eBotanical Prints – October 2026

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Twenty more books were added to my botanical print eBook collection in October – all are available for browsing on Internet Archive. There is a 10 volume series this month about plants of Formosa (the main island of what is now Taiwan.

My list of eBotanical Prints books now totals 3,463 eBooks I’ve browsed over the years. The whole list can be accessed here.

Click on any sample image from October’s 20 books to get an enlarged version…and the title hyperlink in the list below the image mosaic to view the entire volume where there are a lot more botanical illustrations to browse.

Enjoy the October 2026 eBotanical Prints!

The Plant World Vol XVI 1913 * The Wildflower Preservation Society * sample image * 1913

The Plant World Vol XII 1909 * The Wildflower Preservation Society * sample image * 1909

Icones of Japanese algae * Okamura, Kintaro * sample image * 1913

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V1 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1911

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V2 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1912

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V3 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1913

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V4 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1914

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V5 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1915

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V6 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1916

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V7 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1918

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V8 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1918

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V9 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1920

Icones of the plants of Formosa, and materials for a flora of the island V10 * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1920

The vegetation of Mt. Fuji, with a complete list of plants found on the mountain and a botanical map showing their distribution * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1911

Flora montana formosae; an enumeration of plants found on Mt. Morrison, the central chain and other mountainous regions of Formosa at altitudes of 3,000-13,000 ft * Hayata, Bunzo * sample image * 1908

Palm trees of the Amazon and their uses * Wallace, Alfred Russel * sample image * 1853

American Fossil Cycads * Wieland, George Reber * sample image * 1906

Status of the Mesozoic floras of the United States pt 2 (plates) * Ward, Lester; Fontaine, William Morrisl Bibbins, Arthur Barneveid; Wieland, George Reber * sample image * 1905

An introduction to the study of seaweeds * Murray, George * sample image * 1895

ALBUM DE BOTANIQUE Vol. 1 * Prevost-Hersant, Constant Amable * sample image * 1856

Red Leaves

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The fall in our area is not as colorful this year because of drought…but there are still some red leaves in my yard

The Virginia creeper adorns my front steps and the fence by my gate. The red leaves don’t last long but are a welcome splash of color.

I have two types of sumac: smooth and fragrant. The smooth sumac was planted last spring (a seedling picked up ‘free’ from an Earth Dad festival). The aromatic sumac has been around for a few years and is in the same area where I am battling Asian honeysuckle. Sumacs are known for their red color in the fall.

Even oak seedlings can show red color! This is one in a bed toward the center of my back yard; the seedling came up in a good spot to let it grow into a tree; its parent is my neighbor’s oak.

I’m glad that I have these native plants in my yard – enjoying the ‘red’ while it lasts.

Relaxing after Core Training

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My October was so busy with the logistics of the Master Naturalist Core Training that I took some days off to recover from being so hyper focused. I kept up with my email but not necessarily responding so quickly as I did while the class was happening. I made excuses to myself that I needed down time to let the wound from me basal cell carcinoma removal heal – but then decided that working out in the yard was mentally therapeutic too so I was not totally sedentary during my recovery.

I enjoyed the start of the Project FeederWatch season on 11/1. The vegetation around our feeders is a lot denser than last year. I noticed that most of the poke berries have already been eaten. I will trim a holly branch that blocks my view of one of the feeders!

My son-in-law hosted his annual pumpkin carving event for his lab group. It is something I enjoy vicariously through pictures every year.

I am beginning to feel ready to tackle the housework that has been postponed!

Indian Corn

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I hung the Indian Corn on the door recently. It is more than a decade old and looks classic to me…from a time before plastic took over almost everything. I’ll keep it on the door until mid-December.

I am trying to decide how much I will lean into the November and December celebrations this year. I’ll think of my mother on her November birthday; she’s been gone for 2 years. Thanksgiving is about a meal more than anything else; it’s not as ‘big’ as it was when I was growing up and the family had more individuals living in close proximity. My December birthday was part of the lead up to Christmas but now stands more on its own since my parents’ wedding anniversary became a past celebration when my mother died and my father no longer remembers. There are not young children in my immediate family and the last time we tried to put up a tree was a disaster with cats climbing it. I will probably settle for some special meals and some travel for holiday lights close to my birthday…maybe focus on getting the house straightened and clean after the neglect that happened while I focused on Master Naturalist core training.

