Studying nature is a great way to feel young…comparatively speaking, that is. There are trees that are hundreds of years old as well as turtle and bird species that can easily outlive the humans who care for them. The entire human race is like a newborn when compared to billion-year-old rocks. It’s mind blowing! Thanks to a generous gift from the Franke family, we’ve created a way to explore this concept of time through nature. We’re proud to introduce a new treasure, a 3 Billion Year Walk through the Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum.

Winter is on its way, and I'm preparing by unearthing the wool socks and long johns buried in the back of my closet, and by covering my windows with plastic (one of my least favorite chores). All this preparation makes me think of my little plant friends, who are also busy preparing for winter in their own way. How can a living thing freeze solid for months, then thaw out the next spring and continue on its merry way? And how can we humans help prepare our plants for their big sleep?

My favorite Wes Anderson film, hands-down, is "The Fantastic Mr. Fox." The story, based on a children's novel by Roald Dahl, chronicles a family of foxes that are hunted by angry farmers after getting fed-up with Foxy's nightly chicken thievery. The biological detail that Anderson pays to all of the animals in the story is quite remarkable...While the stop-motion film is set in nowhere particular, the wild red fox can be found throughout most of Wisconsin and Canada and as far south as the northern half of Florida.

The story of lesser celandine (also known as fig buttercup or pilewort) is the classic story of an invasive species.

Surely all of Earth's 1.3 million invertebrate species couldn't move inside for the winter. But, where did they go? This question made me think about one bug in particular; one that I commonly associate with the warm weather. The antlion. What was my old buddy Mr. Ant Lion up to this time of year?

I recently read Matt Flower’s awesome post entitled “The Beauty of Fall Trees” where readers got a great overview of the magic of fall colors. After reading his post and looking at his stunning photos, I got excited to do a “piggy-back post” about the science behind autumn colors. Read on to find out more about what changes trees undergo in the fall. Why do leaves turn colors? How do they change color? Why do individual trees change to certain colors while others change to a completely different color?

What native Wisconsin plant is the first to bloom in the spring, generates its own heat capable of thawing frozen soil and melting snow, and produces flowers before leaves; flowers that emit a smell of rotting flesh?

In the summer, it's difficult to see the individual trees when looking out across a tree line due to the overwhelming shades of green. But in the fall, trees are going through their process of getting ready to survive the cold Wisconsin winter, making it easier to identify specific trees and pinpoint the location of some spectacular examples!

Canada Yew, also called American Yew and Ground Hemlock, is very similar in appearance to English Yew but is shorter (less than 2 meters tall) at maturity, less dense, and has a spreading often almost prostrate habit. One shrub may form a small colony over time and many shrubs can form a large colony. The fruit is a red aril, typical of other yews.