Chicago Nature Now! Alert
July 8, 2016

Bluff Spring Fen, Shoe Factory Road Prairie, Somme Prairie Grove are on the list for great places to visit for the next week. Wolf Road Prairie is also going strong with blooms of white and many large, heart-shaped leaves of prairie dock.

View this video of Bluff Spring Fen and July’s many purple wildflowers:

 

Watch this video of Shoe Factory Road Prairie and my favorite-smelling flower:

 

Visit Bluff Spring Fen, Shoe Factory Road Prairie, and Somme Prairie Grove for celebrations of purple prairie clover:

 

* Photo is representational and was not recorded this year. Bloom times vary from year to year.

Here’s what’s happening in Chicago nature, Right Now!:

Somme Prairie Grove in Northbrook, Illinois is putting on a show of wildflowers throughout this preserve, including purple prairie clover, wild quinine, rattlesnake master, and black-eyed Susan. This preserve is big enough to give you a good hike.

Bluff Spring Fen in Elgin, Illinois is celebrating the month of July, offering flowers like pale purple coneflower,  leadplant, black-eyed Susan, common milkweed, and wild quinine. Purple prairie clover and the minty-smelling wild bergamot are taking off.

Shoe Factory Road Prairie in Hoffman Estates, Illinois is covered with purple prairie clover, along with a patch of the rarer white prairie clover.

Wolf Road Prairie is covered in white with wild quinine, Culver’s root, and early blooms of rattlesnake master.

Gensburg-Markham Prairie in Markham, Illinois is currently putting on a dramatic show of wild quinine.

—Mike