Basal Cell Carcinoma Adventures

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My daughter and I have both been treated for Basal Cell Carcinoma this fall! The skin cancer was on her nose; mine was on my back. She had gone to the dermatologist because of a spot on her nose that wouldn’t heal and mine was discovered during an annual skin check that started last year because of some questionable skin issues and my age. There was a biopsy first and then a procedure. Both were small – caught early enough to be easily treated. She had MOHs surgery and mine was a shave removal/destruction. She is now an expert at fashioning a bandage for her nose, and I have recruited my husband to get the bandage placed over the wound on my back. My biopsy area was about the size of a nickel and it didn’t heal before I returned for the removal; that wound is about the size of a silver dollar!

I am old enough that I wasn’t overly surprised…but my daughter is younger than the average age for basal cell carcinoma and it’s not clear that she has any of the ‘higher risk’ behaviors. She did not get sunburned growing up; has never used a tanning bed; she is fair skinned and we applied sunscreen frequently. There might be one medicine that might had increased her risk. We also lived on the east coast for her growing up years where the air quality is sometimes yellow or red and I wonder if that might have contributed. It’s interesting that we both were diagnosed in the same month!

 The experience has left me with the realization that skin cancer is not just for the very old. The people in my family that had it were in their 80s…so older than I am now. The earlier diagnosis is probably more to do with environment (something increasing the potency of UV exposure, for example) than genetics for me and my daughter….and probably a lot of other people as well.

Zentangle® - October 2026

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31 days in October….a tile selected for each day.

I created over 51 tiles in October – even with the flurry of organizing my master naturalist chapter’s core training for 30 people. Creating tiles are a way of winding down from higher stress times! It’s worthwhile to make time to create tiles…particularly before bedtime.

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. “Zentangle” is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 31, 2026

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

01/23/2026 Super Age The 5 Microhabits That Rewire Your Brain for Longevity - Small, daily actions that work with your brain’s natural reward systems to create what behavioral scientists call habit loops (cues, behaviors, and rewards that, when repeated over time) rewire the brain’s baseline. These shifts aren’t just cognitive—they’re structural. Even two minutes of the right activity can nudge your brain toward a more resilient, long-lived trajectory.

10/02/2026 Inside Climate News As Negotiators Struggle to Advance a Plastics Treaty, Iran War Underscores the Urgency - Countries that comprise more than a quarter of the global plastics demand support strong measures to fight plastic pollution. But it’s unlikely to be enough to prevail over the “like-minded group” led by fossil-fuel producing nations that oppose limits on the production of plastics. The bloc, though a small minority, derailed an agreement last year because the treaty’s consensus approach allows even a single country to block a deal. No international standard governs what a country categorizes as plastic in its production, consumption and waste estimates. As a result, some countries exclude entire categories from production figures, including synthetic fibers and polyethylene terephthalate, widely used for food and beverage packaging and better known as PET.

09/22/2026 The Scientist A “Fire Amoeba” Takes First Place for Eukaryotic Heat Tolerance - Researchers recently discovered an amoeba that regularly lives at 63°C, breaking the record for the most heat-tolerant eukaryote. Incendiamoeba cascadenis, roughly translating to “fire amoeba from the Cascade mountain range,” survives and thrives in hot springs in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

10/05/2026 The New York Times The Overlapping Plagues Quietly Devastating American Forests – Wooly Adelgid (Eastern Hemlock), Emerald Ash Borer (Ash), fungus-carrying insect and microscopic worm (American Beech).

10/17/2026 Science Daily NASA discovers hidden fires burning beneath the Amazon rainforest - A dangerous wave of wildfires is spreading across the tropics, and the Amazon rainforest is now facing a growing crisis. Fueled by severe drought linked to El Niño, fires are sweeping through parts of Brazil, filling cities with smoke and threatening forests already damaged by previous fire seasons.

