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Text Box: Associate Directors Dan Harms Clarence Hoftender Roger Schlichting William Tonne Natural Resource Conservation Service John Bell..............District Conservationist Tim Ertmer..............Conservation Technician

Text Box: PHONE: (815) 858-3418 Ext. 3 E-Mail: jdswcd@humus.com DIRECTORS Don Kautz..............................Chairman Greg Thoren …………….Vice Chairperson James Huilman.............. Secretary-Treasurer Carol Timmerman........................Director .Brent Offenheiser........................Director Staff Lester Johnson.........Resource Conservationist Kyle Embry...............County Conservationist Mindy Pratt..........Administrative Coordinator Chris Haring......Stream Restoration Specialist

If you have a large acreage to plant, the SWCD owns a tree planter that is leased to Evergreen Landscaping of Apple River. Rick Huizenga of Evergreen Landscaping provides a complete machine planting service and he may be contacted at (815) 492-2659.

We have seedling size trees available by special order for large scale plantings. Seedling trees significantly reduce the tree planting cost per acre and work well for machine planting systems.

Seedling species include American Cranberry, American Plum, Black Cherry, Black Chokeberry, Black Walnut, Bur Oak, Hazelnut, Red Oak, Red Osier Dogwood, Red Pine, Silky Dogwood, Swamp White Oak, White Oak, and White Pine. If you would like to place an order for the seedling size species listed above or if you are looking for a large quantity of another species, please contact Kyle at our office to make those arrangements.

To display or download a pdf version of the tree and Prairie Plant order blank use this link:

08-tree-prairie-plant-order

Text Box: Medium to moist conditions. Average garden soil. Color Flowering date Height Anise Hyssop Purple June - Sept. 2-4’ Brown-eyed Susan Yellow Aug. - Oct. 2-4’ Culver’s Root White June - Aug. 3-6’ Lanceleaf Coreopsis Yellow May - Aug 2-3’ Prairie Spiderwort Blue May - July 1-2’ Purple Coneflower Purple July - Sept 3-4’ Purple Meadowrue Cream June - July 3-6’ Smooth Blue Aster Purple Aug. - Sept. 3-4’ Switchgrass 2-7’ Tall Dropseed grass 2-3’ Thimbleweed White June - July 2-3’ Wild Bergamot Lavender July - Aug. 2-4’ Soils wet in the winter, spring and after heavy rains, dries in summer. Color Flowering date Height Blue Indigo Blue May - June 3-5’ Blue Jointgrass 3-5’ Buttonbush White June - Aug. 2-5’ Cup Plant Yellow June - July. 4-10’ False Dragonhead Pink July - Oct. 2-5’ Marsh Blazingstar Purple July - Sept. 3-5’ Mountain Mint White June - Sept. 2-3’ New England Aster Purple Aug. - Sept. 2-5’ Prairie Cordgrass 3-7’ Swamp Milkweed Pink July - Aug. 3-5’ Sweet Black-eyed Susan Yellow July - Aug. 3-6’ Wild Golden Glow Yellow July - Oct. 3-10’

Text Box: Water is removed from soil readily. Shallow bedrock & sandy soils. Areas near the end of ridgetops and south facing slopes. Color Flowering date Height Alumroot Red July 2-4’ Columbine Red/orange April - June 1-2’ Hoary Vervain Lavender Aug.- Sept. 1-3” Ohio Spiderwort Blue May - July 2-4’ Old Field Goldenrod Yellow Aug.- Oct. 1-3’ Purple Prairie Clover Purple July - Sept 1-3’ Rosinweed Yellow July- Sept. 2-6’ Sideoats Gramma grass Aug.- Sept. 2-3’ Stiff Goldenrod yellow Aug.- Oct. 1-5’ Upland White Aster White June - Aug. 8-24” Whorled milkweed White June - Sept. 1-3’ Wild Petunia Violet June -Aug. 6-24”

Text Box: Plant a prairie garden of brilliant colors and seasonal blooms. Attract birds and butterflies! These packages include a variety of plants to produce color throughout the summer while the grasses provide character in the fall and winter.

Text Box: All packets consist of a flat of 84 plugs. There are seven 1 X 2 1/2 inch deep plugs of each of the twelve species. A half flat of 42 may be purchased and will contain either three or four of each of the twelve species.

