The weather has been beautiful lately, so it is a great time to take a stroll through the Batavia Wildflower Sanctuary. See if you can find the cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis), great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica, photo #1) and obedient plants (Physostega virginiana, photo #2).

Thank you so much to Terri for your help on Friday! A lot of weeds met their match.

Fall is a great time to plant, and the Wild Ones of Greater Kane County is having one more native plant sale. Their trees, shrubs and perennials need to be preordered by August 18. See https://startinyouryard.com/ for details and to order. You can split an order with a friend if you don't want 8 plants of all the same kind.

Our next work day at the Wildflower Sanctuary will be on Saturday, August 28 starting at 8:00 am. Stay tuned for details when it gets closer, but if you would like to get extra credit and do some work on your own, we could really use some help pulling weeds between the cracks of the brick pavers and cutting back plants that are hanging over the sidewalk.

Thanks for your help!

Sarah

Hello Gardeners,

This is just a friendly reminder that we will be having a work day on Friday starting at 8:00. Please bring gardening gloves, eye protection, drinking water, clippers, loppers, weed diggers, and a bucket or tarp for toting the clippings and weeds.

The yellow flowers in the picture below are called golden glow or cutleaf coneflower or Rudbeckia laciniata. They are pretty, but need to be trimmed back so that people can get by on the Riverwalk. We also have some weeds to pull near the dam, and I am counting on the soil being nice and soft after this week's rain.

The second picture is of cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis) that happily have started blooming along the west part of the boardwalk.

Hope to see you on Friday the 13th!

Sarah

Thank you, Nancy H., for finding and sharing this excellent info on Hosta Viruses – especially on Hosta Virus X. Gardeners, be aware that this virus can decimate your hostas, it needs to be addressed - agressively - as soon as you see it. Care must be taken so that it isn’t spread to other hostas.

https://www.delvalhosta.org/hvx?fbclid=IwAR1vhraIEf4M4mSXTEsGz7lxOxCPPPZkl8yK6xd7x_6VQ3onFUreQ7ezaW0

Dear Gardeners,

Thank you so much to Terri and Charlie for your help on July 24th! Lots of weeds met their demise that day.

This is a beautiful time of year to check out our Little Prairie, and the geese and red-winged blackbirds are no longer guarding their little ones, so come take a stroll at the Riverwalk!

Please save the dates for work days on August 13 and 28, starting at 8:00. I will send more details when they get closer. In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying the summer!

Sarah

Hello Gardeners!

Please join us for a field trip on Monday, July 19th!

We will meet in the parking lot by the Batavia Riverwalk, just north of the police station at 9:30 am, and then carpool to Warrenville.

John and Barbara R. have a garden that we will be touring at 10:00. Their yard features beautiful sculptures, thousands of day lilies, 750 types of hosta, grafted trees and variegated bushes. John also sells plants, and has offered to give the Plain Dirt Gardeners a donation with part of the proceeds from any purchases.

After we leave their garden, we will be heading to Cantigny for lunch in the cafe. Admission to Cantigny is $5 per car, unless someone has a membership. When we are done with lunch, we can walk around and explore the new and improved gardens there.

We would love to have your company! Feel free to bring a friend, but please let me know if you would like to join us for all or part of the day. Let me know too, if you are willing to drive.

Hope to see you soon!

Sarah K.

RSVP and questions – BataviaPlainDirtGardeners@gmail.com

Thank you to Mary, Deb, Lindsay, and Jo for your help on Saturday! One of the highlights of the day was seeing a rabbit out for a walk in a stroller. Oh yes, and we got a bunch of trimming and weeding done too!

When you have a chance, take a stroll through the WFS. The Culver's Root (Veronicastrum virginicum), Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum) and Cup Plants (Silphium perfoliatum) are all starting to bloom, and the Button Bushes are buzzing with bumble bees.

We will be having a work day on Friday (July 9th) starting at 8:00. We will start in the Little Prairie and move to the shade when it gets warm. Please bring drinking water, gardening gloves, eye protection, clippers, weed diggers and something to haul clippings in. The person who finds my missing weed digger will get an extra treat! Please do not come if it is raining.

Save the date: our next work day will be Saturday, July 24th.

Hope to see you then!

Sarah

Thank you so much to Terri for braving the elements to help out on June 18th, and for being willing to water our new plants while I was out of town!

Yes! We will be having a work day on Saturday, July 3rd, starting at 8:00. We will be on the east (wooded) side weeding and clipping stuff back off of the paths, so we will be in the shade. There is also some purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) popping up here and there, so we need to get rid of it before it is done flowering! (see first photo)

If you are willing to join us on Saturday, please bring gardening gloves, drinking water, eye protection, clippers, loppers, and something to tote weeds in.

Hope to see you then!

Sarah Kimber

Native Plants Chair