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Nature
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Plants of the tallgrass prairie, the graceful waving grasses, and the colorful flowering plants, can be used for aesthetic beauty, historic accuracy, low maintenance landscaping, and rain water management. The bur oak, the oak of the prairie, grew among the grasses because it was able to survive prairie fires with its thick bark. Fire is the element that kept the prairie from turning into woodland. Fire, quite probably used as a management tool by the indigenous people that inhabited the land, kept the tree seedlings away and allowed the grass to grow, forming a thick rich layer of topsoil. Impervious to wind or water erosion due to the thick layer of dense fibrous roots, growing two to three times as deep as the grasses are tall, the land developed a gently rolling or even flat form. Storm water drained down into the thick sponge of roots, leaving streams and rivers shallow and broad.
Trees grew in the floodplains and downslopes to the rivers, where the fires were extinguished by the downslope or the water. Cottonwoods along narrow streams, sycamores and red maples along broader floodplains marked the waterways in the midst of the tallgrass prairies. The fire traveled from west to east on the prevailing winds, so the eastern plains above the rivers were at times protected by the river for long enough for a woodland to gain a foothold. These maple and linden woodlands harbored abundant spring wildflowers. In scattered patterns across the broad tallgrass prairie, occasional stand of trees did thrive. These trees could withstand the fire due to their thick corky bark. Single survivors could be found, but often, these trees occurred in irregular clusters or groves, called savannas. The tree with this corky bark that grew tall and wide in the prairie was the bur oak. The bur oak is the prairie oak for which our gallery is named.
Warrenville, Illinois was home to vast prairies in pre-settlement times, when Native Americans thrived on the land in harmony with the plants and animals in the prairie, wetland, and woodland ecosystems. Warrenville chose as her symbol the acorn, and through Warrenville runs a marvelous recent invention, the rails-to-trails system called the Prairie Path. Mineral Point, Wisconsin was also home to prairies prior to discovery by miners of the lead mineral. The right-of-way of the railway that passed through Mineral Point, another gem in the nation's rail-to-trails program, called the Cheese Country Recreation Trail, features prairie remnants that survived and thrived there due to the occasional fire started by the spark of wheels. More: See our Articles page for occasional detailed article on prairies and other topics. Landscaping: Co-owner of Prairie Oak Artisans in Warrenville, IL and owner of Prairie Oak Artisans North in Mineral Point, WI, Karma Grotelueschen, practices landscape design, specializing in the use of native plants and plant combinations that begin to recreate prairie and woodland environments. PlannedScapes Native Landscape Design, can provide full plans, plans for specific areas, phased plans, residential designs, corporate designs, and restoration designs. Grotelueschen also provides consultation services, teaching homeowners how to manage and maintain natural areas, and provides free plans to Eagle Scout candidates and reduce rate plans to churches and other not-for-profits ready to commit to prairie landscaping. Call (630) 393-4598 for an appointment. Grotelueschen teaches landscape design at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL, and speaks at garden clubs and to other groups who want to learn more about natural landscaping, creating outdoor rooms, managing storm water with native plants including the use of rain gardens, and about specific native plant species. Grotelueschen is an active member of The Wild Ones, an organization that promotes and provides information and resources for natural landscaping. Prairie Tours: Grotelueschen offers tours of local prairies to individuals, couples, and groups to local restored and remnant prairies in the area surrounding Warrenville, IL. |
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Prairie
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