Native clover conservation in the Bluegrass: an agronomic perspective

Jonathan O.C. Kubesch, University of Tennessee

Clovers are an odd group of plants caught between agriculture and agronomy, especially in the Bluegrass. Agronomists and cattlemen find clovers important for their nitrogen contribution and nutritive value to livestock. Horse owners fear clover for the fungal pathogen behind slobbers. Wildlife managers use them for food plots. Of the roadside clovers, most came to Kentucky with settlers (Ball et al., 2015; Bryson and DeFelice, 2009). Those red and white clovers came with the tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass. These species play an important role in Kentucky agriculture; however, the horse parks and cattle farms have replaced the natural ecosystems in the state (Noss, 2013; Campbell, 2014; Campbell, 2010).

In addition to these introduced species, Kentucky has three prominent native clovers: annual buffalo clover, running buffalo clover, and Kentucky clover (Vincent, 2001). Although collections of the native clovers have been made across Kentucky, it is really very uncommon to find these populations unless one knows where someone else has previously found it. It is unlikely that the reader will find these species in the local park or native area.

Annual buffalo clover (Trifolium reflexum), is spread throughout most of the eastern United States. The beautiful blooms have led to its potential as a horticultural species (Quesenberry et al., 2003). Of the native clovers, the genetics of the flowering in annual buffalo clover have been the most explored: red, white, and pink flowers (Quesenberry et al., 2003). At one point, it was favored over naturalized white clover in unimproved grazing lands (Killebrew, 1898).

Running buffalo clover (Trifolium stoloniferum) is a perennial species limited to the Ohio River Valley and Missouri. Plants spread on thick runners like strawberries. The species was investigated as a potential forage in the 1990s, and has been the subject of interest for herbivory dynamics in the eastern United States. The thick seed coat requires scarification in order for the seed to germinate (Kubesch, 2018; Sustar, 2017). Hoof action has been proposed as a driver in the ecology of the species, but a general disturbance regime seems necessary for the species to persist in the landscape (Kubesch, 2018). With some sandpaper and a few hours of free time, seed can be scarified. Running buffalo clover grows readily in the greenhouse.

Running buffalo clover in the greenhouse. Photo credit: Jonathan Kubesch
Continue reading Native clover conservation in the Bluegrass: an agronomic perspective →

Favorite Plant-related Podcasts

Shannon Trimboli

Like many of you, I love learning about our native plants, pollinators, wildlife, and local ecology. Often, I satisfy that love of learning through reading, but I can’t always have my nose stuffed in a book. Recently, I started listening to podcasts as another way to satisfy my love of learning.

Podcasts are great because I can listen to them in the car, while I’m doing household chores, while I’m planting seeds for the upcoming nursery season, and so on. Given my interests, my podcast searches naturally centered on those related to native plants, gardening for pollinators and wildlife, and general ecology with an emphasis on Kentucky or nearby areas. My top three favorites are In Defense of Plants, From the Woods Kentucky, and PolliNation.

In Defense of Plants

In Defense of Plants is produced by Matt Candeias, a PhD student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who enjoys sharing his love of all things related to botany and plants. This is, by far, my favorite podcast. Matt invites a wide variety of scientists, botanists, and plant conservationists to the program to discuss their work and their findings in a very down-to-earth manner. It’s like being invited to sit down at a table and geek out about botany, plants in general, and the newest scientific findings. I find the conversations fascinating and always learn something new.

http://www.indefenseofplants.com/podcast/

From the Woods Kentucky

From the Woods Kentucky is produced through the University of Kentucky’s Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. (If you’re in the Lexington area, you can listen to it on the radio.) Co-hosts Renee Williams and Laura Lhotka invite a number of our state’s educators, resource managers, and other experts to discuss Kentucky’s forests and related resources. Topics vary from Kentucky’s rare plants, to horse logging, to resources for managing private lands, to a diverse array of other subjects. I really enjoy the Kentucky focus and the fact that many of the programs have a very applied nature with information that private landowners can use on their own properties. Most of their programs provide information that is relevant across the state; however, they do have a few programs focused on Lexington-based resources and events. I understand why they include those programs, but I tend to skip over them because I don’t live near Lexington.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-the-woods-kentucky/id1446908745

PolliNation

PolliNation is produced out of Oregon State University and is part of their OSU Pollinator Health Program. This podcast covers a variety of bee and pollinator habitat related topics, which is something I am very interested in. However, the podcast obviously has a very Pacific Northwest slant. I enjoy listening to it, but not nearly as much as I like the previous two podcasts. I really wish there was a pollinator podcast that focused more on the eastern U.S.

http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/

Although these are my current favorites, I’m sure there are other great ones that I haven’t found yet. I’d be interested in learning about your favorite podcasts too and suggest we continue this discussion on the Kentucky Native Plant Society’s Facebook page. What are your favorite native plant and ecology related podcasts? Why?

