The Conservancy protects and restores thousands of acres of natural areas throughout southwestern Wisconsin–including rare flora, fauna and geological and archeological features. The new truck is especially useful for managing prescribed fire because it has been equipped with a 200-gallon water pump. Now the Conservancy can more effectively restore the fire-adapted native plant communities and the wildlife that depends on them. In the Midwest and beyond this is especially important because of the trend from prairies, savannas and open oak woodlands towards closed-canopy mesic forests–a process called “mesophication.”

Practical matters aside, the truck’s body features some awesome scenes of nature:

Near the right wheel: A peregrine falcon. Some say this amazing bird is the world's fastest animal. Once extremely rare due to the effects of DDT, nesting pairs have been returned to several locations in the Midwest and beyond, thanks to conservation efforts.

On the right panel:The Mississippi River and a Blanding’s turtle. As the aerial view shows, the Mississippi is a mosaic of different types of habitat, from the main waters to the flood- plain forests that receive spring flood waters. The Mississippi is one of North America’s major flyways for migratory birds. Blanding’s turtle (not competing for fastest animal on earth) has become less common over time, in part due to the draining of wet prairies for agriculture.

Near the tailgate: Hoary puccoon with a tiger swallowtail. This plant inhabits dry prairies, which are being steadily lost to fire-intolerant trees and shrubs. You will not find its seed in our catalog because it eludes collectors, its seeds ripening one at a time. Perhaps the mighty peregrine has been presented on the side of a truck before, but this must surely be the quarter-panel debut for hoary puccoon!

Piled seed cleanings before composting.

The pile has gone through heating cycles and has been turned repeatedly.

Seed cleanings after 2 years of composting = black gold!

We won’t use it here because we pride ourselves on providing seed from specific locations and are reluctant to mix ecotypes. The composting should kill most seeds, but we are very particular about what we provide to our customers. As a result, our trash can be your black gold. This compost would be an excellent soil amendment for gardens, fields, lawns, native plantings and potted plants. Any seeds that may have survived the composting procedure are likely to be native forbs and grasses. The area around the composting site is very pretty with lots of Silphiums, Asters and Rudbeckias.

Hoary Vervain and Yellow Coneflower blooming around compost piles from discarded seed cleanings.

Survivors: Rudbeckia seed heads near composted seed on an autumn day.

If you would like compost, we are giving it away on a first-come, first-served basis, so bring your bags, trailers, or trucks and we will load you up and you can spread the wealth.

This often leads to concerns about burning their prairie in the spring, as it would seem that putting fire to seed laying on the ground or hanging in the still-standing growth would compromise the seed’s viability.

By doing a fall seeding, the seed in fact has all winter to drop down and make good contact with the soil well before the spring burn. The wind and rain get most of the seed down to ground level. The freeze-thaw cycle then works the seed into the soil. The temperature of a moving fire is not high enough to kill the seed and in some cases heat will help a species.  Ceanothus americanus (New Jersey Tea), for example, benefits from having a treatment of boiling water poured over the seeds to aid in germination for spring planting.

(September 7th) Hi this is Steve at Prairie Moon Nursery.  I’m standing in a field of the Biennial Gaura (Gaura biennis).  It’s a great late-season species. This is early September and it’s really in its full bloom.  It kind of fits in that last show of blooms before the true fall species start coming out.  It’s very attractive for butterflies and bees also and will adapt to a lot different types of soils from almost wet to very dry.

(Aug 8)  Hi, this is Steve at Prairie Moon Nursery.  The (Common) Ironweed here has been blooming for a couple of weeks.  It’s early August, and it looks like it will continue to be blooming well through fall.  It’s one of the true really purple colors in the prairie.  Generally the Ironweeds like richer moister soil but will do well in a lot of  different garden situations.  It attracts a lot of the butterflies and bees.

(August 8th)  Hi this is Steve at Prairie Moon Nursery.  I’m standing in a field of Rudbeckia triloba, the Brown-eyed Susans.  They are profusely flowered with the smaller yellow flowers.  They like any type of soil, pretty much from a wet mesic all the way through a dry soil.  They can be nice on a gardens edge or a backdrop for a garden.  They seem to be the best thing for most prairie plantings.

(July 29th) – Hi this is Steve at Prairie Moon Nursery.  I’m in a stand of Big Bluestem and you can see that it is just starting to put out its turkey foot seed heads.  This is a fairly thick stand but one thing to note is that even though it is a fairly thick stand, you can see through it, you can see some of the other late season bloomers through it.  In a garden I’d probably never plant it this thick.  I’d do more of a specimen planting but as a true symbol of the prairie, it’s a nice plant to consider in a lot of situations.

(August 8th) Hi this is Steve at Prairie Moon Nursery.  The vine that is climbing up right here and is flowering is the Wild Cucumber, Echinocystis lobata.  It’s an annual vine that comes from one large single seed.  It’s flowering and actually is a fragrant flower that turns into a small cucumber that can be attractive also.  It likes a moister, richer soil and likes to reach for the sun but grows in the woodland edge.

(July 29th) Hi this is Steve at Prairie Moon Nursery.  In front of me here, is the Cassia hebecarpa Wild Senna.  It’s a legume so it has a larger seed that’s attractive to Turkeys and other birds.  It’s a plant that likes a middling to slightly moister, richer soil.  In a garden it can make a nice specimen plant or a background type of plant.  We are in late July now and it is just starting to finish its bloom season and soon it will have the long pods which are of interest in a garden, even through winter.

(June 18th) “Hi, this is Steve at Prairie Moon Nursery.  This attractive shrub next to me is Prairie Ninebark, Physocarpus opulifolius.  To me it’s one of those species that has interest all during the seasons. Right now it’s just about over with it’s flowering stage.  It has these nice round clusters of flowers.  They are going to change into these nice pink salmon-colored capsules.  It’s a really nice shaped species also, it has a kind of flowing-type of form about it.  It’s one that’s easy to keep down to a reasonable size by pruning it off on a regular basis. but also it forms a nice wall if that is the kind of effect you want; a border/background type of species.”