Recap of the 2026 Grassland Restoration Network Workshop

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Here’s one of the top lessons I brought back from the Grassland Restoration Network workshop, hosted this year at the Shaw Nature Reserve in Missouri: There is a convoluted confusion of coneflowers in that part of the world. The prairies I work with in Nebraska have one species of purple coneflower – narrow-leaved purple coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia). It is a wonderful wildflower and more than sufficient for our needs.

Pale purple coneflower (probably) at the Shaw Nature Reserve.

At the Shaw Nature Reserve outside of St. Louis, the story is considerably more complicated. They have pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida), of course, which is no surprise in that landscape. However, to add a little whimsy (I assume), sometimes the pale purple flowers can be white instead of pale purple.

I think this is a white version of the pale purple coneflower.

You have to be careful assuming you’re seeing pale purple coneflower, though, because there’s a very similar-looking species found in the many glades at Shaw Nature Reserve. Don’t fret, though – that species, called the glade coneflower (Echinacea simulata) can be easily separated from pale purple coneflower. All you have to do is look at the color of the pollen. If the pollen is white, it’s pale coneflower. If it’s yellow, it’s glade coneflower.

What if there’s no pollen visible? No problem, just say “wow, look at that gorgeous coneflower!”

I believe this is the glade coneflower, and not just because it’s in a glade. I only know that, though, because someone from Shaw Nature Reserve said that’s what it was. See the stump in the foreground? This is a site staff have opened up – removing trees to restore the glade.

To recap, then, they’ve got pale purple coneflower and glade coneflower, and at least one of those can have either pink or white flowers. In addition the pollen of those flowers can be either white or yellow, depending upon the species.

You’d think that would be plenty. Nope. There’s another Echinacea species at Shaw Nature Reserve and this one’s not purple or white. This one’s yellow. A yellow purple coneflower?. That doesn’t seem possible, which is probably why it’s Latin name is Echinacea paradoxa. My wife, Kim, asked me to bring one home with me. I didn’t, but I wanted to.

I’m confident this is the yellow coneflower. I don’t think it matters what color its pollen is.
Wow, look at those gorgeous coneflowers!

There were, of course, other species at Shaw Nature Reserve besides coneflowers. Lots of them, in fact. It’s a terrific site with lots of woodland, savanna, and prairie habitat types to explore. We spent a couple days doing just that, along with about 100 prairie restoration practitioners from around the country.

Missouri evening primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa) is an example of another plant species at SNR.
Woodland pinkroot (Spigelia marilandica) was another species Kim suggested would look great in our yard
Purple milkweed doesn’t grow near me, so it was fun to see a lot of it.
They also have animals at SNR, including this gorgeous little five-lined skink (juvenile).

Apart from seeing some new/different plant and animal species, the workshop was also really thought-provoking and inspirational. The staff and volunteers at the Shaw Nature Reserve are doing impressive work to restore and manage prairies, glades, savannas, wetlands, and woodlands (and maybe other communities I’m forgetting). They also do amazing interpretive and educational work with the public. I strongly encourage you to visit the site.

We talked about some specific land stewardship/restoration tactics, including the use of grass-specific herbicides to suppress grass dominance, especially when paired with overseeding of forbs. SNR staff also showed us a lot of tree thinning/clearing projects and talked about what appear to be successful strategies. In addition, there were lots of side conversations about other invasive species and restoration lessons. Many of the stories we talked about can be found at the Grassland Restoration Network blog site, which, if you’re not following it, you should: https://grasslandrestorationnetwork.org/

I also encourage you to check out this storymap, which showcases a big project SNR staff have recently worked on. It’s coming along really nicely. Not only is the project impressive, it’s one of the best applications of the storymap format I’ve ever seen.

