This is how a hedge apple begins: as a green cluster of flowers bunched together, waiting to be wind pollinated from a male tree nearby, which sends out the pollen that fertilizes the flowers, producing a seed near the core of the hedge apple.
Tom Harper
A new outdoor classroom and event space at Prairie Park Nature Center, designed and built by KU architecture students, is almost complete.
Mark Potts/Lawrence Times
Although not much of the northern lights’ glory was visible to the naked eye Friday night, Lawrence residents quickly discovered that their phones could “see” more than they could.
As many as 100 million or 200 million birds will fly northward along the Central Flyway on Saturday night. Kansas, Missouri and neighboring states lie in the hottest of hotspots.
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
Projects to restore edible native species, create programming around Indigenous food knowledge and several others have received $420,000 in grant money from Douglas County.
Solar flares are causing a geomagnetic storm that should make it possible for Kansas City and other cities in the middle of the country to see the aurora borealis, which can usually only be glimpsed in northern latitudes. The best views are expected around midnight.
We normally think of trees as being good for the environment. But in parts of the Midwest and Great Plains, they’re heating up the earth as woodlands take over grasslands.
Harvesting invasive species like autumn olives or carp is a great way to learn about the woods and rivers close to home, and to realize that our interaction with these local ecosystems matters. KCUR put together this intro to edible invasive species.
The blues and pinks of the spiderwort are a welcome sight in prairies this time of year, something well worth finding. While you’re there, look for starry eyed grass, wild hyacinth and the beginning of oxeye daisies and more.
Greg Kramos / USFWS
Because lesser prairie chickens need extensive tracts of open, well-managed prairie to survive in a state where 97% of land is privately owned, its fate is largely in the hands of ranchers.
