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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱

@kzgrant.bsky.social
836 followers 2K following 920 posts

Retired from teaching but not from caring about all our kids’ futures. Hence still fighting battles I thought we won and trying to be less furious and more effective. Native gardening! Cheesehead.

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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
🌱 October smiles… squirrels planted these and they are teeny but beautiful- about 14” tall now but summer version was 6’+. A guilty pleasure thanks to climate change.
Brave bright gold mini sunflowers facing the morning sun.Closeup of open sunflower with green spiraling buds in center, followed by rings of buttery yellow and brown with rich sunny yellow petals. It’s held in a hairy slightly gray-green stem.

Closeup of open sunflower with green spiraling buds in center, followed by a ring of buttery yellow with rich sunny yellow petals. It’s held in a hairy slightly gray-green stem.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
🌱Fall=🙃
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
🌱 Obedient plant in fall.
Tall spires of maroon seedpods behind a glowing pink Obedient Plant bloom.Twisty green and purple leaves of Obedient Plant.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Oh damn misplaced apostrophe- apologies! Flowers not flower’s.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
🌱 New England Aster question… what makes the color variation pink to lavender, bright to soft? These are growing within feet of one another, with different colors. Recently drenched so flower’s aren’t all open.
New England Aster, purple blossoms with bright gold
centersNew England Aster, soft pink blossoms with bright gold
centersNew England Aster, bright hot pink blossoms with bright gold
centersNew England Aster, a bright color between purple and pink blossoms with bright gold
centers
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
🌱A photo can not capture what we saw in our garden yesterday. Impossible to be accurate but certainly more than 40 Monarchs gathered on Meadow Blazing Star and to a lesser extent Zinnia blossoms. We are part of Monarch migration this year! It feels so damn good to have done something positive!
Purple Blazing Star flowers with several orange and black Monarchs feeding.
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Reposted by Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱
Honey Girl Grows @honeygirlgrows.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Salt marshes sequester enormous amounts of carbon, and reverse climate warming. 🌱When the news is nonstop climate crisis, remember salt marshes can be restored. Hold hope. Show up and vote candidates solely on climate policy - it eliminates all who put corporate profits before people and planet.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
🌱😆
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
🌱 Found a Japanese Beetle on a dahlia blossom so that may be the answer. Squished it. Have to watch for more.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
🌱 Big one!
Brown spider with orange … something? Honestly I was not willing to get close enough to see it clearly. Hunt on my friend!
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
🌱 Someone is devouring my dahlia flowers. Anyone have idea about the culprit.. Chicago area.
Gold and red Pooh Dahlia before.Nearly destroyed Pooh Dahia flower 2 days later.
Pink and White Bumble Rumble Dahlia just gorgeous.Same dahlia after someone made a meal of it.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
🌱 Definitely Lord of the Rings vibe here. Don’t go in Frodo!!!
Dense silvery spider web with mysterious tunnel shaped entrance. Visible because of thousands of dewdrops caught on the web.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
🌱 Anyone know what these butterflies/moths are? For the last several days we’ve had 5 or 6 at a time nectating on a Caryopteris.
Brown butterfly or moth with darker brown and white spots nectaring on lilac flowers among blue green leaves.Brown butterfly or moth with darker brown and white spots nectaring on lilac flowers among blue green leaves.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
🌱 This plant is working on 20 tomatoes! The olla pot from One Wintry Night made it easy to keep this terrific plant happy despite the extreme temperatures and erratic rainfall. Thank you @onewintrynight.bsky.social
A large tomato plant with clusters of partly red/ partly green tomatoes is growing inside of a protective black wire cage. A blue and purple ceramic Olla pot lid is visible in the foreground.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
🌱 and so it goes
Exuberant lilac blossoms of Rough Blazing Star in front of brown seedheads from Pale Purple Coneflower.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
@sevenhillfarm.bsky.social
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
🌱 each flower different, delicate … cosmos seeds from Sevenhill Farm www.etsy.com/shop/Sevenhi...
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
🌱 well hello Turtlehead!
Bright pink Turtlehead Rosea in bloom and in bud next to sunflower yellow BlackEyed Susan, light pink Obedient Plant and blue Great Blue Lobelia.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
🌱Bee, snuggling in for the night.
Bumblebee sleeping in between mostly green flower spikes topped with purple of Blue Vervain/Verbena Hastada.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
🌱 Hope this makes you smile too.. a bee sleeping in the shelter of the cup floret of a Bumble Rumble dahlia. Second year in a row! Sorry for the blurry photo
Sorry for the blurry photo but a bee is just visible snuggling down behind white and bright fuchsia ray florets of a dahlia.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
🌱 Early aster action!
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Reposted by Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱
Colton the fish squeezer🐟🪴📚🏕️🐝 @fishsqueezer.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
The only crown I respect, but will still probably eat later. 🌱🪴
A round cactus has a circle of bright red cylindrical fruits protruding from it.
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Reposted by Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱
The Globe and Mail @theglobeandmail.com · 08/08/2026
theglobeandmail.com
Canadian economy adds 75,100 jobs in July, U.S. sheds 23,000 positions
Unemployment rate in Canada falls to two-year low as labour outcomes in the countries continue to diverge
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
🌱 My favorite display of patriotism
Red Cardinal Flower, Great Blue Lobelia and white Flat Topped Aster doing a
rain garden version of the flag colors.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
🌱 Bees this week
INat says Orange Tipped Wood Digger on Great Blue LobeliaINat says Two spotted Longhorn Bee on Blue MistflowerINat thinks possibly Two spotted Longhorn Bee on Showy Tick TrefoilINat says Furrow Bee Blue Vervain
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
🌱 Sleeping on the very edge of the bed early this morning.
Bumblebee sleeping on the edge of a raspberry colored Monarda flower just beginning to blossom.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
🌱 Update on tomato defense: it works! Harvested an unmolested row that was protected. Directly above it was the green tomato the squirrels chewed on. They never bother with green ones, so I guess they’re mad?
Basket of harvested tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers with one mangled green tomato courtesy of a spiteful squirrel.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
🌱 The rain garden is proving natives can weather (ahem) the looong dry spell we are having.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
🌱 Trying out this version of squirrel deflection before encasing the entire plant in chicken wire. If it works it’s much easier on my skin! Wondering about heat and humidity.. any advice is welcome.
Ripening tomatoes protected by plastic fruit containers. We shall see if it works!
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
🌱 Crap air but flowers are doing ok.
Native Obedient plant starting its pale
pink blooms.All the pinks… Tennessee Coneflower and achillea.Brilliant scarlet Cardinal flower standing proud!Lilac Blazing Star and Raspberry Monarda make a pretty combo.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
🌱 Perfectly lovely places to be. Not this week, though… 100’s real feel and then wildfire smoke.
Wooden garden bench framed by black metal arch, vines and lemon sunflowers.Blue metal garden bench next to Queen Anne’s Lace and lots of green plants. Purple Verbena and Blazing Star in foreground.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
🌱 Literally a big-ass bee! Is it a type of Carpenter Bee?
Large bee on raspberry colored Monarda blossom. Large bee on raspberry colored Monarda blossom. Large bee on raspberry colored Monarda blossom.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
🌱 It’s so hot but busy in the garden today.
Bright orange and black Monarch nectaring on lilac Rough Blazing Star.Brilliant black and light blue Black Swallowtail nectaring on purple Verbena bonariansis.Scarlet Royal Catchfly amid the various purples of Blazing Star, Verbena and Hyssop.
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Reposted by Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱
Schnickelfritz 🍻 @schnickilfritz.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
In light of the Trump administration's renewed effort to wantonly destroy crucial habitats, I've been thinking about this poem a lot. These people have no decency. "Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Longleaf Pine in North America" by Matthew Olzmann 🌱
Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Longleaf Pine in North America by Matthew Olzmann

