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

Mike did a little mowing here for aspen – there are aspen sprouts growing in the narrowest part, and along the northern edge going up into the Cat’s Paw.  And there are some on the western side, along the edge of the woods.

We also mowed one area to try to control Canada Goldenrod.  If it works, we’ll try it in some other places next year.  The place we picked had almost no flowers other than Canada Goldenrod last year, and in early summer this year, except for a few spots, all we could see was goldenrod.

7/10/2018   The narrowest part of the prairie has aspen sprouts, but also some of the more desirable prairie plants like Leadplant.

7/28/2018  Mowing for goldenrod.  Mike tried to leave the spots with other flowers unmowed.

7/28/2018  Goldenrod mowing

7/31/2018  This is the wider part of the prairie, leading down to the Knife Edge.

7/31/2018

7/31/2018

7/31/2018  The narrowest part, before mowing aspen sprouts

8/6/2018  This is, I think, Stiff Sunflower (Helianthus pauciflorus).  (Sunflowers are difficult to ID because they vary a lot, and they hybridize.)

8/8/2018  There are several patches of Rough Blazing Star here that get bigger every year.

8/8/2018