February 10, 2012 at 9:46 pm (Butterflies, Insects, Photographers, Plants, Pollinators, Seeds)
Tags: Alexandria, Arizona, Butterflies, California, Cindy Dyer, Environment, Field Guide - Monarch Butterfly Habitat, Florida, Garden Muse: A Botanical Portfolio, garden photography tips, Green Spring Gardens, Happy Tonics, Horticulture Center, Large scale restoration project, milkweed seed, Minong Wisconsin, Monarch Butterfly Habitat, Monarch Butterfly Habitat in Shell Lake, Monarch Joint Venture, Nevada, New Mexico, Pollinators, Shell Lake, Texas, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grant, Virginia., Wisconsin, Xerces Society
Published in Washburn County Register, February 8, 2012
News from Xerces Society, “In 2010, with support from the Monarch Joint Venture and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grant, Xerces Society initiated a multi-state project to increase the availability of milkweed seed for large-scale restoration efforts in California, Nevada, Arizona, New México, Texas and Florida. Xerces is working with native seed producers and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Plant Material Program to increase the production of local ecotype native milkweed seed.” The reason for the collaborative milkweed seed project is because pollinators, including the monarch butterfly, are besieged with a threatened migration phenomenon.
Prior to Xerces Society milkweed initiative, Happy Tonics has been selling common milkweed seed since 1999. Milkweed is the only host plant of the monarch butterfly. The seed is offered in the Visitors Center/Store in downtown Shell Lake. The store reopens on Memorial Day Weekend. Out of season, milkweed seed is sold online through eBay. Several seed buyers from around the country are now donors of Happy Tonics nonprofit public charity. Some buyers have gone on to build butterfly gardens at schools and monarch butterfly habitats on their own property. It is good to know that monarch butterfly conservation is an ongoing environmental education act that brings positive results to help the monarch butterfly.
Cindy Dyer, VP Marketing, Happy Tonics, will have a one woman art show at the Horticulture Center, Green Spring Gardens, in Alexandria, Virginia. The exhibit, “Garden Muse: A Botanical Portfolio,” will run February 28 – April 29, 2012. If you wish to take a sneak preview of Cindy’s extraordinary floral and insect photography visit http://www.gardenmuseshow.com Her garden photography was also honored by Nikon camera in 2011. Here is a link to their Web page featuring Cindy’s garden photography tips at http://www.nikonusa.com/Learn-And-Explore/Photography-Techniques/gr35ffdt/all/How-To-Grow-Your-Garden-Photography-Skills.html
In summer 2011, Cindy photographed butterflies and native plants while visiting the Monarch Butterfly Habitat in Shell Lake. We are working on a Field Guide – Monarch Butterfly Habitat. The publication will highlight the symbiotic relationship between native plants and pollinators including the monarch butterfly, birds and small animals.
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January 9, 2012 at 12:42 am (Noxious weeds, Photographers, Plant identification)
Tags: Cindy Dyer, Dyer Design, Great radweed, Hayward WI, Lac Courte Oreille Ojibwa Community College, Larry Baker, Mary Ellen Ryall, Minong WI, Native plant garden, Natural Resources, Noxious weeds
Single leaf of giant radweed
If you only knew how this story has been nagging me. I have been looking for the photos on and off for a few months now. Photographers, I admit that I haven’t kept up with filing photos in a file system on the computer. Cindy Dyer, Dyer Design, told me she sorts though her photos daily and deletes those she doesn’t want and files the others in folders. It was this past summer when I saw a tall plant with multiple shaped leaves growing in my garden on the back side of the house. I would look out the window and say to myself, “What is that?” Do you notice the serrated leaves? They look like tiny teeth.
On close examination it had a familiar seed head. The leaves were unique in different shapes such as a single leaf and sometimes three to five lobes. I absolutely couldn’t identify the plant using any of my extensive wildflower plant books. It isn’t often than I am stumped by a plant.
Five lobes leaf
I emailed a knowledgeable instructor at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College in Hayward, WI. I had studied natural resources with him. Larry Baker has an intimate knowledge of plants and I figured if anyone knew this plant, he would.
The seed head was green. We went back and forth a few times until Larry looked up the plant key identification. I should have gone here but I didn’t. I hope he doesn’t think I am lazy. A surprise email came that asked, “Could it be Giant Ragweed?” I could have blushed because I then realized I did recognize the seed head. Yes indeed, it was this plant. The Latin name is Ambrosia trifida and the noxious weed is also known as Buffaloweed.
Great ragweed seed head.
How did it come to be living in my native wildflower garden? I have no idea how it got there. The plant prefers fertile moist soils. I had mulched this area with garden leaf compost a few years ago. The soil was dark and moist. Beyond the drip line of my home, all the water slopes downwards through a wood chip filter and throughout the garden bed. It must have been a male plant because the flowers were abundant in spike like clusters located on the tips of branches and stems. Female flowers are few without petals located in the axils of the upper leaves.
Leaves are opposite, large and slightly hairy, entire, or palmately cleft into 3 or occasionally 5 lobes. The lobes are ovate-lanceolate and serrated. I was able to look up the plant afterwards in a book that Ed, an elder friend, gave me a few years back. I never dreamed I would be identifying noxious weeds from this source but as you can see, I am. My books are my refuge.
Source: U.S. Department of agriculture, Selected Weeds of the United States, 1970.
