The frogs and tadpoles didn't disappoint at King Conservation District's wetland plant nursery. The flooded beds holding potted wetland species were teeming with delightful creatures. These are encouraged with plant-flats left in the pools to create habitat. We had to be careful not to over-flow the beds when adding water, lest the tadpoles go overboard.
My notes on exactly which species of rush, bulrush, sedge, etc. that we worked with didn't survive the trip home. However I did find this list of plants grown at the nursery. Giant bur-reed / Sparganium eurycarpum was the most showy plant we deadheaded (see photo below) as it has fetching spiky orbs and globular white flowers with leaves over head-height. I am excited to spot this plant out in nature!
Hard to believe, but in 2.5ys of Squad, this is the first time we watered as a work activity. Other tasks included cutting-off seed heads to prevent species from seeding into other pots- because some wetland species are hard for even horticulturists to identify without the flowers, we left a few on for ID purposes. Fast-growing alders and cottonwoods had to be potted up as well. We look forward to using the plants we've tended out on a wetland restoration site in the future.
