Pale Purple Coneflowers (Echinacea pallida), one of my favorite native prairie plants, are in bloom. I took these photos at Afton Forest Preserve in DeKalb Co.
Pale Purple Coneflower (Afton Forest Preserve, DeKalb Co.)
Pale Purple Coneflower (Afton Forest Preserve, DeKalb Co.)
Kim and I also spent the long 4th of July holiday weekend at the farm, which gave us the opportunity to check on the progress of the two acre prairie restoration project we began this spring. The fields are very green due to the adequate rainfall we've received so far this year. The oat cover crop we put down with the prairie seed grew quickly and has already produced seed heads, which I clipped off with a mower. The prairie plants are still not visible.
We identified some problematic areas that are infested with Canada Thistle and Common Burdock, two aggressive invasive species that will spread quickly and out-compete the prairie plants if left unchecked. I mowed these patches as well, but may need to remove individual plants by hand before they go to seed.
Here is a two month comparison of a 1 acre parcel.
May 2008
July 2008
All images and © 2008 Derek Strom
Pale Purple Coneflower (Afton Forest Preserve, DeKalb Co.)
Pale Purple Coneflower (Afton Forest Preserve, DeKalb Co.)
Kim and I also spent the long 4th of July holiday weekend at the farm, which gave us the opportunity to check on the progress of the two acre prairie restoration project we began this spring. The fields are very green due to the adequate rainfall we've received so far this year. The oat cover crop we put down with the prairie seed grew quickly and has already produced seed heads, which I clipped off with a mower. The prairie plants are still not visible.
We identified some problematic areas that are infested with Canada Thistle and Common Burdock, two aggressive invasive species that will spread quickly and out-compete the prairie plants if left unchecked. I mowed these patches as well, but may need to remove individual plants by hand before they go to seed.
Here is a two month comparison of a 1 acre parcel.
May 2008
July 2008
All images and © 2008 Derek Strom
2 comments:
Just sowed the seed for my two acres of prairie restoration over the Thanksgiving weekend. We're outside of Omaha, so hopefully will have good results. Questions: Where did you get your seed? How did you plant, sow or drill?
Great pics.
Dear Fly Tyler,
I hope you have good results with your restoration, too. Please let me know how things turn out this spring/summer.
I bought my seed from Prairie Moon Nursery (www.prairiemoon.com) and we used a Land Pride primary grass seeder. We mixed the prairie grass seed and the oat seed together and seeded them at the same time. This really helped pull the lighter prairie seed down through the seeder. The unit also has rolling compacter which improves the seed-to-soil contact. We broadcasted the forb seed by hand after seeding the grass.
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