“Prairiescape” by Deborah Rees

Plant(s): Echinacea
Photo Story: I love to walk the prairie at Carl R Hansen Woods as their are some gorgeous views from the trails. This is one I took.
Equipment: Nikon D3100
Photo ID: 32917

“Snuffy’s Prairie” by Deborah Rees

Plant(s): Bee balm, Grey-headed coneflower, bluestem and silphium leaves
Photo Story: I visited Snuffy’s Prairie in Dundee Township in Kane County, IL and found a wonderful watershed project with beautiful wildflowers year round that help filter the water running into the Fox River.
Equipment: Nikon D3100
Photo ID: 32918

“Prairie View School Native Garden2” by Dawn Marie Staccia

Plant(s): Lavender Hyssop, butterfly weed, prairie blazing star, wild bergamot, yellow coneflower, brown-eyed susan, stiff goldenrod, purple coneflower, prairie dropseed, golden alexander, early sunflower, little bluestem, hoary vervain, whorled milkweed and many others.
Photo Story: The school students of Prairie View Elementary school researched the importance of how people can help butterflies thrive and about the Monarch butterfly, specifically. Most importantly, these students created presentations on these topics and shared their research with the Prairie View PTO and all of the students in grades 1-6. A naming and logo contest was held and the garden is now called “Prairie View’s Butterfly Wonderland.” They continue to provide further educational opportunities for the students and families at Prairie View on the importance of pollinators and how to create spaces for them to thrive. This is the second photo of the native garden out of 4 photos.
Equipment: Apple iPhone 13
Photo ID: 32920

“Prairie View School Native Garden Swallowtail and Honeybee” by Dawn Marie Staccia

Plant(s): Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly, Purple Coneflowers, Honey Bee
Photo Story: I took this photo with my telephoto lens at the Prairie View School Native Garden of a swallowtail butterfly and a honey bee. This is the third photo of four photos taken of the Prairie View School native garden. The swallowtail butterfly and the honey bee is on a purple coneflower.
Equipment: Canon EOS 80D Telephoto Lens 150-600 mm
Photo ID: 32921

“Prairie View School Native Garden Swallowtail Butterfly” by Dawn Marie Staccia

Plant(s): Purple Coneflower, Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly
Photo Story: This photo is a far shot taken with my telephoto lens of a yellow swallowtail butterfly resting among a group of purple coneflowers taken at the Prairie View School Native Garden. This is part 4 of the photos taken at the garden.
Equipment: Canon EOS 80D Telephoto lens 150-600 mm
Photo ID: 32922

“Taylor Hollow Spring Wildflowers” by Barbara DeGraves

Plant(s): Blue-Eyed Mary (Collinsia verna), Dwarf Larkspur (Delphinium tricorne), Trillium, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)
Photo Story: Blue-eyed Mary, Dwarf Larkspur, Trillium, Wild Ginger, Maidenhair Fern and more make a spectacular spring wildflower display in this moist rich Middle Tennessee forest hollow. Managed by The Nature Conservancy, Tennessee Chapter, I’ve had the privilege of hiking and photographing this biologically diverse hollow for the past several years. Can you spot the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail foraging among the early native flowers?
Equipment: Canon 90D, 1/640 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800, Canon Lens EF-S 10-22 mm
Adobe Lightroom
Photo ID: 32923

“Group Of Monarchs” by Dawn Marie Staccia

Plant(s): Monarch Butterflies, Purple Coneflower, Early Sunflowers in background
Photo Story: As I was taking photos of monarchs in my native garden, three monarchs descended upon a purple coneflower as to fight for a spot on the flower. That was the exact moment I snapped the photo. Finally, the monarch that was falling off the petals joined the rest of the butterflies.
Equipment: Canon EOS 80D Telephoto lens 150-600mm
Photo ID: 32924

“First Flower” by Ruth Hilfiker

Plant(s): Prairie Willow (Salix humilis) with bumble bee
Photo Story: Prairie Willow is the first native plant in Wisconsin or Minnesota to bloom and the first food for native bumble bees that leave their underground home earlier than any other pollinators. Prairie willow shrubs are planted in my all native landscape.
Equipment: Apple 14 Pro Phone Camera
Photo ID: 32933

“Backyard Prairie” by Ruth Hilfiker

Plant(s): Gray Headed Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata); Bee Balm (Monarda didyma); Anis Hyssop
Photo Story: My husband and I planted a 3/4 acre native prairie in our backyard 3 years ago which has now matured and is a wonderful, colorful alternative to a grass lawn.
Equipment: Apple 14 Pro Phone Camera
Photo ID: 32934

