[To see photos and stories of this prairie in other years, go to the links on the main Hidden Oaks Point page.]
For the first time, I introduced a few new plants into the remnants. I got seedlings of some rare prairie species from a friend, and decided that the best place for them would be here.
Cirsium pumilum var. hillii
Valeriana edulis
I also planted some seeds of a few special plants:
Agalinis aspera
Anemone patens
Liatris cylindracea
Penstemon gracilis
Talinum rugospermum
(All of these are plants that are found in our area – just not on our land, as far as I know.)
This was a big year for the woods below the point. We spent a few weeks in the fall clearing brush and small trees to open up those woods. It’s not finished yet – winter arrived a little too soon – but we hope to go back next year and do the rest. It looks a lot more like a savanna now.
1/3/2015 A view of Hidden Oaks Meadow and Armund’s Gap
3/13/2015
4/17/2015 Hidden Oaks Meadow and Armund’s Gap newly mowed
4/17/2015
4/18/2015
5/9/2015 This is one of the new seedlings – Hill’s Thistle. It’s a ‘threatened’ species in Wisconsin. We’ve seen it at one friend’s prairie, but never found it at our farm. Dean gave me 6 plants, and I put some in the planted prairie near the house, and the rest here, in the bluff prairie.
This is another of the seedlings from Dean. It’s called Valerian, and grows in wet to mesic prairies.
5/15/2015 Blue-eyed Grass
5/22/2015 This year I finally girdled the huge, old aspens that grow along the edge of Hidden Oaks Meadow. I have a new tool now – a draw knife – that makes it much easier to cut thick bark.
6/14/2015 A few Indian Paintbrush seeds made their way into Hidden Oaks Savanna
6/16/2015
7/28/2015
7/28/2016
7/28/2015
8/7/2015
8/20/2015
8/22/2015 The Monarch population was back up again this year, so we saw many Monarchs on the Blazing Star in Hidden Oaks Meadow.
8/22/2015 Monarch
8/22/2015 Black Tiger Swallowtail (female)
8/24/2015
8/26/2015
9/20/2015
10/20/2015
10/20/2015
10/20/2015
10/20/2015
10/20/2015 Looking down the point
10/20/2015
10/25/2015 It’s difficult to take a photo that’s wide enough to show the woods below the point, but this is one that I took before we started work.
10/25/2015 Looking up into the woods before we started
11/7/2015 Partly done – we’ve cut a lot of trees and brush and made piles
11/13/2015 I found a big patch of Rattlesnake Plantain – a small native orchid – growing under the trees.
11/15/2015 The project is finished for this year. We cut brush all the way up to the point, and removed the piles. The rest will have to wait until next year. Click on the photo to see a larger version.
11/15/2015 Click on the photo to see a larger version.
