Among the Wild Ones

Several of us joined Legacy president Kim Good for a walk-about on land that she and her family are restoring to native prairie.

Over the morning we discovered numerous grasses such June grass, Kentucky blue grass, meadow brome and wheat grass. Who knew there were so many different kinds? A grass is a grass is a … or so I thought. I was surprised to learn that a few simple details would help me identify these up-to-now mysterious plants.

We also came across many flowering plants—snowberry, pasture and prairie sage, gumweed (yes, it’s sticky), shrubby cinquefoil, thistles, avens and more. We wandered past badger holes, listened to meadowlarks and talked about how plant communities change and how important it is to conserve native prairie.

Kim is leading another walk July 18, 9 am to noon. Contact her if you’d like to join the walk.