Interview with Connie Mutel

Check out this interview with Connie Mutel, editor of A Watershed Year: Anatomy of the Iowa Floods of 2008 on the Fallon Forum.

June Update from the University of Iowa Press Rain Garden

At the end of May, once frost was out of the forecast, we ordered plugs from our favorite supplier of native plants, Ion Exchange. New in the rain garden—and also in our prairie garden—are wild geranium, purple prairie clover, shooting star, and cardinal flower; we also added to our supply of Culver’s root and butterfly milkweed. The university’s grounds crew weeded and mulched the prairie garden, a service we greatly appreciate. Columbine and Golden alexander are blooming!

Karen Copp, associate director, design and production manager, UI Press

Holly Carver, former director, current Bur Oak Books editor, UI Press

Plant of the Week

Silverleaf scurf pea
Psoralea argophylla Pursh
scientific name, 2008
Pediomelum argophyllum (Pursh) Grimes
other common names: scurf pea
Psoralea: from Greek, meaning “scurfy” or “scabby,” because of the glandular spots on the leaves, stems, and calyx
Argophylla: meaning “silvery-leaved”
Legume family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition

June Gardening Tip

Mulch to control weeds, conserve moisture, and cut down on diseases. Good mulch materials include grass clippings, chopped autumn leaves, straw, hay, and pine needles.

Veronica Lorson Fowler with the Federated Garden Clubs of Iowa, Gardening in Iowa and Surrounding Areas

This Week in Iowa Nature

Wood duck hatchlings tumble from high nests and head for the nearest water.

Jean C. Prior and James Sandrock, The Iowa Nature Calendar

Plant of the Week

Prairie cord grass
Spartina pectinata Link
other common names: cord grass, freshwater cord grass, marsh grass, slough grass, tall marsh grass, rip gut
Spartina: from Greek spartine, a cord such as that made from the bark of Spartinum. This was probably from the strong, tough leaves.
Pectinata: from Latin, meaning “comblike,” from the toothed edge of the leaf blades
Grass family: Poaceae (Gramineae)

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition

June Gardening Tip

Plant sweet corn a second time, about two weeks after your first planting in late May, to extend the harvesting season.

Veronica Lorson Fowler with the Federated Garden Clubs of Iowa, Gardening in Iowa and Surrounding Areas