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September 17, 2011 at 3:16 pm (Cindy Dyer, Nikon, Wordpress blog)
Tags: Cindy Dyer, Nikon, Photography, Photography lessons
Cindy Dyer visited Mary Ellen Ryall in September. She taught Mary Ellen a few photography tricks. I bought a Nikon L120 because Cindy recommended it. I am learning for her with this post also. Plan to take a few photography classes this fall in Hayward, WI with WITC.
Enjoy Cindy’s post.
How to Grow Your Garden Photography Skills | Taking Better Pictures of Gardens.
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May 29, 2011 at 1:02 pm (Butterfly Corner, Environment)
Tags: Butterflies, Cable and Hayward Area Arts Council, Cindy Dyer, Dakota Robinson, Destination Marketing Organization, Dylan Hasbrouck, Environment, Facebook, Fresh Start, garden, gardening, Happy Tonics, Hayward, herbicide, Host Plant, insect, insecticide, Larva, Mary Ellen Ryall, migration, milkweed, Monarch butterfly, Monarch Butterfly Habitat, My Secret Garden, Native Plants, nature, Photography, Shell Lake, Wisconsin
Dakota Robinson's Story Board on Monarch Migrations.
May 23 – Happy Tonics participated in the “My Secret Garden” event at the Comfort Suites in Hayward hosted by the Cable and Hayward Area Arts Council. The nonprofit’s theme was butterfly gardens. One of the highlights was showing Dakota Robinson’s story board that illustrates the migration route of the monarch butterfly from Mexico to Canada. The youngster started a petition to stop roadside spraying of herbicides and insecticides during migration season. Roads and rivers are the main travel route of monarch butterflies. Herbicides kill milkweed, the host plant and insecticides kill larva and adult butterflies. Many guests attending the garden gala; were familiar with the plight of the monarch butterfly and signed the petition. Others also knew about Shell Lake’s Monarch Butterfly Habitat and plan to come this summer.
May 26 – Mary Ellen Ryall and Dylan Hasbrouck attended a Destination Marketing Organization meeting, at Wild Rivers Outfitters, in Grantsburg. Dylan will be working with Happy Tonics this summer to help maintain the habitat. He is under Fresh Start’s umbrella which is building a house in Shell Lake. Dylan will also be in training to learn Internet marketing skills at the nonprofit’s Visitors Center/Store at 25 Fifth Avenue, Shell Lake.
In the morning, I stopped at the habitat and did a walk through to see what was starting to grow. Milkweed is emerging and averages 2” to 6” tall.
Monarch eggs on milkweed
One colony of plants already has a monarch egg on each leaf. This is promising considering how cold and wet the spring has been so far. Remember monarchs do not fly when it is below 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Monarchs return to Shell Lake about lilac time which is about now. Native June grass is already up. Prairie smoke flower is budding. Oyster plant is at the edible stage. Native shrubs and trees are flourishing and many are in flower including Juneberry, wild black cherry and chokecherry. Earlier this spring an Experience Works member Mike Kremer applied a good dose of compost and mulch to the trees and shrubs.
Remember to call in your first monarch butterfly sighting in Shell Lake. You will win a butterfly gift if you report the first sighting. Be sure to note day, time, your location, weather, and temperature as best as you can. Dial 715 468-2097 and leave a message if no answer. Someone will get back to you.
Please Like Happy Tonics on Facebook. Join the conversations and track events and happenings. Visit us on the Internet and find out about summer events at www.happytonics.org and visit the Blog at www.happytonics.wordpress.com
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April 8, 2010 at 1:30 am (Bumble Bee, Butterflies and Gardens Newsletter, Ecotourism, Environment, La Cruz Habitat Protection Project, Mexican Monarch Butterfly Habitat, Travel)
Tags: Adelaide, Albuquerque Xeriscape Landscaping and Water Conservation Expo, Anganqueo, Australia, Chip Taylor, Cindy Dyer, Corey Bradshaw, Dan Benton, Deneen Stambone, DNA, Dragonfly Gardens, ecoversity, Ejido, El Rosario, Facebook, Happy Tonics, illegal logging, Isabella tiger moth, La Cruz Habitat Protection Project, Mary Ellen Ryall, Mexico, Michael Schwehr, Michoacan, Monarch butterfly, Monarch Watch, National Agrarian Registry, Native Crops, native plant nursery, New Mexico, Niche Gardens, October Hill Foundation, Oyamel fir tree, Patzcuaro, Phil Boggis, pollination, Prairie Moon Nursery, Prairie Nursery, Questa, Registro Agrario National, Richard Dawkins, Sandia Park, South Australian Research & Development Institute, The Butterfly Observer, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Ultraviolet Garden, ultraviolet light, University of Kansas, wildflowers, Woolly bear caterpillar
Dear Insectamonarca friends,
Cover to newsletter
We hope you will enjoy the spring issue of Butterflies and Gardens at http://happytonics.wordpress.com/
We are sad to report that the monarchs will be migrating back to the USA with the lowest numbers since the 1970s when they were first recorded. Read all about the floods and mudslides in Mexico. Chip Taylor, University of Kansas and Monarch Watch, points out that illegal deforestation has compromised the Mexican habitats for many years.
May we all pay attention to promoting biodiversity and reforestation for the monarch butterfly and pollinating species including native bees.
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