10/18/2026 Planetizen Connecticut is turning landfills into green infrastructure - The state has approved or built 29 solar arrays on top of capped landfills, and intends to keep building. Because the state usually prohibits shady trees from growing over landfills due to contamination risks, they often have ample access to sunlight for solar panels. Landfills are usually town-owned and have limited opportunities to be sold or put to other productive uses.

10/16/2026 My Modern Met OurNature Environmental Photo & Video Award Winners Use Storytelling to Reveal Our World and How to Protect It - The 2026 winners of the OurNature Environmental Photo & Video Award were honored at a ceremony at the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center in Budapest, Hungary.

10/16/2026 Smithsonian Magazine Microplastics Have Been Linked with Myriad Human Health Problems. Scientists May Have Finally Figured Out How They Harm the Body - Lab experiments suggest that tiny bits of plastic can react with water inside us to produce highly reactive molecules. They can lead to damaging oxidative stress and inflammation. When plastics degrade into microplastics—pieces smaller than a pencil-tip eraser—their surface-to-volume ratio goes up. When microplastics interact with water, they spontaneously generate unstable molecules known as reactive oxygen species. Because plastic repels water, or is hydrophobic, the surrounding water can’t form its usual hydrogen bonds. So, contact between the two substances results in electric changes that can help create volatile molecules called hydroxyl radicals. This finding implies microplastics themselves are a source of oxidative species ... and oxidative stress is not a secondary effect of exposure.

10/16/2026 The Conversation Americans want electric cars – they just can’t find them - As 2026 progressed and gas prices began to rise, so did EV demand. New EV inventories declined, shrinking from about 130 days of supply in the first quarter of 2026 to 78 days by August – just two days above the supply level of gas-burning cars. Sales stalled because there weren’t enough EVs available to buy – and there were plenty of hybrids as an alternative. Rather than move to increase electric vehicle supply and make them more affordable, federal policy continues to hinder the U.S. electric vehicle sector. As long as gas stays expensive, the gap between the electric vehicles Americans want and the electric vehicles dealers can sell them is likely to remain. Decisions such as ending the tax credit, rolling back fuel economy standards and banning Chinese technology all make it harder to build them, which means Americans will continue to have fewer affordable electric vehicles to choose from.

10/15/2026 Clean Technica If Modern Agriculture Were a Person, It Would Be a Sociopath: Can Regenerative Farming Save Us from Ourselves? - The agro-industrial sector is feeding people while harming society and starving the planet. In 1962, one farmer fed 25.8 persons; today, it is 155. But according to the UN, global agrifood systems incur roughly $12 trillion annually in hidden social and environmental costs. The Rockefeller Foundation found that in the US alone, the true costs of the food system are $3.2 trillion per year, which is three times what Americans actually pay for their food. Today, international climate scientists (represented by the IPCC) estimate that regenerating our soils could reliably offset 10% to 15% of total global emissions (4 to 5 gigatonnes of CO2 per year), with more bullish studies suggesting that soil could lock away 15 billion tons of carbon annually, thereby reducing atmospheric carbon to preindustrial levels within 20 years.

Native Plants for Stormwater Management

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The book-of-the-week is from Grow Native! – the native plant marketing and education program of the Missouri Prairie Foundation. The books is available as a PDF from their website. It was authored by Daniel Shaw and Rusty Schmidt and published in February 2025.

My yard is sloped  - higher in front, lower in back so my main concern about stormwater is to keep the sides of the house where the slope is steepest with sufficient vegetation to avoid erosion and control slumping. Over the past few years, I have allowed deeper rooted native plants (pokeweed, pawpaw, witch hazel, asters, and sumac) to grow on the slope; this book helped me choose some new ones to add!

I did intentionally plant a buttonbush a couple of years ago and it was immediate decapitated (by a squirrel?) so I know I will need a cage if I try that one again!

Native Plants for Stormwater Management Projects - Species Selection for the Lower Midwest

Ten Little Celebrations – October 2026

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October was a very busy month for me --- with my efforts to help everyone in the Master Naturalist core training class succeed overlaying the normal higher level of activity of my usual October.

