Author: Wendy Vernon

YOU’RE INVITED TO A CELEBRATION DuPage Monarch Project is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2020 Jane Foulser Habitat and Pat Miller Community Engagement awards on Tuesday January 19th at 2:00 pm. You are invited to join us in recognizing these outstanding achievements in increasing pollinator habitat and the community’s awareness of solutions for […] Continue reading "DuPage Monarch Project 2020 Jane Foulser Habitat and Pat Miller Community Engagement Awards"

Wild Ones is co-sponsoring a national webinar series in conjunction with New Directions in American Landscape (NDAL). There are several great interactive webinars featuring a renowned group of instructors including Larry Weaner, founder of New Directions in American Landscape. The instructors will illustrate landscaping techniques that make our little corners of the world more ecologically […] Continue reading "NDAL Ecology-Based Landscapes Webinar Series"

Chris Benda, aka Illinois Botanizer has added a new video to his YouTube channel which introduces the concept of “cadaver botany” by explaining how to identify 17 common plants found in the woods of southern Illinois in November. This is also a great video to learn how to identify plants in winter. Here is a […] Continue reading "Cadaver Botany"

Dennis Swiftdeer Paige has presented for our chapter in the past on creating native eco-gardens in your community. He is the author of a new book, Community Eco-gardens: Landscaping with Native Plants, published by Mcfarland and Company under Toplight Books, with a foreword by noted native plant expert and entomologist Doug Tallamy. His book, which […] Continue reading "Community Eco-gardens: Landscaping with Native Plants"

Despite being called “The Prairie State,” Illinois has very little high quality prairie remaining. Out of the 57,915 square miles in Illinois only 1 square mile of high quality prairie is left. A lot of this remnant prairie can be found in pioneer cemeteries, that is, prairie ground set aside in the late 1800’s for […] Continue reading "Pioneer Cemetery Prairies of Illinois"

The Illinois Monarch Action Plan was signed into place by representatives of the Illinois Departments of Natural Resources, Transportation and Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency on September 24, 2020. The population of eastern monarch butterflies has declined by more than 80 percent over the past two decades. This plan will work to increase the […] Continue reading "Illinois Monarch Action Plan signed into place on September 24, 2020"

One of our members, Bruce Blake has just gotten his website up and running for his native plant certified Illinois Nursery, Prairie Wind Native Plants. His prices and selections are great and he has many plants available now. Check out the Prairie Wind Native Plants website for prices, available plants along with photos, and more […] Continue reading "New Native Plant Nursery Now Available from One of Our Own Wild Ones Members"

If you missed Doug Tallamy’s Nature’s Best Hope webinar hosted by the Wild Ones on July 9, 2020 you can watch a recording of it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARdYLamTA-M&feature=youtu.be. Dr. Tallamy is a renowned entomologist, ecologist, author, and an Honorary Directory of Wild Ones. Through his research, writings and presentations, Dr. Tallamy has encouraged us to landscape […] Continue reading "Recording of Nature’s Best Hope webinar by Doug Tallamy hosted by Wild Ones on July 9, 2020"

The area around Chicago has more plant biodiversity than any national park with over 1,700 native plant species. If you want to learn about where to see the best wildflower blooms each week then visit the ChicagoNatureNow! website. ChicagoNatureNow! also has great information about native plants, beautiful pictures of these plants so you can learn […] Continue reading "Best Nature Preserves to See Native Plants in the Chicagoland Area with ChicagoNatureNow!"