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Dogwood Fall Color
Flowering Dogwood Flowering Dogwoods are showing bright warm colors right now, but the larger trees haven’t turned yet. Usually this is when the forests in Missouri show peak fall color.
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Dogwood Leaves
Flowering Dogwood Leaves Flowering Dogwoods have been showing great fall color for over 3-weeks and they’re still going strong. Since they put on an equally showy display in spring, I find them the...
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Bittersweet
American bittersweet is a native vine that has colorful, orange fruits that are the size of a pea. Berry-laden branches are great for Fall decorations. At the Prairie Garden Trust (PGT) I usually find...
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Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse Titmice are tame birds that love to eat sunflowers at our feeder. They are here year-round and their whistled peter-peter-peter song may be heard even during mid-winter thaws.
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Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle We saw two eagles flying in the Hiller’s Creek Valley yesterday on our walk at the Prairie Garden Trust (PGT). When we first moved here in 1970, we never saw them, now we see them a few...
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Hedge Apple
Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) The Osage Orange trees that were planted by the European settlers in the mid 1800s can still be seen in hedge rows at the Prairie Garden Trust (PGT). They produce heavy...
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Dogwood in Snow
Dogwood in SnowFlowering Dogwoods are appealing in all seasons; even with a coating of snow. We may get more than 12-inches by the time the storm ends. Since it snows infrequently here, that’s a treat.
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Black-capped Chickadee
Black-capped Chickadee I always enjoy watching Chickadees. At our bird feeder they take sunflower seeds one at time and fly away to stuff them into bark crevices. During the winter I often see them in...
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Horsetail
Horsetails look like green soda straws; the stems are hollow. This native evergreen grows along the edges of water. You can find it along Hillers Creek here at the Prairie Garden Trust (PGT).
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Snowy Landscape
We got a few inches of snow yesterday. This shows the woods just east of the Prairie Garden Trust (PGT) visitor center. The PGT is closed during the winter but will reopen in April.
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Tufted Titmouse
This is one of the most common birds going for sunflowers at our feeder. During the winter I see them in mixed flocks with Black-capped chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches and Downy Woodpeckers.
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Prairie Burn
Today we’re going to burn the 43-acre prairie on the northern edge of the Prairie Garden Trust (PGT). Controlled burns are a wildly popular land management tool. After 3 decades of experience with...
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Help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Yesterday 3 people from the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program came to seed 20-acres on the northern edge of the Prairie Garden Trust (PGT). They also provided the expertise and funding to select...
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Spring Peepers Calling
Yesterday by small pond in the woods near the visitor center I heard the intense singing of Spring Peepers. That sound tells me that spring will be here soon. This tiny frog is hard to see, but its...
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Wood Duck
Wood Duck I saw a pair of Wood Ducks yesterday at one of the ponds at the Prairie Garden Trust (PGT). Instead of flushing and flying away they swam into some brush. I suspect they are going to stay and...
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Bloodroot
Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis I saw the first Bloodroot blooms yesterday. Like many other woodland wildflowers, they are “spring ephemerals”. That means they bloom, set seed and go dormant before...
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PGT Walks for 2019
You are invited to come out and take a walk at the Prairie Garden Trust (PGT). It is a public nature garden in central Missouri. It is free and open to the public. You can come out and explore on your...
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American Goldfinch
American Goldfinch At our feeder this week I’ve noticed that the goldfinches have started to get their color back. The males are molting to replace their dull brown winter feathers with brilliant...
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Blue-winged Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler The Blue-winged Warblers are back. I saw my first one yesterday. Warblers are beautiful small birds that move quickly as they search for insects. Here one is probing a hickory bud....
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Invasive Exotics
Bush Honeysuckle Invasive Exotics are introduced species that spread aggressively and harm the environment. They are increasingly common in everyone’s backyard. At the Prairie Garden Trust (PGT) we...
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