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Teenage Prairie
Our prairie is getting all grown up. The 12-acre prairie reconstruction at Dyck Arboretum of the Plains known as the Prairie Window Project is reaching a noticeably new stage of maturity in its sixth...
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A Love for Water: Reflections on Water Supply
In spite of winter’s recent blast, I am feeling hydrophilic. It is true that I have a “strong affinity for water” as the definition goes. In a vocation working with water-dependent plants where...
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WARNING: The Monarch Butterfly is Threatened
Monarchs ingest toxic cardiac glycosides when their larvae eat milkweed leaves and advertise through their adult warning coloration: “look out for me…I’m poisonous!” The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...
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Embracing Prairie Burning
An important disturbance mechanism for prairie ecosystem health, a restoration ritual that connects a Kansan to its native landscape, and a series of sights, sounds and smells that both comforts and...
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The Power of Many
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” ~ Helen Keller Consider the power of one vs. the power of many. The power of one may at first seem insignificant. However, with persistence,...
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Ragweed: An Annual Affliction
Achoo! A couple of weeks ago, my son and I started to experience the annoyance of head, nasal, and throat responses to extra pollen in the air. I did some investigating of roadsides and sure enough,...
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Three Benefits of Native Plant Roots
The other day I was watching a show on television that was trumpeting the benefits of organic matter. It really made me think. I know organic matter doesn’t exactly get everyone fired up, but one...
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The Prairie Paradox
“Reversing deforestation is complicated; planting a tree is simple.” – Martin O’ Malley, Former Governor of Maryland and Mayor of Baltimore. When I first read this saying, I automatically changed it in...
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Embrace Thistles
I encourage you to embrace thistles. Our South Central Kansas native species are colorful and attractive to pollinators. With the abundance of precipitation we’ve received this year, it has been a...
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Seeds for the Future
The words “seeds for the future” are easy to use in abstract terms when talking about carrying out Harold and Evie Dyck’s long-term vision for an arboretum (35 years old and counting), or doing...
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A Land Ethic is Alive and Well in Kansas
On Saturday, March 18, we held our 11th annual spring education symposium entitled Living the Land Ethic in Kansas, and learned how much we have to celebrate in Kansas. This symposium was many months...
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A Land Pilgrimage to the Home of Aldo Leopold
Canopy with pines planted by the Leopold family near the Shack A pilgrimage is defined as a journey to a shrine of importance to a person’s beliefs and faith. A recent late-June trip to the Aldo...
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O Cedar Tree, O Cedar Tree
This past weekend I cut down a red cedar to use as my Christmas tree; just the right shape and size and with the right amount of character. I feel great about cutting one of these trees out of the wild...
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Imposter Plants: What it Means to Be Native, Part II
This post is the second installment of the Imposter Plants series. In the first post I discussed the differences between native and adaptable, while also trying to clear up the confusing descriptor...
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10 Lessons for Urban Native Plant Meadows
Katie Kingery-Page I heard a great presentation this last Saturday entitled “10 Lessons for Urban Native Plant Meadows” by Katie Kingery-Page, Kansas State University (KSU) faculty member in the...
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Be an Advocate for the Prairie
At Dyck Arboretum, we focus a lot of our energy on spreading knowledge and appreciation for the prairie. We love Kansas’s natural landscape and we are alarmed by how little native prairie is left...
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Fire: A Link Between People and the Prairie
Over the last week, I have been helping conduct prescribed burns on the prairies at Dyck Arboretum as well as for some area landowners. This annual spring ritual for me is one of the most engaging...
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Callery Pear: Cut Them Down
Several years ago, I noticed something disturbing was happening to our prairie reconstruction. Small little trees were popping up throughout the original prairie planting. I could not figure out...
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October Richness
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...
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Our Maturing Reconstructed Prairie
Six years ago I wrote my first ever Dyck Arboretum blog post about our “Teenage Prairie” Prairie Window Project (PWP) reconstructed prairie. The birth and development of this project was the focus of...
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