Arboretum News (Naturalists’ Notes)
Woodland Wildflowers in a late spring
SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2013
It finally felt like spring on Sunday and a large group of folks turned out for the 1 pm public tour. We anticipated this and were prepared with two guides to split up the group. These notes are from one of the groups, but they reflect much of what was ... Read more »
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EARLY MIGRANTS
SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 2013Mother Nature lied to us on Easter Sunday. At 1:00 she promised us a lovely, sunny afternoon – but she failed to deliver. ... Read more »
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End of Winter
SUNDAY, MARCH 24, 2013Our tour for this first weekend of Spring is titled “End of Winter”, but the weather today seems more like the middle of Winter! With ... Read more »
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Awakening Land
SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 2013This year’s March is quite different from last year. At this time last year, there were woodland wildflowers in bud (and bloom!). This year, we’re ... Read more »
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Winter Birds
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013With temperatures hovering near 35 degrees Fahrenheit, and water obliged to display its according state, we began our tour in something of a heavy, mid-February ... Read more »
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Winter Water
SUNDAY, JANUARY 20, 2013It seems that winter water is not a simple thing. Read more »
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A Walk in Wingra Woods
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2012Sunday’s Wingra walk started with a bang; well it was more like a shriek. We heard the piercing, majestic call of a red-tailed hawk ... Read more »
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Thinking Like an Arboretum
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2012On an unseasonably warm November afternoon (not that I’m complaining, but it doesn’t feel NORMAL), we set out to “think like an Arboretum”. This ... Read more »
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A Walk in the Late Autumn Woods
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2012A good show of brave souls turned out for our walk – despite the steady drizzle and the ominous dark rain clouds on the weather ... Read more »
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Red Lanterns – Fall Woodland Walk
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2012The title of the walk comes from Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac. In the October chapter he refers to allowing his dog to wander from “red lanterns”– red leaves lit by the autumn sun – in search of grouse, woodcock and jacksnipe. Read more »
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Arboretum Sampler – Hawks to Hedge Apples
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012Sunday’s Arb Sampler tour started with a dramatic appearance of a red-tailed hawk that swooped down off of the Visitor Center, skimming right over a ... Read more »
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Fall Flowers in the Grady Tract
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2012The weather smiled on us for Sunday’s tour at the Grady Tract. It’s rare for us to tour at Grady two weeks in a ... Read more »
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Notes from the Naturalist: Curtis Prairie Late Summer
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012A burst of yellow, and shades of purple and red, herald the coming of fall each year in Curtis Prairie. As we entered the prairie, ... Read more »
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A Sample of Dane County in 1834
SUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 2012Why did we choose 1834 in our tour name? If you’d been here in 1834, very little of the present Arboretum acreage would have looked the way it does today. Read more »
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Drought Affects Plants and the Critters that Depend Upon Them
SUNDAY, JULY 15, 2012Brown, yellow, and wilted green leaves are falling. Day after day the hot sun beats down on crisp brown grass and the parched earth. ... Read more »
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Prairies in Bloom – Adapted to Drought
SUNDAY, JULY 8, 2012Alvin, Simon, and Theodore … remember them? Cute, high pitched, Grammy Award winning singing chipmunks. For me, their musical stylings are best in small doses. ... Read more »
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Many flowers in bloom on the prairie!
SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012Despite the heat, we had a good-sized group for Sunday’s Curtis prairie tour. We headed out in a westwardly direction, along the fire lane, cutting ... Read more »
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Curtis Prairie Walk
SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012I encourage you to come and enjoy the show on the prairie in front of the visitor center. White Wild Indigo (Baptisia alba) is ... Read more »
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Greene Prairie and Grady Oak Savannas
SUNDAY, JUNE 3, 2012To me, the Greene prairie seems particularly dry compared to seasons past, but you wouldn’t guess from the lush green and the many plants in bloom. Read more »
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Curtis Prairie and Noe Woods Walk
SUNDAY, MAY 27, 2012Are we growing asparagus out on Curtis Prairie? It looked like that to some visitors today. However with a closer look, we could see that ... Read more »
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Greene Prairie and Grady Oak Savannas
SUNDAY, MAY 20, 2012It was a busy Sunday in Madison—graduation, festivals, runs, and many other events—but we still had a good turnout for our walk across the Grady ... Read more »
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Mother’s Day – Butterflies, Turtles, and Azaleas
MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012It was a busy Sunday at the Arb—lots of folks out to enjoy the sunny 70 degree weather and Mothers’ Day. A very large group ... Read more »
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Spring Wildflowers Still early
SUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2012Want to see spring wildflowers? Come out here soon. Although, the official start of summer is over a month and a half away, our extraordinary ... Read more »
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Transitions
SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012“To what purpose, April, do you return again?” asked Edna St. Vincent Millay in her poem Spring. On Sunday, if April’s purpose was ... Read more »
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End of Winter – no doubt!
SUNDAY, MARCH 25, 2012Well, what a surprise this late winter weather has been! We have had a week of upper 70 s and lower 80 degree weather ... Read more »
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The Awakening Land
SUNDAY, MARCH 25, 2012This year, with a mild winter and then ten or more days of outrageously warm weather, the land was wide awake and wearing her party clothes. Read more »
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Winter Bird Walk
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012This tour is always listed as a “winter bird walk”, but by the last weekend in February most people are more interested in what early ... Read more »
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About Mammals in the Arboretum
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012Today’s topic was mammals. My quick count revealed thirty-eight of them right in front of me on the steps of the Visitor Center. I predicted ... Read more »
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Winter Water
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2012“Can’t complain.” This seems to be the most common retort regarding this winter’s weather in Madison. What does this mean? We are city dwellers. Icy ... Read more »
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Halfway to Spring!
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2012This year’s Halfway to Spring walk was Feb 5. Last year it fell on Feb 13. This year, similar to last year, it was low- ... Read more »
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Winter Wonders
SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2012Despite freezing drizzle this foggy afternoon, our tour group searched for winter wonders in Longenecker Gardens. Myriad animal tracks led us where we found “Pussywillows”, ... Read more »
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Animal Signs
SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, 2012One of the most striking animal signs from Sunday’s tour was the one that WASN’T there – rabbit tracks! Grateful to at last have ... Read more »
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A Record Breaking Year?
MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 2012On a 40+ degree F January day, we had a great turnout for Sunday’s walk. The theme was “phenology” –the study of natural cycles of ... Read more »
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Winter Birds in the Arboretum
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2011How are our woodland, prairie and water birds able to survive the winter here? Feathers, which are unique to birds and distinguish the Class Avies, have a lot to do with birds being able to stay over winter. Read more »
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Conifer Tour
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2011This afternoon twenty visitors gathered in the visitor center for our tour featuring Wisconsin’s twelve native conifers. Read more »
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Late Fall Woodlands
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2011In just two days, from Friday’s almost 60 degrees, sunny and only a light south breeze, we have gone through a day of rain to ... Read more »
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Leaf Peeping in Longenecker Gardens and Wingra Woods
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2011If you are considering a visit to the Arb this week, I would encourage a hike through Wingra woods. It is fall at its finest. Read more »
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Woodland Walk to Enjoy Fall Colors
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2011From last weeks “Indian Summer” weather with above normal temperatures, highs in the 70’s, winds from the southwest, sunny days and bright fall colors, especially ... Read more »
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Red Lanterns
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2011A funny thing happened on the way to this year’s “Red Lanterns” tour. I looked at my notes for the same tour last year, ... Read more »
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Autumn in Curtis Prairie
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2011This rain paused and the sun even came out for a bit during Sunday afternoon’s walk. We “sampled” autumn in Curtis prairie, Teal pond, the ... Read more »