Chicago Nature NOW! Alert
June 10, 2021

“Weekly Wildflower Reports Featuring
Chicago’s Best Weekend Getaways & Nature Trips”

Plan the Best COVID-19 Walks & Getaways Around Chicago!

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PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE VISITING OUR SHOWCASE PRESERVES:

ChicagoNatureNOW! preserves are Sacred Cathedrals of Nature, NOT playgrounds or amusement parks. Please treat these sanctuaries with reverence, and behave as you would in any house of worship:

• • Stay on the trails.
  • Walk, don’t run.
    • If your kids need to run around, there are THOUSANDS of more appropriate places to play.
  • Speak quietly as to not interfere with the spiritual experiences of others.
  • Don’t pick flowers or remove anything from a preserve.
    • Share cherished moments through photography, drawing, painting, and writing.
  • Many of these preserves do NOT allow pets, even if they’re leashed.
  • If a rule isn’t listed here, then ask yourself, “Would I do this in church?”

SITE ACCESS: 
Most sites and trails that are owned by Chicago-area counties and Indiana Dunes National Park are open, except for visitor centers, buildings, and bathrooms. Fermilab Prairie woodland (Fermilab Natural Areas) in Batavia is closed. Period. And Shoe Factory Road Prairie will finally reopen on June 14, 2021 after a lengthy convalescence from public abuse last year. Check out these websites before you go:

• Forest Preserve District of Cook County
• Forest Preserve District of DuPage County
• Lake County Forest Preserves
• McHenry County Conservation District
• Forest Preserve District of Will County
• Indiana Dunes National Park

WILDFLOWER HIGHLIGHTS TO HELP YOU PLAN YOUR OUTDOOR ADVENTURES INTO CHICAGO’S WOODLANDS:

There aren’t as many offerings at the moment due to the drought. It’s affecting the quality and quantity of our local flower shows, particularly the breathtaking expanse of sand coreopsis at Illinois Beach Nature Preserve that have decided to take the year off. Right now, I really like spending my mornings at Spears Woods and Wolf Road Prairie, where hundreds of ephemeral blue flowers open to meet their one-and-only day, then dissolve into a gem of purple liquid. Yes, if you’ve been following my reports, you know that I’m talking about Ohio spiderwort. They are now melting hearts around Chicago as they continue their monthlong show. You can find them at many preserves around the area. Click here to read my poem about it.

Another plant that’s taking center stage is foxglove beardtongue (our Plant of the Week) with its pearly trumpet-shaped flowers. I love this plant because of its gloriously disgusting and life-affirming aroma. In the fall, their seeds smell exactly, and I mean “exactly,” like vomit!

The list of blooming events is short, this week. So if you can’t make it to the best shows, just find a nature experience at any of our showcase preserves. You’ll love it!

WHERE TO GO THIS WEEKEND FOR A SPRING WILDFLOWER GETAWAY AROUND CHICAGO:

We’ve ranked the preserves on this week’s list based on the quality of the wildflower experience, starting out with the best or “Go!” The “Go, if You’re in the Neighborhood” section is for sites that are worth visiting if you can’t get out to our top-rated preserves. And our “Preserves for You to Scout” section for those preserves that we couldn’t get to this week, but that you can help us explore! The date within the parentheses tells you when we last scouted the preserve. After the date, you may see one of these three mathematical symbols: +, –, = (plus, minus, equal). They represent our prediction about how the flowers will look on the coming weekend: “+” is Probably Better; “-” is Probably Less Dramatic; “=” is Probably the Same. Notice the word “probably.”

THIS WEEK’S BEST (“GO!”):

The order of the preserves below is based on the quality of the wildflower experience, starting out with the best.

Spears Woods in Willow Springs (6/8+): This preserve is presenting the finest show of the week despite the drought, especially if you visit in the mornings while Ohio spiderwort is in bloom. Joining these melting blue blossoms are the many whites of foxglove beardtongue and wild quinine along with a sprinkling of white wild indigo. Thanks to spring’s prescribed fire, the prairie is green and clean, uncluttered by last year’s tan skeletons. Spears Woods is one of the most beautiful sites in the region, where your walk will take you through woodlands, prairies, and wetlands.

Wolf Road Prairie in Westchester (6/9+): This is only a “Go!” for the morning hours to experience the show of Ohio spiderwort amidst a dramatic glowing backdrop of aortic prairie dock foliage. However, the blue flowers will be gone by afternoon, especially if it’s hot. Along the way, you’ll also experience the tall and fluffy purple meadow rue, white wild quinine, daisy fleabane, and small displays of the heart-stopping yellow prairie sundrop. The textures and colors of the foliage adds to excitement, including the blue-greens of rattlesnake master and hundreds of prairie dock hearts.

GO, IF YOU’RE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD:

Illinois Beach Nature Preserve in Zion (6/5+): Due to the drought, the expanses of golden of sand coreopsis are not flowering, this year. And there isn’t much of a flower show, but you can definitely find these flowers to add color to your visit: Ohio spiderwort, sand coreopsis, pasture rose, hoary puccoon, and downy phlox. This preserve is beautiful and enjoyable with or without big displays of flowers. WATCH OUT! THERE’S A LOT OF POISON IVY!