Butterfly House finale. The first weekend of October was the finale for the native butterfly house; I volunteered on the last day – and celebrated that the season had been a good one and that the house had plenty to show even on the last day.

Core training. Being the host rather than a student was a new experience for me, and I celebrated the successes of the students in learning and starting their initial Missouri Master Naturalist volunteering.

Sassafras. I celebrated finding two sassafras plants in my front yard native plant garden. They must have been planted by birds, but I was glad to see them. They will provide more food for spicebush swallowtail caterpillars and a different texture in the bed along with the other woody plant anchors (maple and elderberry).

Electric lawn mower. Every time I mow my yard I celebrate how great the electric mower is – no bad smells and it only takes pushing a button to start!

Rain. It had been many weeks with no rain….and then it rained again. I celebrated even though it is probably too late for a colorful fall.

Extractigator. I celebrated a new tool for my yard – great for pulling small trees that are too difficult to pull by hand or dig up. It came from a Canadian company…so cost a bit more than I expected but it was probably worth it.

Fire Ecology webinar. I celebrated the breadth and depth of the talk…it was way more than just about prescribed burning that seems to be the focus of so much training when it comes to conservation and fire.

Orange juice. I celebrated how much my dad seemed to enjoy a glass of orange juice. He drank the whole thing as soon as the glass was firmly in his hand. Simple joys.

Linden’s prairie. Celebrating a short walk on a fall prairie…recognizing a few things…realizing that maybe I want to plant some winged sumac someplace in my yard.

New England Asters. Celebrated getting two free plants when I went to a lecture on native plants….getting them planted in my garden the next day. Hoping I remember to trim them next June, so they don’t get too tall when they bloom in the fall.

Zooming – October 2026

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A more pleasant month than September in terms of temperature. There were some hot days but the trend was a cooling down and we got some rain…too late for fall color probably but still a welcome change after so many weeks of no rain. The field trips with the core training students dictated some locations but I also enjoyed a walk at Linden’s prairie, some volunteering…and my yard! The fall leaves will be part of the November images.  Enjoy some October images!

Native Plants

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I took a short road trip to the Lebanon Laclede County Library for a program about native plants – and to see a native plant garden installed by 2 people in my 2024 Master Naturalist core training class. The garden had suffered a bit from the drought and very hot days, but the plants had survived and will probably come back strong next year. The American Beautyberry had lost most of its leaves already, but it has berries!

The presentation was done by a person from the Wild Ones chapter in St. Louis. I enjoyed her perspective and the pictures of what she had done with her urban yard. She emphasized techniques for formalizing native plantings: clumping, cutting asters and goldenrods in June/July to shorten them before they bloom, and leaving the leaves/standing stalks for winter interest.

The session was sponsored by Master Gardeners (in the county) and a garden club. They gave out pots of  aloe and New England Aster. I got two New England Aster pots and planted them in my front yard garden; they’ll make a nice addition that will bloom next fall!

Cake!

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My Missouri Master Naturalist Chapter celebrated its 20th anniversary recently decorated with butterflies, dragonflies and flowers. There was a cake that was big enough to feed 100 people! Half was chocolate…the other vanilla. There was a little left that was given to the night staff at our meeting place!

I have been the president of the chapter since July and a member since 2024. There are still a few members from the original class that are still active – I rely on them and other long-term members to understand the history.   I’ve spent more focus so far on the path forward for the chapter…holding the core training this fall and maneuvering to get the leadership team back to an annual rhythm. I like using my singing bowl bell to get the group’s attention rather than yelling!

Sustaining Elder Care – October 2026

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It was dark when I started my monthly trek to Texas to see my dad. I saw the beginning of sunrise in my rear-view mirror but the clouds had closed in by the time I made my first stop. The second stop was a little better…patches of sky. I noticed the worn paint in a handicapped parking space; the white seemed to be more durable than the blue.

There is only one road level train crossing along my 6.5-hour drive – and, this time, there was a train! The sky was almost clear. By the time I got to Texas it was sunny….pleasantly in the upper 70s temperature wise.

My dad was in the eating area when I arrived – apparently simply napping after he finished lunch. I woke him up and took him for walk – around to the activity room and then outdoors for a couple of laps around the courtyard.

