Plant Profiles: In Defense of ‘Weeds’ (Native ones!)
Better start out with a definition of ‘weeds’ first. That means something quite different, whether you are an industrial farmer or a lawn obsessed suburbanite. Even polling our readers might yield wildly different definitions! One of my few favorite Facebook pages is ‘Illinois Botany’. Some visitors to the site barely know the difference between dandelions… Read more
Plant Profiles by Henry "Weeds" Eilers
Plant Profile: A Glimpse of the Distant Past
After a hiatus of several years I have again be collecting seeds for the Chicago Botanical Gardens SOS Millennium Seed Bank Partnership. They issued a priority list but were looking for other species as well. Apparently, there have been few collectors for the Southern Illinois Tillplain Region. Not all species are easy to collect, for… Read more
Plant Profiles by Henry "Weeds" Eilers
Plant Profile: Violet Wood Sorrel [Oxalis violacea]
The Chicago Botanic Garden contacted me again this spring about collecting seed for their SOS [Seeds of Success] seed-banking program. I had done so some 5 years ago. One of my first collections was Oxalis violacea, a fairly common plant in our woodlands and barrens communities. When the sun shines, it is very showy with… Read more
Plant Profiles by Henry "Weeds" Eilers
Plant Profile: Tree Regeneration and More
The ‘Naturalist at Large’ by the retired biology professor Bernd Heinrich is a feature in the Natural History Magazine; always a favorite of mine. In the last issue of the magazine he writes about ‘The Lives of Trees in the Forest [Growing up in a tough neighborhood]’. Last year in his northern New England woods… Read more
Plant Profiles by Henry "Weeds" Eilers
Plant Profile: Lobelia spicata
A nice colony of Pale-spike Lobelia [Lobelia spicata] is in early bloom in my garden as I sit here one of the last days in June. It is a rather dainty species as compared to its well-known relatives, the robust Great Blue Lobelia and the Cardinal Flower and therefore perhaps less well known. The flower color… Read more
Plant Profiles by Henry "Weeds" Eilers
Puzzling Plant Occurences
Rare plants, unusual plants, that were some alternate headings that came to mind. This exploration is prompted by a long list of plants that I have come across over a period of time that had not previously recorded from ‘my neck of the woods’. They were often far removed from their main area of distribution.… Read more
Plant Profiles by Henry "Weeds" Eilers
Plant Profile and Peregrinations – Part 2
(Read Part 1) Provenance matters. Indian-grass is a good case in point. Mass produced range-land selections have been extensively used in Government set-aside programs far away from their origins. They do very well which is desirable in agronomic ways. Trying to enhance such plantings with prairie forbs has proven impossible—at least in the projects that… Read more
Plant Profiles by Henry "Weeds" Eilers
Plant Profile and Peregrinations
For my birthday last summer I received a reprint of a book: “Flora von Bremen, Oldenburg, Ostfriesland und der Ostfriesischen Inseln.” It was published in 1936. Some old works still resonate, many do not. This one did. First the image on the cover piqued my curiosity—a line drawing of Rice Cut-grass [Leersia oryzoides]. Really! You… Read more
Plant Profiles by Henry "Weeds" Eilers
365 Days on iNaturalist
My formal resolution for 2017 was typical – lose ten pounds. It was with that goal in mind that I went out every day over the holidays; it helped that the weather was not very harsh. It was only in late January that the idea of entering at least one observation on iNaturalist every day… Read more
Nature Notes
Plant Profiles: Native Vines & Climbers
On our May/June trip to several countries in Central Europe we took advantage of the frequent opportunities to dine outdoors. Invariably there were lots of flowers and lots of vines, especially rambling roses in glorious and fragrant bloom, enhancing the dining experience.