Yellow Star Grass
Yellow Star Grass (Hypoxis hirsuta) In the South-40 Woods I found a big patch of Yellow Star Grass blooming today. This was an area that was burned last fall. The … Continued
Virginia Bluebells
Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) It’s a perfect Spring day here today. We took a picnic lunch into the Eastern Valley. Around us we saw hundreds of Virginia Bluebells. I took … Continued
Tree Clearing Continues
Matt Barnes and Duncan Foss cutting, piling and burning trees. Matt & Duncan work full time for the PGT. This winter they have spent a lot of time clearing the … Continued
Smoothing Ground the Cedar Way
The speed of creating an opening and sculpting the edge between the woods and prairie was amazing! In just a few days, David Perrey removed trees and placed them for … Continued
Prescription for Health: Burning Woods and Prairie
The weather was perfect, so Matt Barnes gathered a crew to carefully burn our prairies and woods on Wednesday and Friday this week. The weather has been so wet this … Continued
Why Burn Forests?
For those of us who grew up with Smokey Bear saying “Only you can prevent forest fires,” and frightened by the horrific blazes in the Disney movie, Bambi, it’s a … Continued
Sculpting a New Woods Edge
I’ve always appreciated the art of sculpture, but it’s usually creating a thing of appealing form that stands by itself. This past weekend, David Perrey used a highlift (which is … Continued
Revealing Big Trees
They’re gems in the woods—big trees resting hidden by scores of skinny ones. Our goal is to strip away the younger plants and reveal those awe-inspiring oaks and others and … Continued
Don’t Fence Us In
Creating a gracefully curving, “natural” looking landscape takes some heavy-duty whacking of trees. Yesterday Henry and I walked around the south prairie area (called Tallgrass prairie and Dropseed areas on … Continued