Author: Wendy Vernon

In Victorian times native wildflowers used to be fashionable accessories and many people used to go to the country to harvest large numbers of these flowers. Wildflowers persist in the numbers that they do today only because of the activism and research by a group of women ecologists in the early 1900’s. Read more about […] Continue reading "The Women Who Saved Wildflowers, An untold story of the female ecologists who pioneered wildflower conservation"

Click here to read Cindy Crosby’s Tuesdays in the Tallgrass April 5th blog post, “The April Prairie: After the Fire”, in which she shows some of the life after a prescribed burn at the College of DuPage’s Russell Kirt Prairie in Glen Ellyn, IL. Continue reading "Read Cindy Crosby’s Tuesdays in the Tallgrass April 5th blog post, “The April Prairie: After the Fire”"

The PBS episode 20 from season 48, Butterfly Blueprints, is a must see for anyone with an interest in butterflies. You can watch it for free right now on the WTTW PBS website until February 9, 2022. Here is the PBS description of the episode and a link to view it: The hidden scientific secrets […] Continue reading "Watch the Nova Episode “Butterfly Blueprints”"

The Wild Ones Greater DuPage Chapter is a proud parter in the DuPage Monarch Project along with the The Conservation Foundation, Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, and the Sierra Club River Prairie Group. Check out the DuPage Monarch Project 2021 Annual Report to see what this partnership and the individual communities who have signed […] Continue reading "DuPage Monarch Project 2021 Annual Report is Available"

We are pleased and excited to share the news that the DuPage Monarch Project has been accepted as a Monarch Joint Venture Partner. The Greater DuPage Wild Ones is a proud partner in the DuPage Monarch Project along with The Conservation Foundation, Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, and the Sierra Club River Prairie Group. […] Continue reading "DuPage Monarch Project Joins the Monarch Joint Venture Partnership"

Bell Bowl Prairie, one of the last remnant prairies in Illinois, is under threat of destruction by the Chicago Rockford International Airport expansion. Rich and diverse prairies, developing only over millennia, once covered 22 million acres of Illinois. Today, less than 1/100th of one percent of that is left even partially intact, and each fragment […] Continue reading "Save Bell Bowl Prairie"

Renowned entomologist Dr. Doug Tallamy’s recent presentation,”The Nature Of Oaks: The Rich Ecology Of Our Most Essential Native Trees”, hosted by Wild Ones, Native Plants, Natural Landscapes is available to watch on the Wild Ones YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YxehIqY-t0&t=217s. Drawing from his book, The Nature of Oaks (2021), Dr. Tallamy offers a month-by-month guide to […] Continue reading "Wild Ones Presents “The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees” by Dr. Doug Tallamy"

Hosted by DuPage Monarch Project Celebrate pollinators and help ecologists with the DuPage Monarch Project get a snapshot of wild DuPage! Simply take photos Jun 21 – 27 of any pollinators you see — hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, beetles, etc. — in a DuPage forest preserve or park and upload them to the iNaturalist app. Here’s […] Continue reading "DuPage for Pollinators BioBlitz"

Please take a look at this video from the DuPage Monarch Project. It has a couple Wild Ones stars in it! We think all our Wild Ones members should have a chance to see it and share it with their friends and neighbors so that they see how important it is to save this important […] Continue reading "DuPage Monarch Project Saving Monarch Butterflies Video and Free Milkweed Seeds"

Wild Ones Natural Landscapers, Ltd., is proud to introduce a professionally-designed, native garden plan free for the public to use specific to the ecoregion of Chicago. The design was created with the premise that using native plants in landscaping can be beautiful, promote wildlife, and be achievable for gardeners of all skillsets in terms of […] Continue reading "Wild Ones Introduces Free Native Garden Design for the Ecoregion of Chicago"