Generosity, UW Badger Volunteers, Blooms and Monarch Butterflies

The Prospect Gardens work session held on Friday (August 3) was one of generosity,  summer blooms and a visiting Monarch. Babatunde Aremu, a Nigerian Poet, says this about the quality of being kind and generous.

Generosity

Open those tight fists

Do not hold back

Make your palms transparent

Release that dime

Be a blessing

Wipe tears away

That little drop

Is what someone desires

Be an answer to someone's prayer

Be an instrument of succour

Sow that seed impartially

Don't delay, cease the moment

Be an angel to that poor soul

Remember, whatsoever you sow

Shall return to you in folds

John Imes, Executive Director of the non-profit Wisconsin Environmental Initiative, answered my frequent prayers for volunteers. John's organization sponsors a team of UW Badger Volunteers, a program sponsored by the University's  Morgridge Center for Public Service. John generously provided his team of students for an afternoon of weeding the shade garden. Thank you, John.

Badger Volunteers usually work once a week with John on various tasks including those supporting the mission of the Wisconsin Environmental Initiative. John has over 25 years of experience creating and managing programs for improving our environment and economy. See https://www.weigogreener.org/ for more information about WEI.

Here's the team who did not hold back their generous and energetic spirits as they cleared and hauled away weeds from the shade garden. Starting on the left is Claire, Patricia, Cloris, Xiyu, and Evan. The Hostas, the Jacob's Ladders, Ferns and other plants in the shade garden are now more visible as a result of the team's hard labor.

I am grateful for their generously offered labor and for the opportunity to share our lives during a most pleasant afternoon. I so enjoyed a discussion with Cloris, a student from Southern China, about Christianity and it's many branches. Our discussion was prompted by us noticing the stained glass windows of the nearby Blessed Sacrament Church, after a bathroom break. I pointed out a window depicting a pope. Her questions about being a pope led to the topic of Christianity.


Here's Claire pulling weeds. She knew her weeds and worked rapidly. In the upper right hand corner, is Patricia hauling a basket of weeds to the pile.  During the following Monday morning, once again, staff of City Engineering picked up the pile of plant material. Another generous act.

Patricia and Evan, both Wisconsin born, also worked diligently. I liked Evan's overalls. As a kid I reluctantly wore bibs while being envious of kids with jeans. Now occasionally I consider buying a pair at Farm and Fleet because they strike me as being comfortable. At my age, comfort beats fashion.

Here's Xiyu, another student from Southern China, demonstrating her Badger weeding skills. Another diligent worker, Xiyu is just starting her UW studies. I will be proud to count her, as well her other four team members, as Badger Alumni when they graduate.

Colectivo, our neighborhood coffee shop and gathering place, once again provided chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies. Thank you, Nelson, the manager of the Monroe branch, for this generous deed.

Here's Patricia, Cloris and Xiyu enjoying the cookies during a well deserved break. We all agreed that the large cookies were delicious. I especially liked the oatmeal raisin cookies, one of my favorites. Another favorite of mine are Colectivo's scones. Always fresh and yummy.









Here's the rest of the team enjoying Colectivo's generosity. Just before our time together ended, a friendly dog came by and attempted to benefit from Colectivo's gift. He managed to get his nose into the bag of remaining cookies, but only got a small piece of a cookie.  Generosity has its limits.

As a result of the Badger Volunteers hard work, I feel that we are finally ahead of the weeds, although Bishop's Weed still plagues a few parts of another section.The August 25th work session will knock back this tenacious weed.

A few days after the Badger Volunteers left I returned to the Gardens and enjoyed the summer blooms. The blooms testified to the generosity of many volunteers since the Gardens started nine years ago. As the poem states :

"Remember, whatsoever you sow

Shall return to you in folds"

Here now are five pictures of the summer blooms. These should keep returning as the years slip by. This soul will keep praying for volunteers while recognizing the impermanence of gardens and life itself.

Here's a stand of Joe Pye Weed that continues to thrive. Filling the lower right had corner is Brown Eye Susan, a species of Rudeckia. They too have thrived. Unfortunately, this species spreads rapidly to the point that some must be periodically removed. Pretty to look at, easy to grow and yet aggressive.

An assortment of summer blooms in this picture along with a colorful birdhouse. A wren comes visiting. I am unsure if it actually laid and hatched eggs. Wrens like to build several nests and then pick one out for raising their brood.

Filling the top left quarter of the picture is Sweet Black Eye Susan, another species of Rudeckia. The droopy yellow blooms to the right of the birdhouse are Yellow Cone Flowers.  The splashes of purple are from the rod like Liatris (Prairie Blazing Star) and Purple Cone flower.

Featured in this picture is a red Lobelia or Cardinal flower. Look closely and you will notice the blooms are past their peak, an early sign that summer is passing. I noticed in another section of the Gardens, two less majestic Cardinal flowers than those pictured. I didn't plant them.  Ah, the wonders of Mother Nature.

This picture reminds me of Claude Monet's gardens. Monet is famous for his gardens as well as for his French Impressionist paintings. The weathered picket fence, installed years ago, marks the northern border of Prospect Gardens. The small yellow blooms on top of tall stalks are a species of Daisies. Filling out the area behind the fence are Joe Pye Weed and the golden yellow Japanese Sumac.

I don't know the name of the dark purple plants in front of the fence. Neighbors bordering the Gardens planted them several years ago. The contrast with the fence is quite pleasing.

If you were a Monarch Butterfly, you would love the nectar of this Milkweed plant. Monarchs also lay their eggs on its leaves. This Milkweed is food source for the current generation of Monarchs and the start of future generations.  In return the Monarch pollinates the Milkweed.  A perfect symbiotic relationship.

Planting Milkweed, as we did, is part of a national effort to help Monarchs survive. Monarchs have dramatically decreased in the last two decades. A September 2017 article notes a decline of 84% between the winters of 1996–1997 and 2014–2015. Equally alarming, the article warns that Monarchs face near extinction in the next 20 years. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5627118/)

Monarchs are in trouble for several reasons. The destruction of forest in Mexico's mountains, where Monarchs reside during part of their live cycle, is a major contributor.  Generations of Monarch find their way to the Upper Midwest and to places like Prospect Gardens. Contributing to the Monarch's decline is the rise of industrialized farming. Planting row crops such as corn and soybeans along with heavy herbicide usage destroys needed habitat including Milkweed. Milkweed was plentiful growing in fence hedgerows or in fields before the widespread use of herbicides.

When I see a Monarch in Prospect Gardens my heart goes out to these delicate beings.  I realize that it has taken 2-3 generations to get to Prospect Gardens. Butterflies that left Mexico’s mountains flew to the southern US in the spring and laid eggs before dying, and those new butterflies matured and  began making their way across the US and stopped to have another generation. That second generation continued, facing daunting challenges as they searched for Milkweed plants to sustain their next generation. With luck and persistence the second or third generation made it to Prospect Gardens, and feasted on this Milkweed.

The Badger Volunteer team contributed to the survival of Monarchs because they helped maintain a green space with critically needed butterfly habitat. I will long remember the team's generosity, kindness and diligence.