Natural landscaping as an alternative to turf has many advantages, but it takes time and good planning to establish a low maintenance planting. Large areas are often planted using seed, but the plugs are useful to speed up the process when creating

prairie gardens and to introduce new species into existing larger plantings. Following is an outline for success:

· For new plantings use about 1 foot spacing between the plugs.

· The planting area needs to be well prepared using either herbicides or tillage. Planting into competitive sod vegetation is not likely to be successful.

· Remove existing tall vegetation and open up small areas or use fire to reduce competition when introducing new species into an existing prairie garden.

· Early spring is the best time to plant using plugs. Watering is desirable to settle the soil around the roots at planting time, but in most cases the cool temperatures and more regular rainfall of spring will limit the need for additional watering.

· The main priority is controlling competition until the new plugs become well established. Planting into rows or using a regular planting pattern makes mulching and weeding easier.

· If possible mulch the new plantings with clean straw, lawn grass clippings or wood chips. Even a small area of mulch placed around the plug will be helpful. On new plantings it may be easier to mulch first and than rake back the mulch to install the plug. Avoid hay or other mulch materials that could introduce weed seed or competitive grasses into the planting.

· Native plants normally thrive without additional fertilizer. Over time they develop a deep fibrous root system that makes them very drought resistant and competitive. Established plants typically can be divided or produce seedlings to expand the planting.

The Jo Daviess SWCD tree program was started in the mid

1970’s to provide low cost bare root trees for farm and

home windbreaks. At the time there was a growing

“energy crisis”.

Thirty years later the situation is much the same, but with

additional concerns about the environmental impact of

burning fossil fuels.

Most rural homes and farmsteads can benefit from an evergreen windbreak. According to the University of Illinois Extension Service a windbreak can reduce the wind velocity by 50 percent and lower home heating fuel consumption by 10 to 25 percent. This savings in energy can be accomplished with only a small cash investment, but it takes a few years to start receiving the big returns. Now is the time to get started or to consider improvements to your existing farm or home windbreak.

The windbreak effectiveness depends on the type of trees, the tree height and the number of rows as well as the wind speeds. If you have a small yard, the addition of just two or three trees sited in the right location can help block winds. Spruce, Fir and Cedar are generally better than Pines for living windscreens and privacy screens. These species are more dense and the branches do not tend to die back on the bottom. They may also be less subject to deer browse compared to pines. At most sites the bare root evergreen transplants should be planted at their desired final spacing. Mulching with woodchips or similar materials is an excellent way to further conserve moisture and reduce the competition from grass or weeds.

Deer repellants applied regularly starting before temperatures begin to fall below freezing will control light to moderate deer browsing over the winter. For heavy deer pressure a temporary fence may be required. A six foot or taller fence will be needed. Two shorter fences spaced about 4 – 5 feet apart will generally work well as most deer can’t jump both fences in a single bound and they fear getting trapped in the confined space. A one or two wire electrified ribbon tape fence may be used as the exterior fence in an offset double fence system. The fluttering of the wire ribbon in the wind will also help to keep the deer away.

In addition to planting a windbreak it is useful to start a small “nursery” where extra trees of the same species and age can be planted close together, mulched and protected from wildlife damage. The trees in your private nursery will provide replacements for the occasional windbreak tree that dies or is damaged by deer or other wildlife. The trees in the nursery are moved with the soil attached to the root ball. In areas where newly planted trees will be subject to competition from taller plants the well established nursery trees often provide better results. Depending on the tree species it may become difficult to move the nursery trees using only hand digging tools after 2-4 years. Hopefully most of the trees in the nursery can be moved on in the first few years and some of the remaining trees can be left for landscaping. Root pruning the nursery stock with a sharp shovel in the early spring after the second year can help slow growth, keep the root system compact and extend the years available for transplanting. After your nursery trees become too large the evergreens may still be useful as Christmas trees. Pruning in mid summer after the spring growth has hardened off can help shape the trees and maintain a compact Christmas tree form.

Most rural homes and farmsteads can benefit from an evergreen windbreak. According to the University of Illinois Extension service a windbreak can reduce the wind velocity by 50 percent and lower home heating fuel consumption by 10 to 25 percent. The distance that the protection extends from the windbreak's leeward side is proportional to its height. The most effective zone of protection extends to a distance 2 to 5 times its height, while some protection extends to 10 times the tree height.

Species must be