Shannon Trimboli is a beekeeper, wildlife biologist, author, and public speaker. She owns Busy Bee Nursery, which specializes in plants (mostly species native to Kentucky) for honey bees, native pollinators, and wildlife conservation. In 2018, her first book, Plants Honey Bees Use in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, was published. Shannon also writes a weekly blog called Kentucky Pollinators and Backyard Wildlife, which features profiles of pollinators and wildlife, tips for attracting pollinators and wildlife, highlights of different plants for pollinators and wildlife, and life on the farm and nursery.

Take a Hike! …with KNPS

Due to COVID-19, all KNPS Field Trips for 2020 have been cancelled. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Our 2020 schedule of day hikes is now available!  We will keep you posted on social media and our web site if there is a change.  See you at Berea College Forest,  Metro Lake,  UK Arboretum, and Pine Creek Barrens!  Registration is needed and forms will be available on the web site (30 days before)  at www. Knps.org.

April 25, 9:30AM – 11:30AM at Berea College Forest

Join David Taylor, Daniel Boone National Forest Botanist for a hike in the Berea College Forest.  Meet at the Indian Fort Parking Area at 9:30AM for a hike in dry and mesic forest. Bring water and snacks/lunch. The view on a clear day is great. Difficulty is moderate.

August 29, 10:00AM – 2:00PM at Metropolis Lake SNP, McCracken County

Snow squarestem (Melanthera nivea)

Jeff Nelson, KNPS Webmaster, will lead a short walk through one of Kentucky’s unique ecosystems, the floodplain woods on the shores of Metropolis Lake. This is one of the few places in Kentucky that has intact stands of bald cypress, water tupelo, and overcup oak. We should also see one of Kentucky’s rare plant species, snow squarestem, in full flower. Difficulty is easy.




October 3, 10AM – 12:00PM at The Arboretum, State Botanical Garden of Kentucky; 500 Alumni Drive, Lexington, KY

Join the UK Arboretum Curator, Emily Ellingson, on a two-mile autumn walk through a representation of the seven regions of Kentucky to learn about the collection, propagation, and maintenance of the state’s most common and rare flora. Difficulty is easy.

October 10, 10:00AM at Pine Creek Barrens

Great Plains lady’s tresses (Spiranthes magnicamporum)

Join KNPS member Alan Abbott on a tour of Nature Conservancy property at Pine Creek Barrens in Shepherdsville.  Only 40 minutes from downtown Louisville, the natural area houses limestone/dolomite glades and barrens, as well as wet, shady bottomlands along Pine Creek. Early October usually brings the flowers of two species rare to Kentucky, the Great Plains Ladiestresses (Spiranthes magnicamporum) and Barrens Silky Aster (Symphyotrichum pratense). Stiff Gentian (Gentianella quinquefolia) frequently emerges in mid-October and we might catch some early flowers.   Time permitting, we will complete the entire two and a half mile trail. Difficulty is easy/moderate.

Wake Up, Woods: A book review

With illustrations by Gillian Harris, text by Michael Homoya, verses by Shane Gibson

Rubber Ducky Press, Indianapolis, 2019

Reviewed by Katherine Newkirk

Like the forest understory this book explores, Wake Up Woods is richly layered. Though loosely aimed at early elementary kids, the book will entice all ages along its several paths. Each stunningly illustrated two-page spread features understory bloomers along with associated visitors, a four-line verse and a paragraph of botanical information.

Many a preschooler will keep turning pages in search of critters such as the field mouse, six-spotted tiger beetle and marbled orbweaver. Illustrator Gillian Harris brings out the energy and “personalities” of both flora and fauna in exquisite biological detail. More than 50 illustrated species are listed with their common names and Latin binomials in an appendix.

Young readers will enjoy sounding out the rhymes by poet Shane Gibson, while their adults may smile at his humor. Christmas fern, for example: A fiddlehead / No strings attached / Unfurled beauty / Spring’s here at last. I found an occasional rhythm or rhyme challenging and also wondered what will happen when young readers bump into words like sepal, whorl and proboscis. Luckily, a glossary explains 26 specialized terms.

Nature lovers of all ages will enjoy the illustrations, and I predict many will learn new things about relationships among understory species, thanks to botanical text by Mike Homoya. For example, “After bloodroot goes to seed, elaiosomes (food bodies) that are attached to the seeds attract ants, which carry the seeds to their nests underground. Some ants carry them as far as forty feet away from the plant!”

