Author: Shirley Shirley Publisher: University of Iowa Press ISBN: 1587292203 Category : Gardening Languages : en Pages : 348
Book Description
Iowa is the only state that lies entirely within the natural region of the tallgrass prairie. Early documents indicate that 95 percent of the state—close to 30 million acres—was covered by prairie vegetation at the time of Euro-American settlement. By 1930 the prairie sod had been almost totally converted to cropland; only about 30,000 acres of the original “great green sea” remained. Now, in this gracefully illustrated manual, Shirley Shirley has created a step-by-step guide to reconstructing the natural landscape of Iowa and the Upper Midwest. Chapters on planning, obtaining and selecting plants and seeds, starting seeds indoors, preparing the site, planting, and maintenance set the stage for comprehensive species accounts. Shirley gives firsthand information on soil, moisture, sun, and pH requirements; location, size, and structure; blooming time and color; and propagation, germination, and harvesting for more than a hundred wildflowers and grasses. Shirley's sketches—all drawn from native plants and from seedlings that she grew herself—will be valuable for even the most experienced gardener. While other books typically feature only the flowering plant, her careful drawings show the three stages of the seedlings, the flower, and the seedhead with seeds as well as the entire plant. This practical and attractive volume will help anyone dedicated to reconstructing the lost “emerald growth” of the historic tallgrass prairie.
Author: Chris Helzer Publisher: University of Iowa Press ISBN: 1587299313 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 234
Book Description
Most prairies exist today as fragmented landscapes, making thoughtful and vigilant management ever more important. Intended for landowners and managers dedicated to understanding and nurturing their prairies as well as farmers, ranchers, conservationists, and all those with a strong interest in grasslands, ecologist Chris Helzer’s readable and practical manual educates prairie owners and managers about grassland ecology and gives them guidelines for keeping prairies diverse, vigorous, and viable. Chapters in the first section, "Prairie Ecology," describe prairie plants and the communities they live in, the ways in which disturbance modifies plant communities, the animal and plant inhabitants that are key to prairie survival, and the importance of diversity within plant and animal communities. Chapters in the second section, "Prairie Management," explore the adaptive management process as well as guiding principles for designing management strategies, examples of successful management systems such as fire and grazing, guidance for dealing with birds and other species that have particular habitat requirements and with the invasive species that have become the most serious threat that prairie managers have to deal with, and general techniques for prairie restoration. Following the conclusion and a forward-thinking note on climate change, eight appendixes provide more information on grazing, prescribed fire, and invasive species as well as bibliographic notes, references, and national and state organizations with expertise in prairie management. Grasslands can be found throughout much of North America, and the ideas and strategies in this book apply to most of them, particularly tallgrass and mixed-grass prairies in eastern North Dakota, eastern South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, northwestern Missouri, northern Illinois, northwestern Indiana, Iowa, southwestern Wisconsin, and southwestern Minnesota. By presenting all the factors that promote biological diversity and thus enhance prairie communities, then incorporating these factors into a set of clear-sighted management practices, The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States presents the tools necessary to ensure that grasslands are managed in the purposeful ways essential to the continued health and survival of prairie communities.
Author: Carl Kurtz Publisher: ISBN: 9780877457459 Category : Prairie planting Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
"Intended to encourage economical and functional prairie plant communities in the Midwest, this guide provides a formula for success for all but the most extreme conditions; it outlines the procedures and problems involved in reconstructing tallgrass prairies on large fields or in small backyards. In chapters on seed selection and harvest, site selection, soil preparation, seeding, post-planting mowing, burning, and growth and development - along with color photographs that are both beautiful and instructive - Kurtz presents a step-by-step guide to creating diverse and well-established prairie plant communities."--BOOK JACKET.
Author: Daryl Smith Publisher: University of Iowa Press ISBN: 1587299526 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 343
Book Description
"This manual, by four of the most knowledgeable prairie restorationists in the Upper Midwest, brings together absolutely everything that anyone, regardless of background, needs to know for proper tallgrass prairie restoration. In addition to chapters on everything from planning to implementing to managing a prairie, chapters on native seed production and restoring prairies in public spaces and along roadsides cover all that is necessary for successful prairie restorations. This book is an absolute must for anyone in the business of prairie restoration as well as a great read for any prairie enthusiast." -- Robert H. Mohlenbrock, distinguished professor emeritus of botany, Southern Illinois University --Book Jacket.
Author: Paul Christiansen Publisher: ISBN: Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 264
Book Description
This guide to the prairie plants native to Iowa provides all the information necessary for identifying and distinguishing even the most similar species. Species are described from the ground up: stem, leaf, bud, flower, fruit and habitat. The time of flowering/fruiting is given for central Iowa.
Author: Stephen Packard Publisher: Science and Practice of Ecolog ISBN: 9781597260343 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
TheTallgrass Restoration Handbook is a hands-on manual that provides a detailed account of what has been learned about the art and science of prairie restoration and the application of that knowledge to restoration projects throughout the world. Chapters provide guidance on all aspects of the restoration process, from conceptualization and planning to execution and monitoring. Appendixes present hard-to-find data on plants and animals of the prairies, seed collection dates, propagation methods, sources of seeds and equipment, and more. Also included is a key to restoration options that provides detailed instructions for specific types of projects and a comprehensive glossary of restoration terms. Written by those whose primary work is actually the making of prairies, The Tallgrass Restoration Handbook explores a myriad of restoration philosophies and techniques and is an essential resource for anyone working to nurture our once vibrant native landscapes back to a state of health.
Author: Jim Durbin Publisher: University of Iowa Press ISBN: 1609383052 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 16
Book Description
This welcome addition to Iowa’s popular series of laminated guides—the twenty-seventh in the series—illustrates fifty-one species commonly found in the Upper Midwest states of Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The Saturniid, or Giant Silk moths, are well named. Their large size—up to 6.5 inches for the cecropia moth—and the soft silky browns, greens, and oranges of their wings are unforgettable when they appear at a lighted window at night. Equally well named are the Sphinx or Hawk moths, important pollinators that hover like hummingbirds when nectar-feeding at dusk and even in daylight. The caterpillars of both families can be just as distinctive as the adults, as anyone who has ever come upon a tobacco or a tomato hornworm can attest. For each species the authors have included common and scientific names, wingspan, and time of flight for the adults at this final stage in their life cycle. Striking photographs of the adult moths and of their larval stages make this guide as beautiful as it is useful. For all naturalists captivated by the clear window eyespots of a Swallow-tailed Luna moth, the dark eyespots and bright yellow “pupils” of an Io moth, or the extendable proboscis of a White-lined Sphinx moth flitting from one moss rose to another, the photographs and descriptions in Moths in Your Pocket will be an invaluable reference.
Author: William Guion Publisher: Bulfinch Press ISBN: 9780821225318 Category : Photography Languages : en Pages : 79
Book Description
A gift book which pairs William Guion's duotone photographs of southern live oaks with the writings of Rumi, one of the most well-known of mystic poets, who died in 1237.
Author: Shirley Shirley
Author: Chris Helzer
Author: Sylvan T. Runkel
Author: Carl Kurtz
Author: Daryl Smith
Author: Paul Christiansen
Author: Stephen Packard
Author: Jim Durbin
Author: William Guion
Author: John Philip Morgan