“Blue Vervain” by Deborah Rees

Plant(s): Blue Vervain
Photo Story: A photo of Blue Vervain in our floodplain restoration project
Equipment: Nikon D3100
Photo ID: 32935

“Floodplain Flora” by Deborah Rees

Plant(s): Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower) and common boneset
Photo Story: I took this picture of wildflowers in our floodplain woodland restoration. These replaced many invasives including phragmites, reed canary grass and honeysuckle
Equipment: Nikon D3100
Photo ID: 32936

“Sneezeweed” by Deborah Rees

Plant(s): Sneezeweed or Helenium Autumnale
Photo Story: I took a photo of sneezeweed just coming into bloom in our floodplain restoration project
Equipment: Nikon D3100
Photo ID: 32937

“Bumble Bee Last Straw” by Ruth Hilfiker

Plant(s): New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae); Black and gold Bumble Bee (Bombus auricomus)
Photo Story: The queen bumble bee desperately needs nectar late in the fall to make it through the winter. Asters provide the needed nectar and do not die until after a heavy frost. Native bumble bees are better pollinators than European honey bees and much better than butterflies. My backyard prairie has many species of asters to help the native bumble bees.
Equipment: Apple 14 Pro Phone Camera
Photo ID: 32938

“Front Yard Pretty” by Deborah Rees

Plant(s): Purple Poppy Mallow, Rudbeckia fulgida, serviceberry tree, little bluestem grass, aromatic aster (not in bloom) and wild nodding onion.
Photo Story: We installed a new front yard bed featuring native wildflowers, grasses and a tree. This is a photo I took of the side of the raised bed, looking toward the street.
Equipment: Nikon D3100
Photo ID: 32939

“Monarch Buffet” by Ruth Hilfiker

Plant(s): Prairie Blazing Star (Liatrus ligulistylis); Obedient Plant (Physostegia viginiana); with Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
Photo Story: My 30 x 15 foot raingarden is full of color with Liatrus ligulistylis that is particularly attractive to the migrating generation of Monarch butterflies!
Equipment: Apple 14 Pro Phone camera
Photo ID: 32940

“Purple Prairie Clover Love” by Ruth Hilfiker

Plant(s): Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea)
Photo Story: Purple prairie clover is the most beautiful flower of all the prairie flowers. Bumble bees circle the flower heads to find nectar in July before other common prairie flowers are in bloom. It’s a legume that fixes nitrogen, so I have seen it grow in the driest of sites.
Equipment: Apple 14 Pro Phone Camera
Photo ID: 32941

“Native Garden Entrance” by Deborah Rees

Plant(s): Rudbeckia Fulgida on left and Serviceberry. In middle, Prairie dropseed, wild nodding onions, little bluestem and on right Black-eye susan
Photo Story: This is the entrance to our native raised bed from our front walkway. The bed was designed with shorter natives and this is the second year for the bed. A stone walkway was installed to aid in the design and a serviceberry was planted as a focal point.
Equipment: iPhone
Photo ID: 32942

“Spiderwort Face of Infinite Beauty” by Ruth Hilfiker

Plant(s): Spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis)
Photo Story: The 6 bright yellow tipped stamens covered in blue hairs centered on the incandescent blue petals are exquisite even if they are short lived. I have small patches of them growing in my backyard prairie.
Equipment: Apple 14 Pro Phone Camera
Photo ID: 32943

“Pale Coneflower Capture” by Ruth Hilfiker

Plant(s): Pale Purple Coneflower (Echinacea pallida)
Photo Story: This gentle wispy coneflower grows in my raingarden and last 3 weeks. Native bees feed on this lovely less aggressive coneflower.
Equipment: Apple 14 Pro Phone camera
Photo ID: 32944

“Front Yard Native Border” by Deborah Rees

Plant(s): Nodding wild onion, Aromatic aster, prairie dropseed, little bluestem, purple poppy mallow, monarda bradburnia, serviceberry and rudbeckia fulgida
Photo Story: Last year we replaced the lawn in our raised area with native wildflowers and the serviceberry. This is the view our neighbors have when walking in front. We intentionally chose shorter natives and strong design elements like the stone walkway and serviceberry focal point so that it would look similar to a traditional borders.
Equipment: Nikon D3100
Photo ID: 32945

