Chicago Nature Now! Alert
July 20, 2017

“Plan your Chicago outdoor adventure with Chicago nature info and news
to help you discover the region’s finest natural wonders.”

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Here are some highlights to help you plan your Chicago weekend getaway:

Chicagoland is putting on a breathtaking show of flowers and grasses. At Bluff Spring Fen, alone, I counted twenty-four different species in bloom. I wasn’t even trying. Somme Prairie Grove is much the same and, in my opinion, the best preserve to visit this weekend. Shoe Factory Road Prairie, is also a great experience, especially if you include the surrounding prairie outside the fence. Illinois Beach Nature Preserve is also big on my list, this week. It isn’t nearly as colorful as the other preserves, but it’s the wildest. If you’re in the Downers Grove area, then Belmont Prairie is also worth a visit to see the yellow coneflowers and other prairie blooms.

WHERE TO GO THIS WEEKEND FOR A CHICAGO OUTDOOR GETAWAY

Somme Prairie Grove in Northbrook: Most of the blooming is happening in the sunny areas of the preserve. The dramatic display of purple prairie clover is pretty and fragrant, but that’s just the beginning. As you walk the narrow trails of this preserve, there’s never a spot without floral color. I love the the dense stands of round-headed rattlesnake master. I feel like I’m inside a science exhibit about molecular bonds. Right now, you’ll also find towering and flowering stalks of compass plant that can easily reach eight feet into the air. Speaking of tall, soon after entering the preserve, a sea of big bluestem grass engulfs you as you walk through a tunnel of this plant. Look for their newly formed “turkey foot” tassels. Early in the morning, if you don’t dress for it, these grasses will drench you with dew. In addition to appreciating the color, notice the rich textures, especially the symmetrical sprays of prairie dropseed. Under the shade of the woodland, look for skybound plumes of sweet Joe-Pye weed. You may notice some yellow woodland sunflowers just starting to bloom. In a very short time, the woodland will be covered in gold!

Bluff Spring Fen in Elgin: Come to see the vast celebration of purple prairie clover, which has taken most of the dry, gravelly area of the prairie, along with the many other forbs that are showing their colors throughout the preserve. You’ll find yellow hues of rosinweed, black-eyed Susan, yellow coneflower, shrubby cinquefoil, lance-leaved loosestrife, and skyrocketing compass plant. Experience that alabaster tones of Culver’s root, wild quinine, flowering spurge, and rattlesnake master. And look for the purples. Along with the purple prairie clover, there’s an early display of marsh blazing star at the seep of the fen. Then there’s wild bergamot, hoary vervain, sweet Joe-Pye weed in the savanna, spotted Joe-Pye weed in the wetland, along the beginnings of cylindrical blazing star. The grasses are beautiful, as well, including big bluestem, little bluestem, and Canada wild rye, which acts as a brush when loaded with morning dew. And then there’s the aptly named bottlebrush grass in savanna.

Shoe Factory Road Prairie in Hoffman States is putting on a beautiful show of purple prairie clover and rattlesnake master. And there are lots of other plants blooming outside the fence. While you’re here, consider visiting Bluff Spring Fen, which is just fifteen minutes away by car.

Illinois Beach Nature Preserve in Zion always provides a wonderful and wild experience. Just this Tuesday, I helped a small turtle across the road. I saw dragonflies mating in flight. And, with every step, I scared up a flurry of startled grasshoppers. Delicate, silver sprays of flowering spurge are blooming throughout the preserve, which combine beautifully with orange butterfly weed in the black oak savanna and rare shrubby cinquefoil in the sand prairie.

Belmont Prairie is also worth a visit to see large display of yellow coneflower alongside compass plant and rattlesnake master.

COMING SOON: PRAIRIE & MARSH BLAZING STAR

PHOTO SECTION

Purple Prairie Clover

A honey bee flies over to purple prairie clover at Bluff Spring Fen Nature Preserve in Elgin, Illinois. You must smell this refreshingly fragrant flower. To me, its smells like a mix of carrot and lemon. *

There’s hardly a dull moment in Bluff Spring Fen’s prairie. Just as blooms of leadplant and coreopsis fade, purple prairie clover rises to take their place.*

Rattlesnake Master

Rattlesnake master is a wonderful Chicago prairie flower that looks like something you’d find in Arizona or Texas. To experience rattlesnake master, visit Belmont Prairie, Somme Prairie Grove, Shoe Factory Road Prairie, Wolf Road Prairie, Fermilab Prairie, Gensburg Markham Prairie, Kickapoo Woods and Prairie, Spears Woods, Theodore Stone Preserve, and other local prairies over the next few weeks.*

Compass Plant

This bloom of compass plant reaches for the sky.*

A landscape of Compass Plants at Springbrook Prairie in Naperville, Illinois.*

Somme Prairie Grove

Here, at Somme Prairie Grove in Northbrook, Illinois , we see the large, deeply lobed leaf of compass plant among a sea of purple prairie clover.*

Just this Tuesday, myriad species bloom in the mid-July savanna at Somme Prairie Grove in Northbrook, Illinois. In this picture, nine flowers and grasses can be found: black-eyed Susan, purple prairie clover, mountain mint, wild bergamot, wild quinine, rattlesnake master, yellow coneflower, early goldenrod, and big bluestem grass.

Bluff Spring Fen

Soon after entering Bluff Spring Fen, you’ll find yourself in an intimate oak savanna, where majestic bur oaks with outstretched limbs protect you in their nurturing embrace.*

Come to Bluff Spring Fen early on a July morning and you might experience a chromatic expanse of purple prairie clover.*

“Lavender in color and mint in fragrance” describes wild bergamot. “Whimsical with an aroma of anise” describes yellow coneflower. Both are native to the prairie, and both are healers. Known as pioneer species,
they are among the first plants to colonize disturbed or degraded areas. Their presence improves soil quality while allowing other plants to move in, leading to greater biodiversity.*

Blazing star blooms at the seep of the fen at Bluff Spring Fen in Elgin, Illinois.*

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

SCOUTING NEEDS for my next report on Thursday, July 27 (in rough order of urgency):

Somme Prairie Grove: Status of purple prairie clover and other blooms, including like sweet (or purple) Joe-Pye weed and woodland sunflowers under the trees.
Bluff Spring Fen: Status of blazing star and other blooms.
Spears Woods: Status of blazing star and woodland sunflower.
Gensburg-Markham Prairie: Status of blazing star, etc.
Shoe Factory Road Prairie: Status of purple prairie clover, rattlesnake master, etc..
Illinois Beach Nature Preserve: Status of flowering spurge, etc.
Kickapoo Prairie: Status of blazing star, rattlesnake master, compass plant, etc.
Theodore Stone Preserve: General status.
Fermilab Prairie: General status.
Miller Woods: General status.
Powderhorn Prairie: General atatus.
Belmont Prairie: General status.
Middlefork Savanna: General status.

If you’d like to help your neighbors discover national-park quality natural events around our homes, then become an official scout. Or, you can help by just sending us pictures and a text description from your visit. Another way is to post your pictures to Instagram using these essential hashtags: #ChicagoNatureNow and #NameOfPreserve.

Do you find this website useful? Do you benefit from our many hours of weekly scouting? Then please help keep it going by donating or purchasing my nationally-acclaimed book.