Learning together
Some of the beautiful landscape at SNR
Some kind of Echinacea
A close-up photo of some kind of Echinacea. It’s likely the same species as the one just above it. Or maybe not. There’s no way to tell, as far as I know.
I know this one! This is goat’s rue (Tephrosia virginiana), another of the countless plant species at SNR I don’t see in my local prairies.
Prairie dock (Silphium terebinthinaceum)
An ambush bug hunting on wild quinine
An attractive little damselfly

Huge thanks to the Shaw Nature Reserve staff and volunteers for their incredible work and for hosting a terrific workshop for us. Next year’s workshop will be in Nebraska – co-hosted by Prairie Plains Resource Institute and The Nature Conservancy. Stay tuned for more details.

Photos of the Week – June 7, 2026

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I don’t have a favorite plant. I don’t even even have a favorite milkweed. Having said that, spider milkweed, aka green milkweed (Asclepias viridis) is right up there. It has gorgeous flowers, but they aren’t particularly flashy. Their yellow-green color doesn’t stand out from a distance like the orange of butterfly milkweed or the pinks/purples displayed by many taller milkweeds. Speaking of height, spider milkweed has large flowers and a lot of biomass, but it keeps itself relatively close to the ground. It comes across as quietly self-confident. No reason to show off when you know you’re spectacular and have nothing to prove.

This spider milkweed plant is blooming in an area where cattle were grazing just a week ago. All the common milkweed in the same area is re-growing from being nipped off.

Spider milkweed is also a tough plant. It resists grazing from cattle, as opposed to species like common and showy milkweed, which cattle gobble like cherry pie (bison like them too). To clarify, I mean cattle eat common milkweed like I eat cherry pie. I don’t know if cattle like cherry pie (I don’t know if bison do either).

At our family prairie, where I took all the photos for this post, spider milkweed is blooming just as prolifically where last year’s grazing was intense (and season-long) as where there was no grazing at all. It doesn’t seem to be more abundant or florific after grazing like some opportunistic plants (hoary vervain, yarrow, etc.). However, it also doesn’t seem suppressed by the competition from ungrazed plants like vervain and yarrow are. And no, florific isn’t a real word. Floriferous is, though. Weird.

Look at those incredible flowers!

I saw lots of pollinators feeding on the nectar of spider milkweed last week, especially bees and flies. I didn’t manage to get a photo of any of the many bumble bees I saw, but I did track down a metallic green sweat bee, though I had to be particularly stealthy to make it happen. Much easier to photograph were the hundreds of tiny flies clustered on the blossoms. Wow, there were a lot of flies.

Sweat bee
Flies
Flies

I’m not kidding about the flies. They were swarming over a lot of the flowers like the flowers were made of cherry pie (I’m just assuming all flies like cherry pie – who doesn’t like cherry pie??)

And, of course, because there were lots of flies, there were spiders to catch them. As the old saying goes, you can catch a lot of flies with honey, but spiders don’t make honey. I don’t think spider milkweed is named for the abundance of arachnids it attracts but I’m not saying it wasn’t.

Crab spider and fly
Lynx spider

I only found one monarch caterpillar on the 10-12 spider milkweed plants I examined, but there could have been more. I wasn’t looking at the underside of all the leaves. The one caterpillar I did see was sitting right on top of a leaf and may very well have been the victim of a parasitoid. I don’t want to speak badly of anyone, but this caterpillar just didn’t quite look right. It was moving around, but its antennae were droopy and it didn’t seem to be eating. Did that make it easier to photograph? Yes, of course. Is it annoying when someone asks and answers their own questions? Who’s to say?

Monarch caterpillar
Weevil

Spider milkweed is only one of 17 milkweed species we have in Nebraska. Over the course of the couple hours I was at our family prairie last week, I came across seven species, which was gratifying. Those included spider, green (aka, green comet), narrowleaf, common, whorled, butterfly, and wooly milkweeds. The wooly milkweed was a particular highlight because it’s the first time I’ve seen it at our prairie. None of the three plants I saw were blooming this year, but now that I know where they are, I’ll keep a closer eye on them in the future.

I mean, look at those flowers!

The plant community at our family prairie is still a work in progress and the diversity and abundance of flowers is not what I’d like. I see progress each year, but it’s hard to be patient with the speed of change. When it comes to spider milkweed, though, I feel very fortunate to see a lot of it and that it seems to be growing even more abundant over time.

I could sure eat some cherry pie right now.