Landbridge Ecological

10/22/2026

From Andover, to Edina, to Rosemount, our crews have been all over the metro this week taking advantage of this weather to complete some fall prescribed burns.

Burning in the fall has positives and negatives. It’s great for protecting and promoting the flower community. However, the days are shorter and relative humidities are higher making it difficult to complete as many as in spring time. Fall burning can also promote cool season grass expansion so is best avoided if dealing with that issue without other means of control tied to the burn.

10/06/2026

Fall can be a great time for plant enhancements. A return to more frequent precipitation and cooler weather support survival and establishment. Supply quantity and variety are sometimes more limited by fall, but if there is flexibility on species it can be a good time to plant. Here a crew is installing some shoreline plants to bolster the plant composition of a lakeshore in Dakota County.

09/16/2026

feature: New England Aster. A beautiful late season bloomer. Adds a fueling station for migrating Monarchs as well as resources for other pollinators late in the season. Naturally found in moist, low lying grasslands, it can be used in tallgrass mesic plantings like this one to give late season color amongst goldenrods, sunflowers, and other asters.

08/24/2026

The crew installed a little solarization project in the corner of a neighborhood organic garden. The goal here is to try to reduce some problematic weeds present without the use of herbicides. Plastic use has its environmental tradeoffs, as well. But the goal with this method is hopefully to kill some of the rhizomes and seed in the seed bank prior to native installation.

08/04/2026

It was a berry good day out there.
Actually, several of these are really drupes not berries, but where’s the pun in that. 🥁

1. American High-bush Cranberry, Viburnum trilobum
2. Virginia Creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia
3. Black Cherry, Prunus serotina
4. Downy Arrowwood, Viburnum rafinesqueanum

06/30/2026

There are a lot of beautiful native flowers, but is there anything quite so cheery as a Black-eyed Susan?

A biennial, this species (Rudbeckia hirta) unfortunately expires after flowering and seeding. They function as an early successional species and are one of the first things to bloom after seeding a new prairie. They may persist long-term if they have the ability to re-seed themselves as they have managed to do so on this site.

06/25/2026

In celebration of National Pollinator Week, here are a few recent captures of some pollinators from our projects. If you notice, some are in a non-pollinating life stage. We need to consider all life stages when we select plants to support pollinators. Flowers for adults, host plants for larvae, etc. With a diversity of plants, comes a diversity of life.

What pollinators are you seeing out there?

06/01/2026

05/14/2026

Makin' friends out in the field today with the Abbot's Sphinx Moth.

This dark and mysterious creature is a beneficiary of some of our native vines. Caterpillars are hosted by both our wild grape and Virginia creeper.

05/06/2026

Today’s feature: Prairie Smoke
This species is a small, but fascinating plant. It likes drier prairies, but works well in a garden setting as a border. Looks best en masse. Gets to about 8-12”.

Probably the most interesting part for this species is its transition from flower to seed. And the seed stage may very well be the star. The red flowers, which typically bloom in May, droop down, with only a small opening from which to access pollen. Bumblebees will access the flowers my hanging upside down and buzzing. Then the magic begins. After pollination the flowers slowly reach for the sky and extend their styles into fuzzy pink filaments. When grouped the effect can look like a hazy smoke hugging the ground, hence their name.

Swipe through to see the progression.