[To see photos and stories of this prairie in other years, go to the links on the main Sumac Prairie page.]

We mowed the top field, and the savanna above the prairie this year, but didn’t do any work on the prairie itself.

1/12/2015

1/18/2015

2/28/2015  Most of the birches that I’ve girdled have died, so the rocky outcrops are beginning to emerge.

4/26/2015   Savanna area above the prairie

7/23/2015   This is the wooded/brushy area between Sumac Prairie and Sumac Corner Prairie.  It has several clumps of old Burr Oaks, like this one.  I’m gradually getting the underbrush cut.

7/23/2015   Some of the plants in the brushy savanna include Whorled Milkweed.

7/23/2015   More of the brushy area – with Field Thistle

7/23/2015  Part of the open prairie hillside

7/23/2015

7/23/2015  Purple Prairie Clover

7/23/2015  Bee visiting Purple Prairie Clover

8/12/2015   This is some of the field above the prairie and north of the savanna – we call it Sumac Field.  It’s very overgrown, but we’re going to try to keep it mowed, and start adding prairie seeds.  It doesn’t look like it was ever plowed, and it does have some natives, but it’s not very diverse, and there are lots of weeds and Canada Goldenrod.

8/12/2015  More of Sumac Field before this year’s mowing

8/12/2015  Sumac Field – this is our path through the field – very overgrown now.

8/25/2015  The path area, mowed

8/25/2015  Sumac Field mowed

8/25/2015   Sumac Field, mowed

August – I pulled Queen Anne’s Lace and cut burdock in the savanna area.  I found quite a few savanna plants growing:
Asclepias exaltata
Aster sagittifolius
Bromus kalmii
Cirsium discolor
Monarda fistulosa
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum
Symphyotrichum oolentangiense
Viola sp.

And some native (somewhat weedy) shade plants:
Cryptotaenia canadensis
Desmodium glutinosum
Osmorhiza sp.
Sanicula sp.

And plenty of weeds – especially:
Burdock
Queen Anne’s Lace
Honeysuckle
Buckthorn

12/2/2015