Wake Up, Woods is dedicated to “all children who find delight in the awakening woods,” but I suggest that Wake Up, Woods will delight and inspire nature lovers of all ages. I hope it finds its way into laps and libraries everywhere.

Katherine Newkirk is co-editor of the Indiana Native Plant Society Journal.

Editors’ Note

KNPS’s “The Lady Slipper” has supplied native-plant enthusiasts across Kentucky with relative information for a long time—over thirty years. In fact, the February 2020 issue marks the newsletter’s 34th anniversary. A lot has changed over the years. What started as a typewritten newsletter distributed via snail mail eventually made the change to electronic format. During the summer of 2019, we made the switch to blog newsletter.

Articles are available as published; simply visit the blog! On or about the first of each month, subscribers will receive an email announcing the current issue that contains a short synopsis of each blog and a link. Of course, you’re invited to review the blog at any time.

Our content will maintain the same comprehensive quality you’ve grown to trust. We hope you enjoy the new format as we are excited for this transition.

Please share news and events that you think our readers would want to know. If you are interested in writing for us, our submission guidelines are simple: Contact us with a brief description of what you’d like to cover… that’s it! We’ll get back to you quickly.

Susan Harkins and Nick Koenig, Editors, ladyslipper@knps.org

One Hill In Peaks Mill Saved

By Deborah White

Betty Beshoar and Mark Roberts

Betty Beshoar and Mark Roberts always wanted to live in the country and moved to their land on Elkhorn Creek in the Frankfort area over 30 years ago. They love walking through the woods watching and hearing frogs leaping into the pond as they go by and enjoying spectacular views. Recently, they partnered with Woods and Waters Land Trust to ensure that over 57 acres of their land will be wildlands forever. Land trusts have sprung up all over the nation (there are more than a thousand) to help people interested in conserving land.

The forest on the slopes of the stream on the conserved land are covered with wildflowers in the spring. One of those wildflowers is Braun’s rockcress (Arabis perstellata), an endangered plant.

Arabis perstellata

Roughly 90% of populations of this plant worldwide are in Franklin County, Kentucky. Because of the unique geologic similarity (and historical links) to the Nashville area, a few populations of Braun’s rockcress also occur in that area. The limited range of this plant and the threats to forest health, like invasive plants and animals, make every population of this rare plant important to its long-term persistence in the Bluegrass forests. And this hill conserved in the Peaks Mill area helps.

There are 10 federally listed endangered or threatened plants in Kentucky. In addition to the rockcress, globe bladderpod is also limited to forests in the Bluegrass and has a disjunct distribution in the Nashville area. It occurs in drier more rocky forests, often on upper slopes.

Deborah White is the Director of the non-profit Woods and Trust Land Trust. You can contact her at Deb@woodsandwaterstrust.org to learn more about donating funds or property.

Wildlife in Your Garden: A book review

A bit of everything for the Kentucky naturalist

Kentuckian Karen Lanier’s Wildlife in Your Garden is a bountiful resource for Kentuckians hoping to turn their property into a wildlife heaven. This book provides an overview of how to leave the old paradigm of monoculture yards behind and cultivate your property for the benefit of wildlife—flora, fauna, and human. In the author’s own words:

“The purpose of this book is to help you reconnect with your wild side and the green space just outside your door by discovering the importance of the patch of earth that you tend and the creatures who find sustenance there.”

That’s a big promise, and Lanier delivers. This book won’t turn you into a landscaper, but it will whet your appetite for change and offer sound advice for implementing that change. Lanier encourages you to observe and learn about the surrounding ecosystem. She advises you to use natives and explains their importance in the big picture—indeed, without natives, there is no big picture. On the practical side, there’s advice on a myriad of gardening topics, from improving your soil, choosing the right plants, solving specific garden-related problems, and much more. Each page is packed with encouragement, advice, and gorgeous pictures.

Wildlife in Your Garden isn’t a step-by-step gardening manual. Rather than how-to, this book helps you see why you should—and then helps you evaluate your green space differently, so you can implement a plan for change. Lanier assures you that becoming a good steward will change your life, and that of the surrounding wildlife, for the better.

Karen Lanier, naturalist and educator, currently lives in Kentucky. She has worked as a park ranger from California to Maine in national and state parks and in wildlife rehabilitation, wildlife education, and even made a documentary on deforestation in Brazil. Lanier holds degrees in photography, foreign language, conservation studies, and documentary studies as well as a professional environmental educator certificate. She is actively involved with the Lexington, Kentucky chapter of Wild Ones.