His itching that dominated my visit in September was seemingly gone but he was walking much more hunched over than ever before and keeping his eyes closed. It is hard to tell whether he can still see light or not; he needs help to find the handles of his walker with his hands and he needs someone to guide his walker.  On the plus side – he can still push himself off from a chair to stand up and then walk using the walker for support.

There has been turnover of the staff at his memory care place, and they tend to help him more than he needs sometimes…but that is probably a safe thing. He needs help eating now that he can’t see his food. I got there for breakfast…he seemed to be sleeping but said he was still hungry when I woke him up and I fed him the rest of his eggs and put his hands around a glass of orange juice; he drank all of it without any more prompting or help from me!

He is probably the oldest resident in the place – in his mid-90s – but in some ways one of the easier ones to help. His memory is not good, but he remembers to say thank you!

I left him in the care of one of the staff to head back to Missouri. As I began the drive, my mood was somber. On a conscious level, I know that he is in hospice….losing his eyesight is something he cannot overcome mentally, and it impacts his physical condition too. He is fading away. I am internalizing that sometime soon one of my monthly trips to Texas will be the last time I will see him.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 24, 2026

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

10/02/2026 Inside Climate News Maryland Demands Answers as Fuel Leak Persists from Joint Base Andrews - Maryland environmental regulators say jet fuel continues to seep into Piscataway Creek from Joint Base Andrews more than six months after the spill was reported, despite the base’s assurances that it has isolated the damaged fuel system and stopped the leak.

10/10/2026 Science Daily A plastic once thought harmless may be fueling fatty liver disease - Texas A&M researchers discovered that polyethylene microplastics can contribute to fatty liver disease, with potentially worse effects when combined with an unhealthy diet. Even more surprising, this widely used plastic was previously considered relatively harmless. (Polyethylene is the most commonly produced plastic. It is primarily used for plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including bottles, cups, jars, folders, etc.)

09/29/2026 CNN Over 90% of common household items contain hazardous plastic chemicals - Potential health harms include cancer, genetic changes, and endocrine, reproductive and organ toxicity. Five categories of plastic people use almost every day include: 1) Almost 92% of the chemicals found in food-contact plastics were of high risk to human health;  2) Nearly 89% of children’s toys contained high-risk plastics; 3) Some 93% of textiles and clothing were made with dangerous chemicals; 4) Over 92% of common household products — such as bottled water, kitchenware, tableware, gardening tools, toilet articles and office supplies — contained high risk chemicals; 5) Nearly 93% of hygiene and medical plastics also contained dangerous chemicals. Those products include dental floss, tampons and other menstrual products, pill casings, patches, and syringes, to name a few.

10/8/2026 Our World in Data A 73% average decline in wildlife populations: an overview of the 2026 Living Planet Index report – 73% decline since 1970. This covers mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish; it doesn’t yet include invertebrates or plants. Digging deeper - it’s more effective to target restorative and protective efforts to populations in serious trouble than to assume that all populations are struggling.

10/8/2026 NASA Fighting Drought in Texas Cotton Country - Satellite images highlight the scale of the problem in Lubbock and adjacent counties. Brown, parched crops and vacant plots dominated the landscape in September 2026. In contrast, much greener landscapes prevailed in September 2025 which was a more typical year for the area with a relatively healthy harvest.

10/10/2026 BBC Future The US produces millions of tons of rice waste each year. Now people are building homes with it - Previously viewed as a waste product and even pollutant, rice husks are now attracting attention for their potential as a versatile, sustainable construction material. With hundreds of new homes in the US now using rice husk paneling and other rice husk products from porches to playgrounds available. While rice husk paneling costs slightly more to install compared to cedar, the long-term maintenance costs are lower due to its resistance to moisture, sun and fire.

10/08/2026 Yale Environment 360 The U.S. Public Is Losing Its Say on Environmental Policy - Public participation is a hallmark of environmental regulation, embedded in every major environmental statute enacted over the past half-century. There are good reasons to speed up the process of writing regulations and issuing permits, but truncating public input has serious costs. It can result in flawed policy that is harder to implement, full of avoidable error, and more vulnerable to being struck down by courts. Research shows that when people participate in decisions that affect them, they are more likely to view those decisions as legitimate. There are good reasons to reform our regulatory and permitting system, but not by dispensing with public participation.

