Take a Woodland Wildflower Walk at Garfield Farm April 27

Posted April 18, 2019 11:00 pm

Submitted by Garfield Farm Museum

See what spring ephemerals are popping up after the first full controlled burn at Garfield Harley Pond and Woods during the Spring Wildflower Walk Saturday, April 27. Courtesy of Joseph Coleman

On Saturday April 27, Garfield Farm Museum in Campton Hills will offer a Woodland Wildflower Walk at 9:30 a.m.

With warming temperatures, the spring flowers will be in full bloom before the oak woods leaf out and shade the woodland floor.

Museum biologist Jerome Johnson will conduct the walk identifying species, discussing the history of the land and the impact of restoration methods.

As this is the first year that most of the nine-acre wooded wetland of Garfield Harley Pond and Woods has been burned, response from the spring ephemerals will be of particular interest.

In spite of April snows, the harbinger of spring, bloodroot, is already blooming.

It is also the first 14 months since a $21,000 challenge grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation underwrote the contracted removal of invasive honeysuckle, burning bush, and buckthorn providing light to the woodland floor.

In addition, this is the first full year that a fenced off quarter-acre will show initial results of limited predation by herbivores.

The first hint of this last summer was the presence of flowers on golden jewelweed inside the fence with those outside all browsed by deer. Such fenced off areas give plants a chance to recover and increase seed production that can be harvested for seeding other areas.

The museum's series of nature hikes reflect the intertwined themes of the museum: history, farming and nature.

Participants should wear appropriate clothing, insect repellent and walking shoes.

The outing will begin at the museum's visitors' center, the Atwell Burr House, 2N930 Garfield Road in Campton Hills.

The hike will last until noon. Cost is $6 per person.

For reservations, call (630) 584-8485 or email info@garfieldfarm.org.

Garfield Farm Museum is five miles west of Geneva, off Route 38 on Garfield Road. Garfield Farm is a historically intact former 1840s Illinois prairie farmstead and teamster inn that is being restored as a working 1840s farm.

Visit garfieldfarm.org or www.facebook.com/GarfieldFarmMuseum/.

Golden blooms of jewelweed were protected from browsing by deer by the wire fencing, while much of those plants outside the fence were eaten. Courtesy of Garfield Farm Museum

Trying to identify plants by their flower color can be confusing as this rue anemone has white to pink-tinged blooms during the season. Learning shapes of leaves, how they are arranged along the stems can be more important than knowing the flower's color. Courtesy of Garfield Farm Museum

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