.
• We need to understand our soils first before any planting takes place. Be sure to consider the slopes, PH, and soil composition.
• We need to beware of "experts" in the landscape business. Rather, do your own research and then look for help from recognized leaders in the field of native landscapes.
• We need to recognize the importance of planting natives as host plants and food sources that will attract and foster native wildlife, like birds, butterflies and bees.
• He also showed a picture of a swail, planted with native plants that actually improved the flow, cleaned up the quality and improved the absorption of the water.

Finally, Kelsay briefly walked us through a case study of a home in Kankakee, IL and the steps necessary to plan and design the transition to a native landscape. (read about the home at www.possibilityplace.com/our-blog/2011/08/reums-kankakee-illinois/).

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.

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.

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

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) .

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:

1. Prairies,
2. Savannahs,
3. Wetlands, and
4. 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.