The lupines are coming, the lupines are comng!

Lupines are one of my favorite native plants. The blossoms are a delicate purple color. And they attract many butterflies, bees and other pollinators.

I'm delighted that lupines are blooming in two places in Buhr park. One is the sand prairie in the upper (north) basin of WM II, on the west side of the park behind the swimming pool.

The other is in the original Wet Meadow, at the base of the sledding hill, on the east side of the park.

Here are a few shots of pollinators in action!

Lupines in Bloom

An early morning walk revealed beautiful lupines in bloom. The sandy area at the north end of Wet Meadow 2.

Wet Meadow Two - 10th Anniversary!

A team of teens and community volunteers planned and planted the second wet meadow in Buhr Park 10 years ago this summer. It is getting along famously and servings its purposes of capturing rainwater that falls in the park and nearby neighborhoods and making the park a more interesting place for people and critters of all shapes and sizes.

The most interesting feature of wet meadow 2 is the sand zone at the north end. When excavating we were surprised to discover such a sandy area. It has turned out to be a wonderful habitat for cacti, bluestem, and killer wasps.

"Kids See Pollinators Up Close" Saturday, June 20

"Kids See Pollinators Up Close" Saturday, June 20

at the Buhr Park Childrens' Wet Meadow

Come watch butterflies and other pollinators visiting the wildflowers.

• MSU entomologist Julianna Tuell will capture insects for kids to safely see up close.
• Learn how kids can be safe around bees.
• Hear about how beneficial insects help us grow blueberries, tomatoes and other foods.
• Kids can make a bee house (from natural materials) to take home.
  

Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 4:00 PM. Children must be accompanied by a parent. All are welcome at a picnic potluck at 5:15. Please leave pets at home.

Dr. Tuell speaks frequently about pollinators and native plants. She coauthored Attracting Beneficial Insects with Native Flowering Plants (MSU Extension Bulletin E-2973) and recently published a study that identified more than 100 native bee species on Michigan blueberry farms.

We'll also have a display of nest blocks from Matt Demmon.

This event is co-sponsored by Wild Ones and Natural Area Preservation.

Buhr Park is located at 2781 Packard Rd. 48104. For more information call Mark at 478-1333.

Seed Planting and Sorting

Today the Super Swampers spread seed that they had collected in Wet Meadows I & II.

We spent the most time planting in the sandy part of the upper basin of Wet Meadow II. We planted little bluestem seeds individually under moss that is growing there.


While we were planting, we found some visitors there, or at least some signs of visitors. Do you recognize these homes? It looks like there were two different creatures. The one on the left is some kind of red ant. The right one? We don't know.


We also sorted seeds into seed packets that we'll sell at Earth Day and other events.


Finally, we prepared for the all species parade at the Ann Arbor Earth Day festival. We plan to go dressed as various milkweeds and the critters that depend on them and help them. Would that be a group of symbiotic friends?

2009 prescribed burn - a big hit with kids

The prescribed ecological burn on April 2, 2009 was a great success! Lots of kids and parents had fun and leaned about fire, plants and wildlife.

This year we focused on the three basins in the souty west corner of the park (sometimes called Wet Meadow 2) that we planted in 2004.

More details soon.

P.s., if you took photos, please get in touch.

Like Monica the Garden Faerie who posted photos to her blog.

Rain, rain and more rain

At about 9 PM last night there was a surface stream pouring into the upper basin of the west wet meadow. Most of this appeared to be coming from the roof of the skating rink and the downspout at the sw corner.

At 9 AM today (Sunday) there was no visible water anywhere. More rain is forecast for this afternoon, so maybe we'll get some photos.

Big critters buzzing in the upper basin

If you've walked near the upper (north) basin of the west wet meadow, you've probably noticed some large flying critters. At first they seem like bees, but if you get a better look, you'll see it's a large black wasp with three stripes on the abdomen. It's the eastern cicada killer wasp.


While big, these wasps are not dangerous to people. The males have no stingers, and the females are not aggressive.



