Restoration ...with a little help from friends

[Gloria]

A while back staff posted about a website
Join the Native Seed Gardeners

where several organizations...

Welcome
FPDCC Volunteer Resources
http://www.springcreekstewards.org/
Audubon Chicago Region
Citizens for Conservation, Barrington,Illinois ...

were looking for volunteers to grow native plants locally for a restoration at Spring Creek.The seeds were started by the Chicago Botanic Garden

With over 500 responses this last week was spent handing out the plants.
First I received an email with a list of available plants and a form about myself and garden (sun,shade,space available,etc...).
When the number of plants for each was determined we were asked to pick 5 or 6 favorites from the plant list.
On June 1st we were notified where to pick up the plants and told than they were small plugs but not which we would receive.

Saturday I picked up the plants.
2 - Michigan Lily/Lilium michiganense
2 - Northern Bedstraw/Galium boreale
1 - Canadian Hawkweed/Hieracium canadense
1 - Scurfy pea/Psoralea tenuiflorum

Now I'll plant them although the best area is where the rattlesnakemaster seedlings were to go. The neighbors will surely think we are growing weeds. Wish me luck!

[Equilibrium]

I wish you much luck! You'll do well! You are doing a wonderful thing Gloria. I did contact them and did not receive a response. They might have had enough people to help them out. Soooo... where do you go from here? How long do you grow them out before returning them?

[TheLorax]

Those plants are beautiful in my eyes.

I wish you the best Gloria. I wish there were more people out there like you who cared enough to take on a project like this.

[Gloria]

Equilibrium, since this is the first year for the project they just ran out of plants. Several people would have taken many more if needed but the response was incredible.

Since this is an ongoing project next year there will be many more plants available. I hope you try again then.
As for the plan everyone that received plants will keep in touch with the coordinators via email. The plants are ours to keep but the seeds will be harvested and returned to the project. Hopefully by the end of 2010 we will begin to see some plants producing enough seed to collect.
This is a long term project but we can opt out anytime. I would hope most people make it through the first seed harvest.


Lorax, I agree the plants are beautiful, but there was a time in the not so distant past that we (the Mr and I)were removing bedstraw and hawkweed from the gardens without even knowing which were native. We have learned to appreciate a whole new aesthetic. The book 'One Straw Revolution' and Masanobu Fukuoka, are largely responsible for the mind set that put our education and change of perspective in motion.

[Gloria]

Several articles in Science Daily recently discussed(thank you staff) give this whole project greater significance.

Most Polluted Ecosystems Can Recover, Study Finds

Revegetation of Native Flora More Successful If Genetically Diverse Seed Added

Beneficial Plant 'Spillover' Effect Seen From Landscape Corridors

How Wildlife Corridors Work Over Time

Conservation biologists interested in predicting how corridors work can make use of "movement ecology," a new framework that can describe how traveling species enter habitats in modern landscapes, which are seldom continuous and vast.
In general, the researchers found that, overall, there were more species in the patch connected by a corridor than the unconnected ones. But they predicted that groups of species would respond differently depending on how they were moved around the landscape. Seeds are dispersed by wind, birds, or they move almost imperceptibly, dropping a few inches away from the parent plant, and thus are called unassisted.

We are of the earth, we disperse, we assist, we must do so thoughtfully.

[Fearless Weeder]

We are of the earth, we disperse, we assist, we must do so thoughtfully.

Extremely valid comment. Thank you.

[Equilibrium]

More plants than volunteers is a good thing. Usually it's the reverse. I'll try again next year.

[biigblueyes]

It's incredible that there was that much response.

[Staff]

Bravo to you Gloria. Your plants look lovely.