Gensburg-Markham Prairie

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Gensburg-Markham Prairie Join in a restoration group every saturday from 9am-12pm! linktr.ee/gensburgmarkhamprairie

Copper patches flicker with the waning yet ever present scream of beauty. The tears of love rain down from the weary sta...
10/21/2026

Copper patches flicker with the waning yet ever present scream of beauty. The tears of love rain down from the weary stalks of Monarda. They get carried away from the husky Milkweed pods to the feet of Bluestems, digging their way into the sandy soil. Time wags her finger, shedding light on the dogma of change now evident across the prairie. Come celebrate the cycle and witness the yawns of our heritage.

Join in on the valiant effort to manage invasive species, collect native seed, and monitor rare plants by coming to Gensburg-Markham Prairie this Friday where there is beauty to be shared and smiles to be had!

Never heard of ecological restoration or been to a volunteer workday in a prairie before? This group is composed of folks from all different backgrounds and experience levels all eager to welcome and learn alongside anyone with an interest in exploring and helping to restore Gensburg Markham Prairie.

All are invited to make a difference and come to the next GMP workday this Friday, October 23rd from 3:00pm - 6:00pm. Meet at the entrance / parking lot to the prairie located at 157th and Whipple in Markham. Bring a snack and a friend!

Check out the link in our bio to RSVP for this weekend's workday!


🌿GMP Plant of The Week🌿Liatris aspera (Rough Blazing Star)For thousands of years, the tall explosive blooms of Blazing S...
10/20/2026

🌿GMP Plant of The Week🌿
Liatris aspera (Rough Blazing Star)

For thousands of years, the tall explosive blooms of Blazing Stars have shone bright through the prairie skies. One of the most captivating group of plants gracing grasslands are the Blazing Stars - members of the sunflower family (Asteraceae) belonging to the genus Liatris. There are a handful of different Liatris species within the Chicagoland area - this post will focus on Liatris aspera

Rough Blazing Star is a summer bloomer who grows in dry to mesic conditions and likes it's soil sandy or rocky and where there isn't an influx of nutrients. Just like all other Blazing Stars, it has woody corms (underground storage organ) and fibrous roots to sustain them through droughts and continue growing when conditions aren't ideal. Each head of flowers is spirally arranged around the stem resembling buttons. The key way to differentiate Blazing Stars from one another is by looking at the tiny leaf-like structures subtending each flower head. These are termed Phyllaries which is a term unique only to the Aster family. On L. aspera, the phyllaries are wide and round with inflated tips

Attracted to the bright purple blooms of Rough Blazing Star are many native animals including Butterflies, Hummingbirds, Beetles, Flies, Bumble Bees, Carpenter Bees, Miner Bees, Leaf-Cutting Bees, and Sweat Bees who feed on the nectar-rich flowers and carry pollen from one plant to the next. It serves as a host plant for several different Owlet moths whose caterpillars eat the flowers and seeds for nutrition. As the seeds form, In the fall and winter, the fluffy seeds serve as a quick snack for over-wintering birds like goldfinches and rodents like voles. The woody corms are rich in starches and can become a target for some mammals good at digging

Liatris aspera is a plant that needs full sun in order to compete and grow. This is accomplished by the volunteer group implementing prescribed fire, thinning of woody shrubs, and removal of invasive species

You can join in and help with these efforts by coming to a workday at Gensburg-Markham Prairie!

Workdays are every Saturday 9am-12pm - check the link in the bio to RSVP!

Hurry, Run the time is here when the bumblebees bury and the Gentians are near. Dropseed perfumes the air with nutty aro...
10/15/2026

Hurry, Run the time is here when the bumblebees bury and the Gentians are near. Dropseed perfumes the air with nutty aromas and it’s delicate stalks crumble with seeds into the tussocks of another day. Hurry with patience to witness the seeds of Asters get carried away with the gusts of Autumn - singing a sweet farewell to another season of growth.

Join in on the valiant effort to manage invasive species, collect native seed, and monitor rare plants by coming to Gensburg-Markham Prairie this Saturday where there is beauty to be shared and smiles to be had!

Never heard of ecological restoration or been to a volunteer workday in a prairie before? This group is composed of folks from all different backgrounds and experience levels all eager to welcome and learn alongside anyone with an interest in exploring and helping to restore Gensburg Markham Prairie.

All are invited to make a difference and come to the next GMP workday this Saturday, October 17th from 9:00am - 12:00pm. Meet at the entrance / parking lot to the prairie located at 157th and Whipple in Markham. Bring a snack and a friend!

Check out the link in our bio to RSVP for this weekend's workday!


