Because of that woman I went out today and got a Texas Bluebonnet and stuck it in my (very small) "prairie".

I just might send her a thank you e-mail. :)

She better enjoy her garden while she has a chance since future generations will unlikely have the same opportunity due to the abysmal record on environmental issues of her well-known husband who should have stayed in Texas.

Gee, maybe this woman should run for President...

Nah, one of them is enough.

I'm not the only one that is concerned over the well known guy's record on environmental issues:

http://www.sierraclub.org/utilities/printpage.asp?REF=/pressroom/releases/pr2004-04-22.asp

http://www.sierraclub.org/utilities/printpage.asp?REF=/pressroom/releases/pr2004-04-22b.asp

Here is a link that might be useful: Earth Day Book Release: Sierra Club Executive Director on Bush Administration and the Environment

Maybe Christine Todd Whitman should run for president...

Perhaps slightly off-topic - here is a biography of a well-known person who was associated with Washington, DC for several decades (1937-1969). This person took a leadership role in protection of and education about US native wildflowers at a time when native plant restoration hadn't achieved nearly the popularity that it has today. Perhaps some of you know, or will guess, the identity before clicking the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: A native plant enthusiast

From what I understand, the average person growing up outside the city had a much better knowledge of native flora several decades ago than one has now. Not many high schools teach plant biology/ecology anymore.

I leave it to someone else to point out the similarities between the other LBJ and GWB.

Lycopus,

Nah. When I was a kid, in the early to late 60's growing up in Lombard, IL, we used to play in this giant, 10 acre weed patch that was really near my back yard. Basically, it WAS my back yard. There were tall grasses, really great for making forts out of, and all kinds of pretty flowers....my mom used to take me out to the swampy area and show me the yellow lady's slippers. Green grass snakes, garter snakes, woodcocks, wood ducks, pheasants, an occasional deer and two HUGE 80 foot + cottonwood trees that looked over everything.

The city wanted to sell it to a developer. The citizens banded together and had it made into a park. They dug a huge pit...like 100 feet long, 30 feet wide and 20 feet deep...and scraped all the "stuff" into it, filled it in, planted grass and voila! A park!

Only now do I know that this land was a prairie remnant. The tall grass was big bluestem. Everyone thought it was just weeds.

I grew up as a city kid on the South Side. We used to call empty lots "prairies" although they were far from that in reality. One "prairie" I now realize was covered with ragweed. The alleys behind our houses were filled with hollyhocks that grew wild in any patch of dirt that they could find. Between the hollyhocks and the ragweed, which both are much bigger than a child, I used to have a fear of large plants. Every once in a while, if I am in a very dense thicket of something like horseweed, this fear comes back to me.

There was a large prairie just a block away from my home that was actually two entire city blocks. When I was young we never questioned why there was this huge empty expanse in the middle of the city; it was just a great place to go and explore. One day, we found an old sewer that had been capped off, telling us that this area had been built upon at one time. That's when I found out from my parents that at one point there was a public housing project (probably back in the forties) but it had been demolished over fears that it would cause the neighborhood to become integrated. The land sort of languished as no one agreed on what to do with it. Eventually, it also became a park, although it didn't destroy any valuable habitat.

Somehow this city kid ended up out in the country, where we are now trying to restore quite a bit of habitat. I have learned plant id on my own and have really developed a knack for it. I have even found Lycopus in my wetlands - the plant, that is!

My high school biology class focused much more on the animal kingdom than on plants. My DD, who is growing up as a country kid, has gone with her HS biology class to clear buckthorn. Of course, she excelled at that since she already was experienced!

I guess what I'm trying to say is that individuals need to be taught, somehow, someway, to appreciate what we have in the natural world and how to take care of it. Man's impact on the earth is so huge and unavoidable that we can't just "let nature take her course" because we are constantly interferring with that course.

V.

I do have an unusual affinity for marshy areas. :)

Made an interesting discovery today. Was photographing swamp saxifrage and got close enough to the smell the flowers. They give off a wonderful fragrance! Would have never expected it.

Turns out it wasn't swamp saxifrage. It was valerian. The relation to garden heliotrope might explain the fragrance.