I got another light installed for the greenhouse, which means I can use the other shelf.  I decided to go ahead and sow another tray of liatris aspera.  I did this because I realy want to make sure that I get some of this plant growing in the ground.  By scattering it by hand outside, I run the risk of loosing the little seed I collected to the wind.  The other tray I sowed the prairie clover that I had collected and a small quantity of chelone glabra, or turtle’s head.  The turtle head was found in the small wetland area by the Fox river resort in Sheridan.  The prairie clover was found headed into Marseilles. 

I will hand scatter the remaining seeds outside in the prairie.  The liatris aspera will go into the far north section of the prairie, where it is drier, along with the prairie clover and coreopsis.  The decision to combine the three plants into one area was based upon the fact that the coreopsis and prairie clover, while not found growing together at a site, were each found growing with liatria aspera at two different sites.  This concept is the basis for my entire prairie.  The goal is to combine species that used to grow alongside each other in the past, but have become seperated as humans moved into the area.

I sowed my first ever native plants in the greenhouse today.  I started off with 2 trays, as I only have one of the shelves lit-up so far.  I sowed one whole tray of liatris aspera, and a second tray with coreopsis lanceolata and teucreum canadensis.  I still have alot of liatris left so I may do a second tray when I get another grow light installed.  To sow the seeds I simply scattered them across the tray and sprayed them down with water.  Later, as the seeds germinate, I will thin out the plants if the cells become to crowded.

Farm and Fleet has some seedling trays which will work quite nicely.  They are a 72 cell count tray and are about 2 inches deep.  This depth will allow for some decent root development before I transplant the plants outside.  I used Miracle-Gro seedling mix for my soil. 

Last father’s day I had recieved a 2 shelf mini greenhouse.  This year I finally set it up so that I can grow some of my more “valuable” native seeds.  These valuable seeds are ones that I have collected very little seed of and are not yet growing out in the prairie.  To install the grow lights inside the greenhouse, I had to rig something quite ingenious. I took out the middle support for the top shelf and slid it into 2 electrical conduit connectors.  Each of the connectors has 2 screws coming out of them.  I removed one of the screws and used the other to attach it to the top of the growlight.  The end result is amazing and I think it will work really well.

While out working today, my travels to me to Elgin.  I’m glad they did because I witnessed one of the coolest things ever.  I pulled into the parking lot of the Meijer and saw a red-tailed hawk flying around the parking lot.  It was chasing a group of starlings.  I stopped the car to see what would happen, and as I did, the hawk did a sharp turn and caught a starling in mid-air!  I did a touble take to make sure that it was in fact a red-tailed hawk, and it sure was.  I had seen video of “Pale-male” from New York’s central park do this behavior with pigeons and was amazed.  To see this behavior with my own eyes made the rest of my work day just fade away.