Lake Bluff Open Lands Association
Birdwatching
Birdwatching has become a favorite pastime for people of all ages. Whether your birdwatching takes place in your own backyard, LBOLA conservancies, or farther afield in Illinois, here’s some information to help you on your way.
The National Audubon Society
The Illinois Ornithological Society
Cornell Lab/Merlin ID
The Cornell Lab
Meetups
Native Plants
A visit to the nursery on the first warm spring day is inspiring. We optimistically purchase multitudes of species, often with mixed results. If your selections are not native, they may not thrive in your yard. Plants have very strong preferences.
Do you want an interactive database you can customize to our region? Try these:
Audubon Native Plants Database
National Wildlife Federation Plant Finder
Is a particular part of your yard in need of a tune-up? Here’s a plant list already sorted by the habitat the plants prefer:
If you want a brief hard copy pocket guide try Xerces Midwest Region Pollinators. Page two is a great short list!
Xerces Society’s Pollinator Friendly Plant Lists
Morton Arboretum's Healthy Hedges/Healthy Habitat Series
Healthy Hedges
Seasonal Native Plant Sales
Seasonal Native Plant Sales
Native shrubs can be found in many plant databases, but here are some shortcuts for you:
U of I Extension
Native Shrubs of the Midwest for the Home Landscape
Openlands Chicago
10 Native Trees and Shrubs for Landscaping in the Midwest
Chicago Botanic Garden
Audubon
Native Plants Database (use the settings for shrubs)
Seasonal Native Plant Sales
Seasonal Native Plant Sales
Seasonal Native Plant Sales
We have plenty of local options for in-person shopping in the spring. You will need to keep checking until the plant sale's webpage goes live each year.
First-Come-First-Serve Plant Sales
- Lake Forest Open Lands Pre-orders are available; this sale also has problem-solving “garden kits.”
- Lake County Forest Preserves at Independence Grove in Libertyville. Arrive early to see the full offerings.
Honorable Mention Sale
- UofI Extension Master Gardeners in Grayslake. This sale is not exclusively for natives. Cultivars, i.e., plants with names like “Lake Bluff Lolita”, may be visually alluring but lack the life-giving symbiosis our native bugs and birds require. Then again, this sale also has “Garden Treasures.”
Online Only Sale
- Openlands Chicago hosts an online plant sale in partnership with Possibility Place. Prices include delivery. Trees and shrubs are shipped in April. Perennials ship in May.
Plant sales are generally in early May to mid-May because that is the earliest time we should plant tender seedlings in the ground, or frost will kill them.
Native Plant Online Sales
Native Plant In-Person Sales
Native Plant In-Person Sales
Some native plant nurseries are mail order only, and some are wholesale-only to the trade, and not retailers. When you buy online, always check the nursery location and verify that they have plants native to our region.
Some of our favorite mail-order nurseries are:
Prairie Moon Nursery, Winona, MN
Prairie Nursery, Westfield, WI
Possibility Place, Monee, IL
Native Plant In-Person Sales
Native Plant In-Person Sales
Native Plant In-Person Sales
Call ahead; verify if retail sales are by appointment, and full flats only. For larger plants, you may prefer one of the seasonal sales instead. Native plants are often sold as small “plugs” in flats, rather than mature potted plants.
Taylor Creek, Brodhead, WI
Red Buffalo Nursery, Hebron, IL
Pizzo Native Plant Nursery, Leland, IL
Field Apps to Identify Native Species
You may prefer a phone app for your fieldwork. Google’s reverse image and Google Lens also get props, but you should double-check the result with a more sophisticated plant-centric database at home. Try these mobile apps:
Occasionally, we weed out a plant we purchased. Fortunately, our closest chapter of Wild Ones, the Lake to Prairie group in Grayslake, hosts a Seedling ID Guide: