The Des Moines County Master Gardeners will offer a Wildflower Walk on Sunday, August 14, 2022. This will be a fun, family-oriented event in which participants will learn how to spot and identify wildflowers while taking a walk through three local nature sites.
The event will take place from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and is open to the public. The three sites are the Starr’s Cave Nature Center, the Burlington Public Library, and the prairie “classroom” at Aldo Leopold Middle School. Participants will be given a brief field guide and then invited to participate in a scavenger hunt. Master Gardeners will be available to answer questions. There is no admission fee, but free-will offerings are accepted to help support the group’s educational efforts.
“With well over 300 species of wildflowers easily seen in southeastern Iowa, the variety and beauty of nature is on display each year between March and October,” said Don Weiss, Des Moines County Master Gardener and author of Wildflowers of Southeast Iowa, Volumes I and II. “During this wildflower walk, you will have the opportunity to see a good selection of summer wildflowers calling southeastern Iowa home.”
The specific addresses for the sites are Starr’s Cave Nature Center, 11627 Starrs Cave Park Rd, Burlington, IA; Burlington Public Library, 210 Court Street, Burlington, IA (park in lower lot off Main Street); and Aldo Leopold Intermediate School, 3075 Sunnyside Ave., Burlington.
Participants can begin at any of the sites and visit them in any order they choose. For more information, check the Facebook event page.
The event will be held rain or shine unless dangerous storms are forecast.