10/09/2026 Smithsonian Magazine September’s Ozone Hole Was the Biggest It Has Been in 25 Years - In September, the Antarctic ozone hole peaked at 10.6 million square miles—the second largest ever observed for this time of year. Researchers are still trying to understand how climate change impacts the strength of the polar vortex, and why bigger ozone holes are persisting longer than they used to. It could be that changes in global atmospheric dynamics are making longer-lived ozone holes more likely, which in turn could mean our timelines for ozone recovery need to be adapted.

10/09/2026 Inside Climate News Looking for Oil in Alaska, No Environmental Strings Attached - Oil companies will no longer be required to conduct environmental reviews before exploring for fossil fuel reservoirs in the Western Arctic, the largest tract of federally managed public land in the United States. The Western Arctic is the traditional land of the Iñupiat people and serves as a critical wildlife habitat for hundreds of thousands of caribou across three major herds.

10/08/2026 Science Daily Scientists tested 5 natural compounds on cancer cells. One stood out - All five disrupted cancer cell energy production and pushed many of the cells into a non-dividing state, with curcumin producing the strongest overall effect. Curcumin also showed a relatively favorable safety profile, while some other compounds caused more toxicity.

Los Mayas eBook

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This art catalog published in the early 2000s is well work browsing for the pictures! It is available on Internet Archive and is my ‘book of the week.’

Los Mayas. Una Civilizacion Milenaria.

Suburban Savanna – 7

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This month I am thinking about the changes in wildlife I am already seeing in my yard.

Birds: We have bird feeders, but I am noticing more birds finding food in our yard as well. This time of year, there are seeds (coneflowers and pokeweed are the most obvious). The enlarged bed of violets attracted a lot of bird attention last winter when it was just debris!

Moles (and maybe an armadillo): I see the evidence but not the animals themselves. Sometimes they destroy areas with their digging but, so far, it has only been turf areas rather than the plants I have added. I tend to think of them as breaking up the clay and mixing in plant debris – improving the soil.

Insects and other invertebrates: Something is eating pokeweed and I assume it is an insect. The first year I noticed pokeweed growing in my yard they looked pristine but now something is eating them…the balancing in nature! There are more fireflies in my yard every year too. When I mow, I see small insects raise up before the mower – another sign of increasing life in the yard (and I haven’t been getting bites, which is a relief).

Squirrels and chipmunks: My neighbor’s oak is probably the home of the squirrels, but they are frequently in my yard; their numbers haven’t changed since I added more native plants. I’ve seen one chipmunk and it might have been passing through. The occasional cats that also come through might keep them at bay. It would be great to see more chipmunks!

Skunk: I’ve seen one in the neighborhood on an early morning walkabout as I was leaving for my monthly trek to Texas. It might have just been passing through.

I haven’t seen any deer and there is no evidence of them in my yard (no new plants eaten almost entirely, no scat). This is different from a lot of suburban areas where an overpopulation of deer is problematic. Hopefully my situation without deer continues. It does mean that I need to play the role of big herbivore and prune/trample!

Opossum and racoon are probably around but I haven’t observed them or their scat.  

The main animal I would prefer not to have in yard that is there occasionally: a domestic cat. It has a negative impact on wildlife like birds and chipmunks!

Previous Suburban Savanna Posts:

September 2026 – Fall riches

August 2026 – Controlling too much growth

July 2026 - Water

June 2026 – Shade Garden

May 2026 – Planting Natives

April 2026 – Overview

Gem and Mineral Show

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My daughter and son-in-law had already made their purchases at the Gem and Mineral Show in Springfield the day before…but she offered to make another visit with us. I took a few pictures around her yard (holly berries, rose blooming, surface roots of a dying maple, lichen on the trunk of the dying maple) before she emerged from her house.

Walking around the show did not take long since I was not buying a lot; we got there shortly after opening and before the crowds too. It was interesting to see the myriad of items from vendors.  

