Fall is here, and while some days feel much more fall-like than others, you can’t deny that trees are putting on their fall colors, herbaceous plants are fading away, asters are blooming, and many warm-season grasses are in their prime. One of my favorite grasses to appreciate in the fall is...
A few years ago I began to notice a very tall, stately grass growing on the roadsides on my daily commute. I only seemed to find it growing in southernmost Illinois. Without any good places to pull over my car on the roadsides, I wasn’t able to get a closer look. Then one day I got an email asking...
Several years ago on a hike in mid-November, I came across an unfamiliar grass. It was still green, with an intact seed head. The alarm bells started ringing in my head, like they do whenever I see green plants late into fall or very early in spring – was this grass native or non-native? Many...
Warm-season grasses are in full bloom right now, putting on their fall display. If you go on a hike in the woods, you might find Wood Reed, Cinna arundinacea. Wood Reed is a native warm-season grass that grows in semi-shaded woodland areas. It can be found in nearly every county in the...
A year ago my family moved. As a gardener, I was looking for a house with a big yard with lots of potential to plant huge gardens. We found a home with almost a blank slate of a yard – after spending a few weeks removing invasive trees and shrubs we were ready to establish landscape beds and get...
About a month ago I was in the Chicago region for a conference, and I took the opportunity to stop by Volo Bog. If you’ve never been, this unique spot is home to an open-water quaking bog, which you can see if you hike the boardwalk loop. While hiking I found some clumps of Bluejoint Grass, which...
The first time I saw Beakgrass was at the Missouri Botanic Garden in a parking median. I was struck by the attractive mass of this grass, which was bowed to one side from the weight of its seed heads. I mentally filed this grass away as one that I wanted to make sure I added to my landscape one day...
As someone who learned grass identification in Midwest prairies, I don’t often focus a lot of time on grasses that grow in the woods or wetlands. But today I wanted to highlight a grass found in wetter sites that serves as a great food source for ducks and other waterfowl. It’s an annual grass that...
Summer is here, which brings a very busy programming schedule. In the past few weeks I’ve driven across the five counties I work in to deliver youth programs at local libraries. A lot of time on the road means I’m paying more attention to what’s growing on our roadsides. Last week the grass I saw...
When we think of prairie grasses, often the tallest grasses come to mind, like Big Bluestem, Indiangrass, and Switchgrass. But that doesn't mean there aren't shorter grasses growing in our prairies too.A lesser known prairie grass is Junegrass, and since we are now in the month of June, it’s only...
