Month: May 2022

Pagodas in Iowa

~ Jean Wiedenheft ~ Leave a comment

The pagoda dogwood is a shrub with an exquisite form, if given the space to grow freely in the sunlight.

Its Latin name Cornus alternifolia describes its leaf patterns. Almost all dogwoods have opposite leaves. The pagoda dogwood has alternate leaves, though the leaf shape and texture maintains a strong resemblance to other dogwoods.

If you want to see some of the wide variety and beauty dogwoods can come in, visit: https://vovazinger.wordpress.com/2022/05/21/cherokee-brave-flowering-dogwood/

Just make sure the dogwood you are planting and encouraging is native to your area.

The Best Donut

~ Jean Wiedenheft ~ Leave a comment

The best donut is a mulch donut. Its the only kind that burns calories instead of making your waist line bigger.

The best filling for the best donut is something native, something edible, or something native and edible.

Aronia melanocarpa, the aronia berry, is perfect. This native shrub is great for native bees, has beautiful white flowers in the spring, attractive red leaves in the fall, and the berries…are edible.

They are incredibly nutritious, very low in sugar and exceptionally astringent. Which makes them a berry with a striking and flavorful first impression, but not necessarily a tasty one. If you can’t get over the mouth-pucker they cause, try baking them in a low sugar oatmeal cookie or throw them in a smoothie with kale and an apple.

April 2022: May 6 skunk cabbage walk

~ Jean Wiedenheft ~ Leave a comment

This should really be called “what’s happening up Bena Brook” because there is a lot of awesomeness in the woods right now. Some treasures were experienced but not captured digitally, including the four-leafed prairie trillium; the young equisetum; the violets, the iron bacteria in the brook; and, the gray catbird tending the skunk cabbage meadow.

April in the Bena Prairie (2022)

~ Jean Wiedenheft ~ Leave a comment

Over the past year, I have enjoyed this commitment. Showing up once a week, more or less, at the same place to take the same picture.

The prairie shifts. The wind sways the grasses in and out of frame. Green stubble emerges from the black and grows up tan. Clouds form, dissipate, and reform. I love the clouds.

It is a place I love, and will continue to visit regularly. There are a lot of other spaces vying for my attention, and it is time for this project to come to a close. I hope you enjoyed the journey with me.

April 2

April 7

April 10

April 23