May 2017: What’s Growing at ALNC

This time of year, there are lots of new critters and plants emerging from – and busy underneath – the spring soil.  Visit the Aldo Leopold Nature Center during our public hours in May to enjoy our grounds, drop-in self-guided activities, and exhibits, theaters and displays focused on What’s Growing at ALNC. This month, learn about plants and flowers budding and blooming in our prairie and woodlands and look for recent appearances in our vegetable beds, greenhouse, and phenology garden. Go under the soil and around the globe in our awesome theaters, and visit our exhibits to learn how climate change is impacting gardening and farming in Wisconsin. Then, hike our trails and see what you can find in popping up around our grounds!

 May’s special features and activities (free or included in admission):

• Make a Jack-in-the-Pulpit Flower: Get to know this intriguing woodland plant by making your own model, and then head out our grounds to look for these blossoms in the wild!
• Phenology Bloom Charts: Help ALNC track species in our Phenology Garden and on our grounds by learning to identify and record some native Wisconsin wildflowers and other species.
• Family Backpacks and Scavenger Hunts: Enhance your exploration of nature with easy-to-understand identification guides and seasonal activities.
• Two Billion More Coming to Dinner: A healthy, prosperous future for humanity rests largely on the farmers and scientists who create the “simple” thing we need most: food. In this Science on a Sphere film, learn from a Midwestern farmer and his daughter about their views on planning a dinner party for the planet.
• Climate and Farming in Wisconsin: Learn what climate changes mean to local farmers and gardeners and how small and diverse production systems can be more resilient to climate change.
• Plus, share what you’ve learned in your own GardenCast in our green screen TV studio, surround yourself with microbes as you Dig Under the Soil in the Immersion Theater, and more!

 And be sure to join us for Wildflower Wander on Sunday, May 7 (10:30am-12:00pm) — an easy stroll to see some of Wisconsin’s spectacular spring wildflowers ($6/member, $10/non-member).

 The Aldo Leopold Nature Center would like to thank ATC and DuPont for supporting our monthly exhibit themes. Don’t forget — themes change monthly, so there is always something new to discover!