Tell me what it’s like to live without curiosity, without awe. To sail
on clear water, rolling your eyes
at the kelp reefs swaying
beneath you, ignoring the flicker
of mermaid scales in the mist,
looking at the world and feeling
only boredom. To stand
on the precipice of some wild valley,
the eagles circling, a herd of caribou
booming below, and to yawn
with indifference. To discover
something primordial and holy.
To have the smell of the earth
welcome you to everywhere.
To take it all in, and then,
to reach for your knife.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
🌱 Royal Catchfly looking regal in the golden hour.
Sun spotlighting the bright red flower spikes of Silene Regia, Royal Catchfly.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
🌱 Hey anybody who knows bees, can you help me ID this little guy? I only got one picture so there’s not a lot to go on. It was feeding from a calendula to give you an idea of scale. #nativebee
Small bee on a yellow calendula blossom.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
🌱 You know how you really want to grow a plant but you don’t have the right habitat so you make a fairly huge rain garden and then, a year later, in the immortal words of Ghostbuster Janine Melnitz…..
The incomparable indefatigable Janine Melnitz!A flower spike in a Cardinal Flower, just beginning to show red. BE STILL MY HEART!
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
🌱 It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
Light lavender Big Leaved Aster beginning to bloom among pink Achillea.Black Swallowtail taking a rest stop in clover.Drumstick Allium feeding a bumblebee.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
🌱 next up in natives: Royal Catchfly
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
🌱 Summer soundtrack is here. Percussion section arrives dressed in a pale green ensemble.
Newly emerged cicada drying its pale green wings.Cicada just emerging from its shell.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
🌱😋 It’s garlic harvest season! Garage is going to be too hot so a quick couple of days dry off and down to the basement for these guys.
Lots of garlic drying on a screen balanced on a wagon in a garage.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
🌱 hello July!
Evening Sun sunflower standing tall with yellow, maroon and brown colors.Florescent orange Michigan Lily.Fuzzy purple Meadow Blazing Star doing fireworks!
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
🌱 Big Swallowtail caterpillar hiding in shade, it is 103 so good move! Did some rescue watering for new plants, topped up water sources for birds and pollinators, and it’s time to head inside.
Large Black Swallowtail caterpillar hiding under beets and carrots on a hot day.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
🌱 Hello babies! Swallowtail caterpillars eating and hopefully not being eaten. No monarch caterpillars yet despite many milkweed plants of various kinds. Hoping…
Swallowtail caterpillars feed on dill in veg garden.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
🌱😍
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Reposted by Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱
Theo @codedude.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
It’s not particularly stunning or magnificent but I love the understated beauty of this native Midwest #garden. 🌱 Can you name all the natives?
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
🌱 so graceful
Pale pink slender petals of Pale Purple Coneflower fanning out from a spiny dome of green ringed with red. Fibonacci queen!
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
🌱next up in natives - Hoary Vervain, a pollinator magnet.
Tall plant with maroon stems and pale green leaves beginning to bloom at bottom of purple spikes.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
🌱 Pale Purple Coneflower is the star of this beautiful early summer day.
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Kris 6A/Central Corn Plains 8.2.3🌱 @kzgrant.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
🌱 Wisteria understands the assignment!
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