Wetland Team Blog The stalwart crews headed out in the heat to collect new material, and prep and count the plants. Thanks to the diggers (John Egan, Glenn, Chatt) for getting it done and the spriggers (Gail, Lana, and Ray) for “tearing” down the clumps to manageable sprigs. A giant Thank You for making everything work. Plant of the Week Narrow Plumegrass, Saccharum balwinii I was introduced to this grass by Kelly Norrid and it was his suggestion to collect the seed and propagate seedlings from what we… Read More →

Wetland Team Blog The Team (John Egan and Glenn) has worked diligently on the “peninsula” ponds for the spring and summer and now this past week with the last of the water evaporating off P1, we have completed our work here (but we might revisit these ponds after a good rain). The seed cleaning (Lana and Ray) has also been making progress towards completion–our goal being to have most of the seed ready to lay down as soon as the weather turns in the Fall. Thanks to all… Read More →

Wetland Team Blog In this heat, I am amazed to still have go-getters willing to plant in the wetlands….Chatt, Chelsea, Rebecca and John Harrell made it out to P1 and got more plants in the ground. Go Team! Gail, Lana, Ray and I worked on the “endless” Juncus seed–this is critical stuff for when our wetland basins are finally excavated. Plant of the Week White-top Sedge, Rhynchospora colorata This grasslike wetland plant is so unique with its white “petals” which are actually bracts. According to Lady Bird Johnson… Read More →

Wetland Team Blog Holy moley, y’all!!! We went collecting water lilies this week and oh my! it was an adventure. They lilies appeared deceptively shallow as they were so close to the shoreline. What we realized later was the drop-off in the ditch was significant and these lilies have significantly long stems and roots buried deep. We were able to claim 12 lilies (which are now potted up in the Clear Lake nursery). We also collected several button bush stems, Rhynchospora corniculata, and Echinodorus rostratus. Thanks to all… Read More →

Wetland Team Blog We returned to P1 on the meander ridge to put more Sagittaria in the ground. This was after we helped gathered the pickerel weed Chatt dug up from a drainage ditch in his neighborhood–it is good material and we can use the plants in our ponds. Thanks Chatt for getting that for us. Thanks to Gail, Chelsea, Ray and Joe for figuring out how to stuff it all into the van and my CRV. 🙂 Apologies to the Seedling crew back at the Park who… Read More →

Wetland Team Blog After doing the photopoints for the quarter, I could see that P1 really needed more planting. It worked out to be ideal too…the pond is heavily shaded in the morning and so all the planters (Diane, John H., Chatt, Rebecca and Chelsea) could plant easily without melting in the sun. We were also fortunate enough that the new road was hard from the dry weather allowing us to stage the buckets of plants within feet of the pond. 🙂 Meanwhile, Glenn graciously worked the dirt… Read More →

Wetland Team Blog Last week was a slippery mess collecting Sagittaria platyphylla, Delta Duck potato, from the edges of Fishing Pond 1 at Sheldon. The pickins’ were easy, just really muddy. All in all, we collected and counted out 2760 sprigs of Sagittaria and have them staged for planting by the potting shed. Seeders also took the Juncus seed to task and tried to get ahead of the “pile”. Thanks to those who worked on the seed—that stuff can be seriously prickly! Plant of the Week American Lotus,… Read More →

Wetland Team Blog Per our routine, we had two teams working at the Park. Our field crew (Chatt, Diane, LaDeisha, John H., and Joe) took 8 buckets of material out to the cabin area to get those plants into their new home. The weather has really been heating up and so the field crew had it’s work cut out for it. The seed cleaning crew (Chelsea, Rebecca, Lana, Ray and Gail) meanwhile tried to make a dent in the Juncus seed cleaning. Plant of the Week Maidencane, Panicum… Read More →

Wetland Team Blog We will resume our workdays this week. Last week was postponed due to the TS Bill. We have plenty of planting to be completed and seed work that needs to be completed. See y’all at the park Wednesday morning! Plant of the Week Buttonbush flatsedge, Cyperus cephalanthus Our colleague, Susan Conaty, brought us one big pot of Cyperus cephalanthus about two years ago and since then we have been propagating the flatsedge via seed and propagules. It is a rather large robust flatsedge and large… Read More →

Wetland Team Blog It was a lovely, bright and hot day in the wetlands. We split off again to work in the meander ridge planting plants, and back in the potting shed to get some Jamaica sawgrass divided and repotted. Thanks to all our crew for making it out and making it work! Plant of the Week Marsh Hay Cordgrass, Spartina patens Marsh Hay Cordgrass or Spartina patens, is one of my personal favorite grasses. It forms expansive fields or meadows in the coastal regions (as testified in… Read More →