Ode to The Little Partridge Pea - Oh how the winds go dragging around their worries across mowed and unmowed trails catc...
10/07/2026

Ode to The Little Partridge Pea - Oh how the winds go dragging around their worries across mowed and unmowed trails catching the scent of your canary yellow flowers in it’s whiskers. Short but mighty you are, your divided leaves remain unified in a pinstripe rotation holding us together. Smiles listen with joy to the song of your rattling seed pods on this cozy Autumn evening. I bow with loving tears to you - Little Partridge Pea

Join in on the valiant effort to manage invasive species, collect native seed, and monitor rare plants by coming to Gensburg-Markham Prairie this Saturday where there is beauty to be shared and smiles to be had!

Never heard of ecological restoration or been to a volunteer workday in a prairie before? This group is composed of folks from all different backgrounds and experience levels all eager to welcome and learn alongside anyone with an interest in exploring and helping to restore Gensburg Markham Prairie.

All are invited to make a difference and come to the next GMP workday this Saturday, October 3rd from 9:00am - 12:00pm. Meet at the entrance / parking lot to the prairie located at 157th and Whipple in Markham. Bring a snack and a friend!

Check out the link in our bio to RSVP for this weekend's workday!


This Saturday Night - Come to Gensburg Markham Prairie at dark to join a night of moth monitoringPark at the Whipple lot...
10/07/2026

This Saturday Night - Come to Gensburg Markham Prairie at dark to join a night of moth monitoring

Park at the Whipple lot and look for signs pointing you east along the trail to where a sheet will be setup to attract night flying insects for all to observe

Bring a flashlight, friends and food!

🌿GMP Plant of The Week🌿Ruellia humilis (Prairie Petunia)Commonly found in gardens across the Chicagoland area is Prairie...
10/07/2026

🌿GMP Plant of The Week🌿
Ruellia humilis (Prairie Petunia)

Commonly found in gardens across the Chicagoland area is Prairie Petunia where it is likened for it's large flowers, short stature, and bushy appearance. This native prairie plant has successfully made it's way into mainstream horticulture - a feat very few other native plants get selected for

Ruellia humilis prefers drier, sandy or gravel soils that are generally nutrient poor. These types of habitats are typically on higher ground where water is more easily drained and the tall, lush vegetation of tallgrass prairie is not able to establish and change moisture or sunlight levels making it a good candidate for drought-tolerant, short plants like Prairie Petunia. At GMP, they can be found growing occasionally along the mowed paths where the soils are sandy and there is ample light available

Each flower typically stays open for a single day but is an important source of nectar and pollen for many insects including our native Digger Bees (Anthophora), Bumblebees, Leaf-Cutting Bees (Megachile), Syrphid Flies, Sweat Bees, Carpenter Bees, Hummingbirds, and Butterflies. It is a host plant for the beautiful Buckeye Butterfly (Junonia coenia) who will lay it's eggs on the plant for them to hatch as caterpillars and begin eating the leaves until maturity

The fleeting flowers that bloom for only a day is thought to be an adaptive benefit for the plant allowing it to conserve energy used for keeping a flower fresh and instead use that energy towards more seed production. It is also thought that when a population of a species with a brief flowering time blooms, it creates a mass resource that is very attractive to pollinators resulting in them visiting the many flowers now in bloom and therefore - a lot of cross-pollination between individual plants

Needing full sun, volunteers at GMP help Prairie Petunia by thinning out aggressive woody shrubs, burning the prairie, and collecting seed

You can join in and help with these efforts by coming to a workday at Gensburg-Markham Prairie!

Workdays are every Saturday 9am-12pm - check link in bio!

What awaits us but constant change and the sweet morning dew? Our alarm awakens us to the towering stalks of Prairie Doc...
10/07/2026

What awaits us but constant change and the sweet morning dew? Our alarm awakens us to the towering stalks of Prairie Dock overlooking the Bluestem horizon - now gleaming gold. It’s unspoken beauty rings loudly with wisdom. Huckleberry fruits hang shriveled ready for the next hungry beak to enjoy while the Sky Blue Asters reflect back what they see above. The prairie is a mirror in which to walk through and get lost in discovery available to and part of us all

Join in on the valiant effort to manage invasive species, collect native seed, and monitor rare plants by coming to Gensburg-Markham Prairie this Saturday where there is beauty to be shared and smiles to be had!

Never heard of ecological restoration or been to a volunteer workday in a prairie before? This group is composed of folks from all different backgrounds and experience levels all eager to welcome and learn alongside anyone with an interest in exploring and helping to restore Gensburg Markham Prairie.

All are invited to make a difference and come to the next GMP workday this Saturday, October 10th from 9:00am - 12:00pm. Meet at the entrance / parking lot to the prairie located at 157th and Whipple in Markham. Bring a snack and a friend!

Check out the link in our bio to RSVP for this weekend's workday!