My daughter and my husband didn’t buy anything at the show. I found a vender with petrified wood (from private land near Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona); one of the pieces had lines that looked like tree rings…and the color was more similar to wood too. I bought it to add to my tree materials.

I also bought a small bowl that was petrified wood…which I will use for bar soap!

When we got back to my daughter’s house, we went in to see their new lighting in their mineral cabinets. My two favorite items (armadillo dermal bone and shells) were biological. But the lighting was good on them too!

I did a few photographs of the specimens though the glass cases and there was a lot less glare from the lighting!

5th week of Master Naturalist Core Training

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The classroom session during the 5th week included 2 lectures (challenges…connectivity for wildlife, species of concern) and an activity with skulls. I forgot (again) to get a picture of the armadillo skull!

The field trip was to the Springfield landfill and one of the city’s wastewater treatment plants. The same field trip was done for my class in 2024. The time at the landfill was spent outside on a rock covered area – observing the road to the active part of the landfill (not where they were dumping this time…it was just over the hill from the road), the soil borrow areas, and a new cell in development. I took more notes this time – that the landfill has been operational since 1974 and it is almost the tallest place in the county…that dolomite and shale (not limestone) is underneath the landfill…that more sophisticated layered liners are under the cells since 1990 (before that there was a layer of clay)….plastics are 19.4% by weight; number 1 by volume….Yard waste, white appliances and lead acid batteries are banned from the landfill…the landfill should last for another 50 years before it is filled.

They have a new building that just opened this year with a ‘wetland’ (where the soil used to cover the landfill cells active (every night) and when a cell is filled. There is a classroom/meeting area in the building; I wondered if they would start using that area for presentations associated with tours in the future rather than having the entire hour with people standing outside for the lecture!

We caravaned down to the wastewater treatment plant. Adjacent to the plant is the Sac River Landfill (old, closed for years, capped); there is a plan to put a bike trail through it!

The tour was done in the same order as the water through the plant – the intake pipe (which also include the leachate from the landfill), the channel monster, whirlpool to collect solids, anaerobic tank (to support the process to take out nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous), aeration, flocculation, clarifiers (water is clear…but still loaded with bacteria), UV light (to kill bacteria…also cyclospora). And the water goes to the Sac River…clearer than the river water which has some sediment!

The solid part left from the process is collected at the plant and taken by truck to the other (larger) Springfield wastewater treatment plant which has a digester…and produces a Class B biosolid that can be used on fields that do not produce food eaten directly by humans.

There is a plan to add a foam fractionation unit to reduce forever chemicals – that is something new since I toured in 2024.

The day was cool and sunny….we generally agreed that, had it been hot, the smells would have been worse and attendance would have been poor!

Ryobi Electric Mower

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We bought a Ryobi Electric Mower the fall after we moved to Missouri in 2022 after paying a crew to mow our yard that first summer. I’ve been mowing the yard with that mower for the 4 summers since then.

From the beginning, I liked the absence of gasoline fumes and the instant start up. My husband has replaced the blades periodically and we’ve bought a total of 4 batteries (1 failed…the other 3 are still in use). There’s been no other maintenance!

Wet grass is somewhat problematic. It tends to build up around the blade and eventually causes the machine to shut down. I notice the issue during the hottest summer days when I am trying to mow in the morning when it is cool – but there is still some dew on the grass. This year my strategy of cleaning the area under the mower around the blades before I start has made it less of a problem.

The three batteries are generally enough to mow my entire yard although this year I have generally done the front and back yards on separate days while it has been so hot.

Bottom line – I am so glad that our mower and all our yard tools are electric now!

Springfield Conservation Nature Center

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I took a short break before the Homeschool Fair started last week to look at the plants around the Springfield Conservation Nature Center building. My favorite was probably the American beautyberry! The location was the first place I saw beautyberry when I moved to Springfield. Of course, there were other fall blooming plants and some seed pods as well.

Inside the building I noticed the Mushroom photography exhibit.

I didn’t have enough time look more thoroughly at anything….maybe I’ll make another visit in a few weeks.