Entries categorized as ‘Plants’
Park District Volunteer Stewardship Coordinator, Becky Schillo, and Natural Areas Manager, Zhanna Yermakov, came out today and walked through the Park District’s management plan for the Ronan Park Trail area. Here are some of the highlights…
1. At the south entrance to the trail area, there is a big spread of low-growing sumac. It’s a fairly common landscape architecture feature, but it’s not making the most best welcome at the entrance. It’s to be replaced with more interesting mix of native shrubs.
2. From the south trailhead to the playground halfway north, a contractor crew will herbicide some small, 1-2 sq ft, areas of orchard grasses. These will be cleared and replanted with more interesting natives. The grasses were planted years ago, when it was originally hard to grow on the top part of the trail area, but now there is enough cover there to start mixing in other things.
3. Remove wire mesh and prune new shoots on trees near the playground. (Vols can do this.)
4. Trimming back things like roses and (very tall) cup plant along the south half of the fence line boundary.
5. Remove select invasive mulberry trees in favor of native oaks.
Along the way, we also noticed… indigo, rose, raspberry, wild onions, cup plant, rye grasses, sedges, golden alexander, solomon seal, cow parsnip, columbine.
Total Volunteers: 1. Total Hours: 2.
Categories: Plants · Trail Care · Vols & Hours
Well, the huge team of Lukie Marriott and I gathered at the trail about 9am last Saturday. We started at the north end and scoured the full length south to Lawrence and then back the other side of the trail, picking up trash, pulling garlic mustard and thistle and bindweed, and noticing that there seems to be more wild parsnip popping up this year than last.
We only found garlic mustard in scattered spots, though there is a big chunk of the west side of the trail where all the garlic mustard was little shoots off of bigger roots. We didn’t have proper tools, so there we couldn’t get the bigger roots. Next time! …as they are sure to make themselves noticeable again. The tall, thick patch that the Lab School kids pulled a couple of weeks ago, on the far southwest edge of the park (just north of the trees and bushes) looked totally clear. No new flowering.
Lots of columbine blooming, some other teeny tiny white clustered flowers, and many things we couldn’t identify. And the weather was perfect. We were finished before it got too hot. I walked home through the park proper, catching last bits of trash. Hopefully a really clean park discouraged some would-be litterers over the long weekend.
Next trail day sometime later in June. Stay tuned here for details. OR… join our mailing list for email alerts.
Total volunteers: 2. Total hours: 6.
Categories: Plants · Trail Days · Vols & Hours
A big thanks to the 120 students from the University of Chicago Lab School, for coming out this morning and picking up piles of trash and pulling out aggressively invasive garlic mustard flowers. Half of the group went on to River Park just north of Ronan, while half spread out, scanned and cleaned the whole of Ronan Park. When they reached the top of the park, they all came back along the river trail, picking trash and garlic mustard into bags.
Maybe it’s just early in the season, but there were only scatterings of garlic mustard flowers. One big patch of it in the park proper, southwest corner, in a low spot, near the west fenceline, just north of the grove of trees. That was knee high and thriving. We found one bigger patch between the trail and the river, almost at the very top of the trail, but much of that was less than 12″ tall. Then mostly only scatterings a few to a couple dozen plants, only here and there, along the rest of the trail. So maybe we’re still doing okay on that.
Total volunteers: 120. Total hours: 240.
Categories: Plants · Trail Care · Vols & Hours
It took a while, but finally have gotten around to posting additional Plant Notes.
Categories: Plants · WebsiteNotes
See the Plants page for the notes from my first meeting and trail walk with Becky Schillo, Chicago Park District volunteer coordinator and self-professed ‘botany geek’. I get another lesson tomorrow and will try to post more of what I’m learning from her. Thank you, Becky!
Categories: Plants · WebsiteNotes
The first Ronan Park Nature Trail community trail day is Saturday, June 28th. Meet at the north end of the Trail at 9AM or as early as you can make it. This new website will be expanding throughout the summer. Watch here for news about the Trail and what’s happening this summer (and winter) or call Michael Herman (volunteer park steward) at 312-280-7838. And then please join us on the Trail – for a walk or a run or a workday!
Ronan Park lies at the southern tip of a miles-long greenway that connects us by river, canal and bike trail to the Lake, Wilmette, and other points north. And nestled along the River there, from Lawrence north to Argyle, is Ronan Park Nature Trail. Wooded and shady, green and flowering, you might know it as the “scenic route” to River Park or the warm-up/cool-down section of your running workout.
Along the Trail, you’ll find native species that have been planted and tended over the last seven or eight years, columbine, sedge grasses, alexander, goldenrod, wild geraniums, and a variety of other spring wildflowers. Hazelnuts – I’d be curious if anybody’s ever harvested their fruit. Geese and other birds. Watch out for the moms with babies! You’ll also find non-native plants like garlic mustard, burdock, buckthorn thistle and a bunch of other invasives that are trying (through no fault of their own!) to overrun the place.
One way to learn what’s out there in our backyard is to come help take care of it. This summer we’re inviting friends and admirers of the Trail to get together, walk the trail, learn what’s there, cut back invasives, maintain the pathway, pick-up trash, meet others who enjoy being outside in our little patch of woods, and generally keep a bunch of caring eyes on the place.
Please Join Us!
Categories: Contact · Plants · Trail Days
