Friends of the Wildflower Garden
These short articles are written to highlight connections of the plants, history and lore of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden with different time frames or outside connections. A web of present and past events
This month highlights the Garden winter programs, Eloise Butler, Wirth Park signage, what plants visually tell uss plus a historical Garden photo.
February 2025
Winter Programs - one more month
Eloise and the Agassiz Association
Winter Experiences Available
One more month to go.
One more month to go to participate in the Winter programs that the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary has been providing again this year
They continue into March. They do not require pre-registration, just show up at the appropriate place and time.
- Winter Tree ID Walk - March 4
- Winter Birding Walk - March 18
- Winter Nature Walk - February 25 and March 25
- Storytime for Children - Thursdays through March 27
- Knitting Near Nature - February 28, March 14 and 28th.
Check the Garden website for the exact times and any late changes to the schedule.
Eloise Butler and the Agassiz Association
Some aspects of Eloise Butler’s Native Plant Reserve in Glenwood Park would be unknown to us were it not for the articles she wrote as her contribution to the round-robin circular of the Gray Memorial Botanical Chapter of the Agassiz Association.
Eloise was a member of the Chapter from 1908 until her death. These articles have the feel of a personal letter - that is a personal letter to other members of the Chapter “which would have an appeal that most formal contributions lack.” This was the specific intent of the Chapter and if you did not contribute you were asked to provide your excuse!
We have 34 of her articles about the reserve in our educational archive, many of which are identified as having been written for circulation to the Chapter. Here we learn about the devastating tornado of 1925, about which asters, ferns, trees and shrubs were in the early wildflower garden, about the formation of the Mallard Pool, about becoming a beggar in Wisconsin, about risking her neck for a rare fern and many more.
You can find the list in our educational archive along with the list of her newspaper articles at this link.
A more complete story about the Agassiz Association and the Gray Memorial Chapter at this link.
New Signs in Wirth Park
Recent visitors to Wirth Park have seen new direction signage (“wayfinding kiosks” in parkspeak) that is being installed throughout the park to upgrade park user experiences.
The example in the photo is at the Wirth Beach entry to the trail system that leads to the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden. Smaller signage will be used in various other places around the trail system. This particular kiosk has information about the Wildflower Garden highlighted.
Visitors to the Garden this coming year will be pleasantly surprised by some new educational signage that is being prepared by the Garden Staff for installation.
As we await the reopening of the Garden . . . .
As we await the reopening of the Garden let's review one way some plants tell you that they will not flower this year.
It’s not that they speak words but they speak with their appearance instead. Some herbaceous plants require at least two leaves before they flower. Examples in the Wildflower Garden are Mayapple, Blue Cohosh, the three Troutlilies (non-hybridized) and usually Jack-in-the-pulpit.
No need to peak under a mayapple leaf to look for the drooping flower if there is only one leaf. Troutlilies cover large expanses in the woodland part of Eloise Butler but most have only one leaf - don’t look for a flower there. Blue Cohosh may confuse you because what looks like many leaves may be only one as each leaf is in multiple parts with up to 27 leaflets. A flowering Blue Cohosh has a second leaf stalk rising from upper part of the stem and then you have a plant that can flower.
Something similar happens with the beautiful spring flowering Twinleaf. Young plants with only one stem will seldom send up a flower stalk.
More details on these plant information sheets:
Blue Cohosh, Caulophyllum thalictroides
Jack-in-th-Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum
Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum
White Troutlily, Erythronium albidum
Yellow Troutlily, Erythronium americanum
Twinleaf, Jeffersonia diphylla
Historical Photo
Sixty-nine years ago in February 1956 Garden Curator Martha Crone made this Kodachrome of the old Garden office in snow. It is the most detailed closeup of the office that we have. The stove pipe on the roof was installed in 1944 when Clinton Odell provided a stove to heat the structure. Prior to that Martha Crone brought in a portable kerosene burner to provide heat. Eloise Butler had no heat. The sign on the wall says "Office of Curator, Wild Flower Garden."
Previous articles
January 2025 - Garden histories
January 2025 - The Dead Tree of Winter
January 2025 - FIPAG 2024 - A great year
January 2025 - Looking Forward to Spring
All selections published in 2024
All selections published in 2023