SCHOOLS, LIBRARIES and PUBLIC PLACES
Hynes School, Morton Grove, Illinois
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Hynes Elementary School,
in Morton Grove, Illinois had a very large,
open area available for planting. With
a grant from Lucent Technology, they
were able to convert the empty land
into a beautiful prairie garden.
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All of the classes came
outside during one special day and every
student got to plant a plant.
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Topps Tree Service provided beautiful wooden log benches. |
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Sky Blue Aster (right), Aster azuraus, and Big Bluestem Grass (center), Andropogon gerardii, are two plants normally found in a Native Illinois Prairie.
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Coordinator Mary Busch stands next to Joseph Standing Bear, who blessed this prairie in a Native American Blessing Ceremony the next year. |
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A new sign, officially designating our project as the school prairie was installed at the site. |
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See how the prairie has grown! The plants have filled in and are large and lush. Isn't this a beautful composition? |
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Joseph Standing Bear dedicates the site. |
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Connecting children to the natural world is a great way to appreciate each individual and the different cultures. |
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The Begay Boys - Samuel, Jaime and Michael - perform a traditional American Indian dance with their mother Glenda. |
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One of the Begay Boys, their mother
Glenda (in the jingle dress), Mary Busch,
Art and school staff
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Project coordinator Mary Busch visits at dedication. |
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Enjoy some more of our Native Wildflowers in bloom:
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Yellow Coneflower
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Hoary Vervain
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Sand Coreopsis
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Ratibida pinnata
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Verbena strictda
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Coreopsis lanceolata
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This is how our prairie looked a year later, in August, 2004
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Four species, same color!
Can you identify and locate the Swamp (Red) Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata, Prairie Blazing Star, Liatris pycnostachya,False Dragonhead (Obedient Plant), Physostegia virginiana, and Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea? |
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Very photogenic composition of Yellow Coneflower, Ratibida pinnata, with Prairie Dock, Silphium terebinthinaceum, leaves as a backdrop. |
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Naturalist-educator Mary Busch and
two of her many children are dwarfed
by a blooming stately Compass Plant, Silphium laciniatum. This Compass Plant is nearly seven feet tall, yet is straight as an arrow and does not droop over even an inch.
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