“White Pine Understory Wisper” by Ruth Hilfiker

Plant(s): Eastern White Pine (Pine strobus)
Photo Story: My daughter and I hiked to 12 Foot Falls Park and found towering white pines with a bed of quiet needles in the understory. Natures art.
Equipment: Apple 14 Pro Phone camera
Photo ID: 32946

“Spider’s Umbrella” by Deborah Rees

Plant(s): Eastern harvestman spider and echinacea purpurea
Photo Story: On a rainy day I spotted this spider who found the perfect umbrella
Equipment: Nikon D3100
Photo ID: 32947

“Bumble Bee Candy” by Deborah Rees

Plant(s): Bumble bee on liatris aspera
Photo Story: It seems our resident bumble bees love Liatris Aspera! This is one of their many visits.
Equipment: NikonD3100
Photo ID: 32948

“Hold On!” by Becki Wells

Plant(s): Common milkweed seed
Photo Story: On a windy day in north west Illinois a milkweed seed tries to find it’s way to germinate!
Equipment: I Phone 14
Photo ID: 32949

“Swallowtails on cup plant” by Tammy Dorfman

Plant(s): Eastern tiger swallowtails on cup plant
Photo Story: I have a tall garden with cup plant, Joe pye weed and sunflowers. The swallowtails love the cup plant. Every evening around 5 pm this magic happens. It’s like someone rang the supper bell. There is a tulip poplar tree nearby which is a host plant for ETS. It’s a wonderful habitat.
Equipment: iPhone
Photo ID: 32950

“Monarch Caterpillars on Swamp Milkweed” by Dana Kohlmeyer

Plant(s): Swamp milkweed (Asclepsis incarnata)
Photo Story: My butterly house has been home to a number of monarch caterpillars this summer. While usually spread out, I found these three close together happily munching on the swamp milkweed I cut from my garden for them.
Equipment: Apple iPhone 13 Pro
Photo ID: 32954

“Monarch Chrysalis” by Dana Kohlmeyer

Plant(s): Swamp milkweed (Asclepsis incarnata)
Photo Story: Concerned that some of the chrysalis in my butterfly house were dying because they looked very dark, I got up close for a better look. To my surprise, it was a preview of the beautiful monarch wings before the butterfly emerged. Nature is amazing!
Equipment: Apple iPhone 13 Pro
Photo ID: 32955

“Finches & Pinecone Feeder” by Barbara DeGraves

Plant(s): Branch with Lichens, Pinecone from an Eastern White Pine Tree (Pinus strobus), Pair of House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus)
Photo Story: It’s a Bird…It’s a Pinecone…It’s a Bird Feeder… My local Wild Ones SoKY chapter was hosting their 2nd annual “Bird Feeder Make & Take” winter event. So, I decided to create some pinecone feeder photographs for their social media pages. For the photography stage, I made a feeding station using a fallen branch with lichens in our backyard. Then, the hungry birds arrived just as some flurries started to fall. I set my camera in the windowsill and whenever I notice some bird activity, I snap a few shots. The branch has some homemade bark butter on it as well as on the pinecone with some cranberries and white feathers.
Equipment: Canon 90D, 1/1000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 2500, Sigma Lens 100-400mm
Photo ID: 32957

“Playful Grasses” by Courtney Denning

Plant(s): Tufted Hair Grass (Deschampsia cespitosa)
Photo Story: Native grasses don’t get as much attention as native forbs with their bright, charismatic, and colorful flowers. The beauty of grasses is more subdued, quiet even. They don’t pop visually unless in a mass planting and thus require a closer look to appreciate their loveliness. I adore the texture and movement that grasses add to the landscape. I cannot resist running my fingers through grasses, especially when they’re almost ready to flower. I have many photos of my hands in grasses as I enjoy the tactile experience while also trying to get a closer look to identify the plant. I took this photo at the Saint Kateri Preserve for Natural Burial at Calvary Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio. It’s a beautiful land conservation site for those seeking natural or green burial.
Equipment: iPhone 13 Pro
Photo ID: 32958

“Hummingbird on Royal Catchfly” by Ed Buchs

Plant(s): Silene regia – known as “Royal Catchfly” is the red flower in the photo and target for the hummingbird.
Photo Story: Spotting a hummingbird foraging is mostly luck. When Royal Catchfly are in bloom in my native garden, I usually give myself a five minute pause while I stand still and wait for the lucky chance to see the hummingbird at the flower. This photo is the result this year. The hummingbird is the main pollinator of this plant which has been in my garden for the last 10 years.
Equipment: Canon R6
Tamron 18-400 telephoto lens
Capture 1 software to process RAW photo.
Photo ID: 32959