Written text and photos by: Susan Nygaard The second OSIG event of the 2026 season focused on Arethusa bulbosa, or the Dragon’s Mouth orchid, which is one of the more exotic and diminutive native orchids in our area. While relatively common throughout the region, its habitat is often difficult to access. The site we visitedContinue reading “Dragon’s Mouth Orchid Special Interest Group Field Trip Report 6.20.2026”
Author Archives: arrowheadnpe
Lester Tree Planting 6.7.2026
Written by: Kelly Beaster The Arrowhead Native Plant Explorers stepped into hands-on stewardship this June, planting 20 young trees in Lester Park within the forest along the cross-country ski and mountain biking trails. What is now a familiar recreation landscape has a long and complex ecological history. Lester Park is a mosaic of northern mesicContinue reading “Lester Tree Planting 6.7.2026”
Yellow Lady Slippers Field Trip Notes 6.6.2026
Written by: Susan Nygaard Six ANPE members joined Susan for a short but very pleasant hike in the Chamber’s Grove area on the afternoon of Saturday, June 6, 2026, to view a couple of clusters of Greater Yellow Lady Slippers and many specimens of the somewhat less common Small Yellow Lady Slippers. Most of theContinue reading “Yellow Lady Slippers Field Trip Notes 6.6.2026”
Nature Writing with Spring Ephemerals Hike 5.16.2026
Written by: Kelly Beaster As a dry, hot wind pushed at the ANPE members in Jay Cooke State Park, they all paused to listen to a brief story of how the rabbit lost its tail. Some members swayed in the strong breeze like the blooms of the yellow trout lily bobbing and their shimmering leavesContinue reading “Nature Writing with Spring Ephemerals Hike 5.16.2026”
Introducing the Willow 4.21.2026
Written by: Ethan Perry With pussy willow buds bursting in the third week of April, it was perfect timing for Reed Schwarting to engage us in a little willow talk. Reed is a botanist at Lake Superior Research Institute and on ANPE’s board. Willows, genus Salix, are in the Salicaceae family, which also includes theContinue reading “Introducing the Willow 4.21.2026”
Skunk Cabbage Field Trip 4.11.2026
Written by Susan Nygaard A total of 6 plant enthusiasts all piled into a van, driven by a generous participant, on the morning of April 11 and traveled to Maple, Wisconsin, to see lots of skunk cabbage sprouting from the still snowy and very wet sides of a gravel road. We were able to seeContinue reading “Skunk Cabbage Field Trip 4.11.2026”
Plant Mounting Workshop – Hawk Ridge Flora
Written by: Ethan Perry This winter we got a two-fer. Ever since we started making plant collections a few years ago, to provide specimens for the Olga Lakela herbarium at UMD, we’ve held a plant mounting workshop in the winter. We take the specimens pressed in newspaper in the summer and glue them to largeContinue reading “Plant Mounting Workshop – Hawk Ridge Flora”
An Assessment of Duluth’s Forests 2.17.2026
Written by: Ethan Perry Many of us have explored Duluth’s extensive forests, but we haven’t counted the trees, or measured them. Numbers like these show us more clearly the direction a forest is changing and help make more precise management decisions. And that’s exactly what our most recent presenters aim to do. Abby Andrus andContinue reading “An Assessment of Duluth’s Forests 2.17.2026”
Rare plants of the Arrowhead Region 1.20.2026
Written by: Ethan Perry ANPE’s January presentation was given by none other than our own president, Kelly Beaster, who spoke about rare plant species of the Arrowhead region, particularly Duluth and the North Shore. Kelly is a self-employed consulting ecologist who has documented many occurrences of rare plant species in her work, and she wasContinue reading “Rare plants of the Arrowhead Region 1.20.2026”
Endangered Hemlock in MN 11.18.2025
Written by: Kelly Beaster This November, ANPE members took a deep dive into one of Minnesota’s most elusive conifers – eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) or Gaagaamich in ojibwe, meaning ‘porcupine tree’. Ethan Perry, botanist and plant ecologist with the MN Department of Natural Resources, shared some unique characteristics of hemlock, including that it superficially canContinue reading “Endangered Hemlock in MN 11.18.2025”
Arrowhead Native Plant Explorers 