Somme Woods Community

10/12/2026

From our friends in Minnesota 🍎

This former buckthorn thicket is starting to look like the inspirational image on our signs!
(The photo on the sign is from an amazing oak woodland restoration at Somme Woods in Illinois)

10/10/2026

It’s the time of blue and yellow flowers. The blues include the asters, and the yellows, the goldenrods. At Somme Woods currently the stars of the show are Short’s aster and blue-stemmed goldenrod.

Fall Flora of oak woodlands should be celebrated, for two reasons:

First, it’s a beautiful and an inspiring finale to the growing season.

Second, a diverse fall flora is an indicator of woodland health, a rare thing today. Most woods have lost it.

Somme Woods has benefitted from ambitious restoration (fire, thinning, and seeding) for four decades. It's a good place to get to know these important late-season plants.

Read more in this blog post:

http://vestalgrove.blogspot.com/2023/10/fall-flora-of-oak-woodlands.html

10/05/2026

10/03/2026

Report from seed gathering on Sunday, September 27, at Somme Prairie Grove

Eleven of us collected seeds, five people being brand new to seed collecting and the Somme preserves in general

We prioritized gathering seeds of Silphiums, namely prairie dock and compass plant, to start during the dewy morning

After break, we switched to a strong focus on prairie dropseed and little bluestem

We found many other species that different people took different preferences towards, such as Carolina rose, cream gentian, late horse gentian, gray coneflower, nodding onion, and many others

Report and photos 1-4 by Ali Fakhari

Another chance to collect seeds with Ali on this Saturday, October 3, from 2:00 to 5:00 PM 🌱

sommepreserve.org

10/01/2026

Fascinating history ⏳🧑🏻‍🎓🌳🪾🌾🧑🏼‍🌾🐄

09/25/2026

Last Friday, I had a site visit with three super volunteers from Somme Prairie Grove. I learned so much about the years of restoration work and the progress that has been made. Somme is truly a testament to the commitment of people from our community who care about preserving our natural world.

09/22/2026

Seed gathering at Somme Prairie Grove today, September 22 🌱

09/21/2026

Here are some photos from Somme Woods and Somme Prairie Grove from this past weekend