🌿GMP Plant of The Week🌿Senega sanguinea (Blood Milkwort)Milkworts are fun! 🤟Coming in all different shapes and colors, t...
06/11/2026

🌿GMP Plant of The Week🌿
Senega sanguinea (Blood Milkwort)

Milkworts are fun! 🤟Coming in all different shapes and colors, this group of interesting plants serve an important role in grassland and wetland systems across their range that often gets overlooked

Blood Milkwort is an interestingly delicate plant topping out at a foot tall with alternating linear leaves, smooth stems, and flowers clustered together into cute packages that may elicit confusion to one unfamiliar with Milkworts. The cluster (termed a raceme) of pink-colored scales are actually sepals - each pair subtending the small yellow petals of each individual flower

The complex design of these flowers are very attractive to a range of small native pollinators including cuckoo bees, leaf-cutter bees, long-horned bees, and bee flies who feed on the nectar and transfer pollen

Taking on an annual life cycle, this plant will germinate and put on it's spectacular bloom once before producing seed to continue the Milkwort heritage. The seeds are very small, hairy, and contain a fatty little package called an elaisome that is the equivalent to candy for ants who carry the seeds off to consume the elaisome and by doing so help to disperse the seed

Being an annual, this species particularly requires quality habitat in order for the Milkworts to continue growing and thriving within a prairie. At GMP, Blood Milkwort is common among the more mesic corridors of the site where the soil is not too dry nor too wet. They require full sunlight where they are not shaded out by shrubby vegetation. Walk the trails of GMP on a late June-July day to see them right along the trail where there is a mosaic of native plants of differing heights giving the little Milkworts space and sunlight to grow

Taking part in brush cutting, prescribed burning, invasive plant management, and seed collection are all ways volunteers strive each week to help the many Mikworts of GMP.

You can join in and help with these efforts by coming to a workday at Gensburg-Markham Prairie!

Workdays are every Saturday 9am-12pm - check the link in the bio to RSVP!

Embossed by the golden blooms of Zizia, the pink tufts of Smooth Phlox, and the brilliant oranges of Krigia flowers lays...
06/11/2026

Embossed by the golden blooms of Zizia, the pink tufts of Smooth Phlox, and the brilliant oranges of Krigia flowers lays the prairie awake with the whispers and songs of tomorrow.

Join in on the valiant effort to manage invasive species and scout for the many wonderful grasses and flowers to collect seed from by coming to Gensburg-Markham Prairie this Saturday where there is beauty to be shared and smiles to be had!

Never heard of ecological restoration or been to a volunteer workday in a prairie before? This group is composed of folks from all different backgrounds and experience levels all eager to welcome and learn alongside anyone with an interest in exploring and helping to restore Gensburg Markham Prairie.

All are invited to make a difference and come to the next GMP workday this Saturday, June 13th from 9:00am - 12:00pm. Meet at the entrance / parking lot to the prairie located at 157th and Whipple in Markham. Bring a snack and a friend!

Check out the link in our bio to RSVP for this weekend's workday!

🌿GMP Plant of The Week🌿Sagittaria graminea (Grass-Leaved Arrowhead)Gensburg Markham Prairie may have ancient beach ridge...
06/02/2026

🌿GMP Plant of The Week🌿
Sagittaria graminea (Grass-Leaved Arrowhead)

Gensburg Markham Prairie may have ancient beach ridges made of dry, sandy soil but a large percentage of the site is actually composed of pocketed wetlands. There are also man-made ditches criss-crossing around the site which were dug when the site was slated for development to drain the wetland parts and relieve flooding. These ditches remain across the site and remain long-narrow stretches of habitat for wetland plants like this Arrowhead

There are a handful of Arrowhead species native to the Chicago region that all inhabit wet soils. They can be recognized by their often geometrical spikes of 3-petaled white flowers shooting out between their large basal leaves

The sharp flowers attract many types of different pollinators specifically sweat bees who glean on the nectar and transport pollen from plant to plant. Bumblebees, flies, and butterflies like the Skipper in pic 2 are known to visit the plants as well. Mallards and wood ducks will eat the winged seeds and even the tubers formed in the muddy soils

Grass-Leaved Arrowhead is characterized by it's linear shaped leaves and is one of the more conservative Arrowhead species known to only grow in high-quality habitats with little disturbance. They require a healthy amount of sunlight and don't tolerate being shaded out by woody trees and the invasive monocultures we see many of our wetlands plagued by with Phragmites, Cattails, and Reed Canary Grass

Using fire to keep surrounding woody vegetation in check is important as well as management of invasive grasses that can quickly take over Arrowhead's habitat. The Gensburg Markham volunteer group works hard to scout for and eliminate these invasive plants before they have the chance to take hold

You can join in and help with these efforts by coming to a workday at Gensburg-Markham Prairie!

Workdays are every Saturday 9am-12pm - check the link in the bio to RSVP!

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Markham, IL

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