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Re: Welcome!

Hi....

Greetings and Felicitations....
(always wanted to say that...)

I act as site steward at Meadowbrook here in Urbana...rather cold out there
today...

Champaign County Audubon Society has managed the site there for over a
decade.  Weeding, seed collecting, planting, and burning being the main
activities.  I've worked out there for about 11 years (quite intensively the
last few years!).  Meadowbrook has an area planted in the 70's and 80's that
is predominantly grass, and areas with much more forb seed planted in 90,
91, 93 (bringing the total to about 20 acres), and then 2 new areas planted
last year of about 30 and 10 acres.  Depending on how you count acres  :)  ,
we have about 60 acres of prairie at Meadowbrook.  (There are other acres
that haven't been specifically planted as prairie that do act as nice
habitat.  The early 90's plantings have produced nice stands of Baptisia
(several hundred blooming on 3 or 4 acres), Penstamon, Gentian and others.
I'd like to expand the spring flowers there....more Shooting Star, and
introduce Prairie Phlox...the new areas have produced large numbers of
Golden Alexanders.

We do have a clump of Royal Catchfly (Silene regia) out there...I spread
seed from it to more that a dozen places on the new 30 acre patch this last
fall ...we'll see what happens..I have a number of those plants in my yard,
as well. I'm a home gardener with woodland and prairie (and vegetable!)
gardens....83 species at last count.

Bob Vaiden

_________________________________________________________________________
>Well, I work in Champaign, but I have more space to work up at my folk's
>place in Chicago.  So I live in Champaign and garden up North.  I've
>often visited Meadowbrook, and love to watch for new species popping
>up.  I remember seeing a Silene regia (Royal catchfly) two years
>ago, but I haven't seen one there since.
>
>> We have been doing a prairie restoration (or re-creation if you're a
>> purist on terminology) at Meadowbrook for a number of years, mostly a
>> couple of acres at a time.  Last summer, with the aid of an ISTEA grant,
>> the park district expanded the prairie by about 30 acres!  Needless to
>> say at the moment almost all that can be seen is foxtail but when it's
>> burned in spring, hopefully the new little prairie plants will show up.
>> We have regular work sessions for weeding, etc.
>
>How big is Meadowbrook now?  I noticed it seemed a lot larger than I
>remembered when I went there this year...
>
>Chris
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