Belmont Prairie in Downers Grove (6/8+): I’m recommending this preserve for its morning blooms of the ephemeral Ohio spiderwort. Their blue flowers open around sunrise, but only last a few hours until they shrivel away into a purple liquid. Very cool! Click here to read my poem about spiderwort’s miraculous melting flowers.

Somme Prairie Grove in Northbrook (6/5+): If you live up north, and you don’t want to come down south, just visit Somme Prairie Grove to enjoy the greenery. This preserve has a nice feel to it. In the woodland, you’ll experience the occasional white flat-topped flower heads of cow parsnip, which is a little bit poisonous and can irritate the skin. So, no touchy-feely with this plant. Throughout the preserve, you’ll find various lush textures and green hue from forbs, sedges, grasses, and bloomers-to-be, including the floppy hairdos of prairie dropseed, heart-shaped leaves of prairie dock, desert-looking rattlesnake master, and fern-looking leadplant. The only color seemed to come from a few beautiful groups of red Indian paintbrush. The flowering cauliflower heads of wild quinine are now blooming along with a smattering of white wild indigo.

PLANT OF THE WEEK: FOXGLOVE BEARDTONGUE

In June, foxglove beardtongue blooms at Bluff Spring Fen in Elgin and many other preserves. In the fall, the seeds smell EXACTLY like vomit! Be still my heart.*

PHOTO SECTION

Ohio Spiderwort is Our Morning Star

In late May or early June, Ohio spiderwort begins a performance that will last a month or longer, starring a cluster of buds that releases only a couple of flowers each day. Each morning, a new bud opens into a delicate blue or purple flower. You can find spiderwort, right now, at Wolf Road Prairie, Belmont Prairie, Bluff Spring Fen, Pembroke Savanna, Powderhorn Prairie, Miller Woods, Illinois Beach Nature Preserve, and more.

As the day wears on, each blossom begins to wither—then miraculously melts into a gem of royal jelly. An enzyme in the flower causes it to slowly decompose, and hot weather speeds up the process. It’s noon, and this flower is already shriveling.

By midafternoon, this spiderwort bloom was melting blue between my fingertips. Do you notice my purple fingers? I was arrested earlier that morning.

This is the scene from Wolf Road Prairie, as blossoms of Ohio spiderwort open to meet the new day.*

At Miller Woods (Indiana Dunes National Park), spiderwort and bracken fern cover the side of the dunes.*

Now that you know a little something about spiderwort, click here to read my poem about this plant from my book, My Journey into the Wilds of Chicago: A Celebration of Chicagoland’s Startling Natural Wonders.

Hoary Puccoon

The golden blooms of hoary puccoon can be found, here, at Illinois Beach Nature Preserve and many other preserves around the region including Miller Woods, Powderhorn Marsh and Prairie, Wolf Road Prairie, Gensburg-Markham Prairie, and more.*

Purple Meadow Rue Towers in Some Spring Prairies

In June, purple meadow rue towers above the blue morning blooms of Ohio spiderwort at Wolf Road Prairie in Westchester, Illinois.

Indian Paintbrush

Here at Illinois Beach Nature Preserve, Indian paintbrush brightens up the foggy morning landscape. You can also find this flower at Gensburg-Markham Prairie and Somme Prairie Grove.*

Pale Purple Coneflower is Just Beginning to Flower

Each day, Mother Nature chooses from an array of natural elements and then fashions them into new works of art. Most Junes at Belmont Prairie, dazzling mosaics like this go on exhibit. Assembled from over one hundred pale purple coneflowers, the final work, not the individual pieces, draws our attention.*

The predawn clouds take on the colors of the pale purple coneflower at this dolomite limestone prairie at Theodore Stone Preserve in Hodgkins, Illinois. You can usually find this majestic plant growing most prominently at Bluff Spring Fen.*

Sand Coreopsis is Blooming, but in Small Numbers (nothing like in these pictures)

In a celebration of life, blooms of sand coreopsis spread their golden joy along the banks of the Dead River at Illinois Beach Nature Preserve in Zion.*

The turning earth is the dimmer switch, gradually recasting every dim dewdrop, petal, and blade of grass into a galaxy of blazing bulbs and lustrous lamps. On this late-spring morning at Illinois Beach Nature Preserve, blooms of golden sand coreopsis and New Jersey tea are set aglow alongside shimmering spider webs that cling to last year’s grasses.*

Blue Flag Iris

Due to the dry spring and the fact that this plant likes to grow in standing water, this isn’t the best year for blue flag iris. During a previous season, a phalanx of blue flag iris towered over the spring wetland at Somme Prairie Grove in Northbrook.*

Blue flag iris blooms in the late-May wetland at Spears Woods in Willow Springs. But you can see it in good wetlands throughout the area.*

The Charismatic Foliage of Compass Plant & Prairie Dock

These are the large leaves of the prairie’s most iconic plants. The heart-shaped leaf is that of prairie dock, while the long-lobed leaf is its cousin compass plant.

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If you find this website of Chicago nature information useful, please consider donating or purchasing my nationally-acclaimed book that celebrates all of the preserves featured on this website.

—Mike