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

Aspen sprouts are still the main problem here.  This year I tried an experiment in one small area.  There’s a place in the middle of the prairie, along the path, where there aren’t very many aspens.  But it’s surrounded by very large aspen sprouts.  I cut and treated all the sprouts I could find in the ‘good’ area, and then in the surrounding ‘bad’ area, with milestone + bark oil.  It will be interesting to see if I can keep the sprouts out of that one area.  If I can, I can gradually work my way through the rest of the areas with sprouts.

Mike did his usual mowing for aspen after the Monarch migration had moved on.  It was a very small migration this year.

3/30/2023

3/30/2023

5/25/2023  Mostly Golden Alexanders

5/27/2023  Our biggest patch of Lupine was beautiful but again this year the blister beetles (Lytta sayi) devastated most of the blossoms before they could go to seed.

5/28/2023

6/12/2023

7/21/2023

7/29/2023

8/9/2023

8/9/2023  Prairie Blazing Star – I didn’t intentionally plant this, but several clumps have come up in this prairie.  I think they must have come from seeds mixed in with other seeds I bought.

9/28/2023  Showing the worst of the aspen sprouts

9/16/2023

9/28/2023  This is part of the area where I cut and treated aspen sprouts.

9/28/2023  This is a larger part of that area after cutting and treating the aspen.  It still has aspen all around it, so I don’t know if this experiment will work.

10/22/2023  After Mike finished mowing

10/25/2023

11/18/2023

12/22/2023  Looking through Armund’s Gap into Hidden Oaks Savanna