(photo from Prof. Chuck Holliday's Cicada Killer Page.)

These wasps breed near sandy areas. The females dig holes and bury cicada bugs for the young wasps to feed on underground. This leaves small mounds of sand you can see when walking by.

There are other web pages about these critters:

More photos and info at "What's That Bug"

and at Dr. Zachary Huang's Cyberbee site.

Summer 2008 To Do List

As part of an annual meeting, we got together and did a quick tour of Wet Meadow II to admire the beauty and to see what might need to be done this summer.

Invasive Plant Removal

• Remove Canadian thistle from SE corner of wm2 lower tier
  Thistle has a thick and prickly body and leaves. Best to pull it after a rain. Wear gloves.
  
• Remove sweet clover - not widely distributed, but we need to stay on it.
  Also good to remove after a rain by pulling
  
• Bindweed or wild morning glory - SE of WMII under walnut tree
  Keep plastic in place to smother it.
• Pull buckthorn from Palace of Nature
  Anytime, but especially after a rain. The little seedlings will keep coming up, but they are easy to pull.

General Stuff

• Path maintenance
  The new east to west path needs to be weeded and stomped from time to time.
  
• Protect wafer ash w tree cage and sign at north end
  Two tree cages and signs
  
• Sandbox sign
  Welcome sign and also remind people to play within the sandbox (and don't throw the rocks)
  
• Weed and woodchip and plant north end of palace of nature
  Careful of the new redbuds coming up. Plant more wild strawberries and cinqfoil.
  
• Build 7 Tree cages
  easy: 3 ft tall fence with 2x4 slots, 36 inch circumference (17-19 2" sections), 3 foot metal stake
  
• Build a New path from kiosk to bench

Kiosk and Signs

• Update signs in kiosk
• Caulk kiosk
• UV protection for kiosk

Super Swampers Build a Path

The Super Swampers met today and worked on a new path going across Wet Meadow II. It was a little bit snowy at the beginning, but it got better and we all warmed up with the hard work.



Feel free to walk on the new path as much as you want.

12 people, 1.5 hours= 18 volunteer hours of work

Design Vindicated!

This afternoon's rainfall and snowmelt combined with frozen ground to yield large quantities of surface run off.

The three basins of WM II functioned exactly as designed - the swale behind the ice rink fed the upper (northernmost) basin.

When that filled, it overflowed through its spillway to the middle basin.




That one, in turn, filled and overflowed to the lower basin.





It's the most water I've seen since WM II was built in 2004.

Hats off to Jane Kleiner, the designer, Chris Mueller who excavated the basins and built the spillways stone by stone, the teens who helped plan, and everyone who helped.

Wet Meadow II Fills Up

With a melt-off and rain the very large Wet Meadow II fills to the brim with water.

Clare and I visited the wet meadow the evening of February 15. The the photos are dark, but we saw the three basins of the Wet Meadow II filled with standing water. A nice stream of water was flowing in from behind the ice rink. The road below the wet meadow has no huge puddles. In short, everything is working according to plan.

Also... we managed to sneak up on ducks in both the new and old wet meadows. And tried some nighttime photography.

Wet Meadow II Fall 2004 Update

It was a great summer for growing!

Since planting day, we've been hard at work making sure that things go smoothly at the wet meadow. It turns out that we didn't need to work as hard as we might have. It was a mild and wet summer. It got a little dry in the fall, so whe had to pull hoses and rely on the generosity of the neighbors who let us use their water spigots.

When all the plants were in, we worried that the ground was too hard, that the plants would dry out, that they'd be trampled... We were also told that if 40-50% of the plants survived, we should be happy. So we were ready for the worst.

We're here to report this fall that probably over 90% of the plants survived the first growing season! Things couldn't be better!

Wet Meadow II Planting Day

Over 100 volunteers participated in planting on June 5, 2004.

Wet Meadow II Groundbreaking

With fanfare fitting the occasion, ground was broken on the new wet meadow on May 16. Jeannine Palms, among many others, took the ceremonial first scoops and the tiny hole was anointed with real rainwater.