Narrows Prairie – 2020

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

The most exciting find here this year was Monarch roosts during the migration.  We saw many small roosts one cool, windy day, in trees along the south edge of the prairie.   The largest ones had about 40 butterflies.

We mowed again this year to control aspen sprouts – in September, once the Monarchs were gone.  We left one small circle of aspen sprouts as a test – I’m going to try girdling them to see if girdling all the sprouts in one area will eliminate them in that area.  It would be nice if we could use that method to gradually (it would take years) eliminate them in the whole field.

3/20/2020

 

5/16/2020  Golden Alexanders

 

5/23/2020  Wild Lupine, Golden Alexanders

 

5/29/2020  Wild Lupine, Golden Alexanders

 

5/29/2020

 

6/10/2020  Golden Alexanders, White Wild Indigo

 

7/20/2020

 

7/22/2020

 

7/22/2020

 

7/22/2020

 

8/6/2020  Prairie Blazing Star – not one that I planted.  It must have come from a seed that was mixed in with another species I bought.

 

8/6/2020  Prairie Blazing Star also comes in white.

 

9/1/2020  Monarch roost in a tree along the south edge of the prairie

 

9/1/2020  Monarch roost

 

9/13/2020  Showy Goldenrod

 

9/22/2020  This is our test of the effect of aspen girdling.  I’ll girdle them next spring and see what happens.

 

9/22/2020  Mowing for aspen sprouts;  the unmowed areas have no aspens.

 

9/23/2020  Purple asters – mostly Sky-blue Aster

 

10/7/2020

 

10/9/2020  Our test plot