7+ hour, 51+ min ago   (565+ words) Melissa Wubben lives on a farm in Warren County. In order to create a successful Monarch habitat, it is helpful to consider the whole life cycle of these butterflies. With two or three non-migratory generations of Monarchs per season, that’s…...

2+ week, 6+ hour ago   (956+ words) For many years I have become familiar with the Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia), sometimes just referred to as Narrow-leaved Echinacea. In our northwest corner and the entire western edge of Iowa, this is the most common…...

4+ week, 8+ hour ago   (708+ words) Diane Porter of Fairfield first published this post on My Gaia, an email newsletter “about getting to know nature” and “giving her a helping hand in our own backyards.” Diane also maintains the Birdwatching Dot Com website and bird blog....

1+ mon, 5+ day ago   (420+ words) Katie Byerly of Cerro Gordo County is also known as Iowa Prairie Girl on YouTube. Here I will review a different plant in the bedstraw/madder family: Northern Bedstraw (Galium boreale). And yes, just like the name suggests, these plants…...

1+ mon, 2+ week ago   (684+ words) Nature nerd Emily Bredthauer took the pictures enclosed below in April and May. (It’s better not to be too specific about the location of rare wildflowers.) Already feeling successful in my day’s quest, I had no expectations for the next…...

2+ mon, 2+ week ago   (466+ words) Leland Searles has had a long interest in birding and wildflowers. He combines that with over fifteen years as a consultant in ecological assessment and restoration, along with graduate studies in environmental and psychological anthropology. His recent writing addresses some…...

2+ mon, 3+ week ago   (613+ words) Diane Porter of Fairfield first published this post in April on My Gaia, an email newsletter “about getting to know nature” and “giving her a helping hand in our own backyards.” Diane also maintains the Birdwatching Dot Com website and…...

3+ mon, 5+ day ago   (998+ words) Adam Shriver is Director of Wellness and Nutrition at the Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement. This essay was first published on his Substack newsletter, Canary in a Cornfield. For that reason, it’s extremely important for Iowans to…...

3+ mon, 3+ week ago   (728+ words) Bleeding Heartland’s Iowa wildflowers series returns for a fifteenth year. Past posts are linked here (alphabetized by the plant’s common name) and here (for posts covering many species). The bursting leaf bud of Ohio Buckeye, Aesculus glabra, is often seen…...

3+ mon, 3+ week ago   (858+ words) Wayne Ford is the executive director of Wayne Ford Equity Impact Institute and co-Director of the Brown and Black Forums of America. He is a former member of the Iowa legislature (1997 through 2010) and the founder and former executive director of…...