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Making the Right Choice in Wildflowers
One of the primary benefits of naturalizing areas - in addition to the positive impacts on maintenance budgets - is aesthetic. Many native species are beautiful flowering plants that can add color and impact to your planting area. But some flowering natives are better than others when it comes to not just looking good but helping attract overall environmental diversity to your gardens, park sites or public area.
As planting season approaches, V3's ecologists thought it would be helpful to identify those species that do more than just look good. In addition to putting on showy displays, these plants attract other species or weather maintenance challenges particularly well.
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Butterfly Milkweed
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Butterfly Milkweed
(Asclepias tuberosa interior): This native species is one of the showiest native flowers and has an orange flower that blooms from June to August. As with all the Milkweed species, this plant attracts the Monarch Butterfly.
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Wild Bergamot
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Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa):
This native species has a purple/violet flower and blooms in July and August. This plant has a nice aroma and attracts bees, moths, butterflies and hummingbirds.
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Wild Lupine
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Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis):
This native species shoots a long 4-10" stem of purple flowers above its foliage in late spring to early summer. It is attractive to many insects including bees and butterflys.
 | | Showy Goldenrod |
Showy Goldenrod (Solidago speciosa): As the name implies, this species has a 1 foot long bright yellow stem of flowers which blooms in the fall. It attracts many species of inset pollinators, especially as other flowering plants are starting to wane at the end of the season.
Golden Alexander's(Zizia aurea): This is a great garden plant because of its habitat versatility (full sun to partial shade, and wet or dry soil conditions), and a natural compact form which doesn't fall over like many prairie species. The yellow flower blooms in the spring to add early season color to your natural area.
For more information, contact Tom Slowinski, VP/Wetlands & Ecology, at 630.729.6285 or tslowinski@v3co.com.
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Delineation Time is Approaching
For more information, contact Scott Brejcha, Wetland Consulting Group Leader at 630.729.6325 or sbrejcha@v3co.com.
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ILR10 Soil Erosion Inspections - The Dreaded Incidence of Non-Compliance
So what do you do when a silt fence tears or is undercut and stormwater discharges into an adjacent waterway? Here are the prescribed steps required by ILR10 you need to take to address the issue and minimize your exposure to possibly hefty penalties: 1) Immediately rectify the drainage or erosion condition that led to the failure. Fix the silt fence, replace the erosion control blanket, reshape an eroded protection berm, re-route the drainage path to a more stable area, etc. 2) Within 24 hours, the permittee must notify the IEPA Agency Field Operations Section office by email, telephone or fax of the issue. 3) Within five (5) days the permittee must submit an "Incidence of Non-Compliance" report. This report requires a description of the failure, any remediation efforts taken and the environmental impact (downstream or on-site) caused by the actions taken 4) The Incidence of Non-Compliance form must be signed by a responsible authority of the Owner. If you are not sure who qualifies as a responsible authority, review Section VI.G of the NPDES Permit No. ILR10. On every project, the designer and contractor follow best practices to avoid erosion control failures or illicit discharges. But it's impossible to control the weather and all impacts to a site. The key is to have a remedial action plan in place with primary contacts identified as well as responding quickly to address the cause of the failure and notifying the regulatory authority. For more information, contact Derrick Martin, P.E., CFM, CPESC, Water Resources Group Manager, at 630.729.6150 or dmartin@v3co.com. |
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