Wednesday April 14, 2021
Notes from Underground: Ants in the Prairie
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While many ant species worldwide go unnoticed, ants consist of a large biomass with more than 15,000 species named. Populations of these insects have been discovered on every continent except for Antarctica. As a part of the food chain, they eat waste products that other animals won’t eat and some species are important predators of other insect species. They move plant seeds around for dispersal. They also aerate the soil when they form a hole during their excavations. They’re part of the whole picture and complexity of an ecosystem. Grassland ants all nest underground, but during the growing season, most live nearer and become active at the surface or even above ground level, where the flourish of prairie life is in such vibrant force. |
Dr. James Trager has graduate degrees in entomology specializing in ant research, but has always been broadly interested in the natural history of terrestrial ecosystems. After a 10-year stint as a research entomologist in Florida, Brazil and Argentina, family matters brought him to Missouri, and he found employment as the interpretive naturalist and ecological restoration biologist at Shaw Nature Reserve near St. Louis, where he worked for 28.5 years, until he retired during the summer of 2019 (though staying on as an instructor and volunteer in the restoration program). He is currently working on a guide to the approximately 150 species of Missouri ants, frequently interrupted by “Zooming” off to entomology and other sorts of nature talks, even occasionally giving one himself. Lately he has become enchanted with a granddaughter, born in August, whom he hopes to influence as a student or at least a lover of nature.
Join the meeting via Zoom at 7 pm, April 14th by clicking on this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87243831159
Wednesday May 12, 2021
Fundamentals of Garden Layers: Plant Communities, Ecosystem Function, and Climate Resilience
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Benjamin will explore what plant layers are in naturalistic garden design, how to mimic these layers based on observations in nature, native plants to use in each layer, and how to manage this kind of garden. We'll take a special dive into seasonal layers from spring through winter, as well as how to plan for successional layers in the years after planting.
Benjamin Vogt is the author of A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future and the forthcoming book, Prairie Up: An Introduction to Natural Garden Design (2022, University of Illinois Press). |
Monarch Gardens is Benjamin Vogt. His 5,000' home garden on a 1/4 acre lot has been featured in Fine Gardening, Garden Design, The American Gardener, Nebraska Life, the Omaha World Herald, and the Lincoln Journal Star. For five years (2012-2017) Benjamin wrote an award-winning garden column for Houzz (over 3 million reads with 200 articles) and has contributed to books such as Lawn Gone! and Pollinator Friendly Gardening. You'll find his freelance photography and writing in several publications, including The Xerces Society's Gardening for Butterflies (Timber Press), as well as Orion Magazine, Northern Gardener, APLD's The Designer, Fix, Fine Gardening, and many others. He has been interviewed for dozens of podcasts, articles, and books while speaking nationally on environmental activism and sustainable urban design for wildlife.
Benjamin is a former board member of the Wachiska Audubon Society, a prairie conservation and wildlife organization overseeing 1,000 acres in southeast Nebraska. He also runs the Facebook page Milk the Weed, a lively space where 12,000 folks share the joys and purpose of gardening for wildlife. Benjamin has an M.F.A. (Ohio State) and Ph.D. (Nebraska) in English and has taught over fifty college classes for which he's received multiple awards. You'll find his essays in anthologies like The Tallgrass Prairie Reader, Natural Treasures of the Great Plains, and Prairie Gold, while his Pushcart Prize nominated poems have appeared in over sixty publications. He is the author of three poetry collections and two unpublished memoirs -- the memoirs are based on family & gardening as well as homesteading the prairie environment in the 1800s.
Benjamin lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife, son, and four cats.
Benjamin is a former board member of the Wachiska Audubon Society, a prairie conservation and wildlife organization overseeing 1,000 acres in southeast Nebraska. He also runs the Facebook page Milk the Weed, a lively space where 12,000 folks share the joys and purpose of gardening for wildlife. Benjamin has an M.F.A. (Ohio State) and Ph.D. (Nebraska) in English and has taught over fifty college classes for which he's received multiple awards. You'll find his essays in anthologies like The Tallgrass Prairie Reader, Natural Treasures of the Great Plains, and Prairie Gold, while his Pushcart Prize nominated poems have appeared in over sixty publications. He is the author of three poetry collections and two unpublished memoirs -- the memoirs are based on family & gardening as well as homesteading the prairie environment in the 1800s.
Benjamin lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife, son, and four cats.
Wednesday October 13, 2021
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Still Searching for Minnesota’s Native Wildflowers, Even in our Own BackyardsMeet Phyllis Root and Kelly Povo, authors of Searching for Minnesota’s Native Wildflowers; A Guide for Beginners, Botanist and Everyone in Between.
Learn about why they are crazy about native wildflowers, where they search and (sometimes) find them, and why they are also planting them in their own backyards. You’ll learn where to look, when to go, and how to find some of Minnesota’s little-known native wildflower treasures. They will also share stories of their own adventures (and misadventures). Phyllis Root is a writer, Kelly Povo is a photographer, and they love searching for, learning about, and finding Minnesota’s native flowers. Their first wildflower adventure together was over ten years ago, to Big Bog State Recreation Area, where they walked on the boardwalk a mile into the bog and saw plants they had never seen before. Since then, they have waded rivers, slipped down snowy hillsides, and visited more places than they can remember. Phyllis, an award-winning author, has written many picture books about Minnesota, including Big Belching Bog, Plant a Pocket of Prairie, One North Star, and most recently, The Lost Forest, all published by the University of Minnesota Press. Kelly, a professional photographer for over thirty years, has exhibited in galleries and art shows across the country. Her photographs have been published on posters, calendars, note cards, and in books. They have collaborated on several books, including Girlfriend Gumbo and Gladys on the Go. Whatever they are doing, Phyllis and Kelly laugh—a lot. |