This week in the prairie, our Echinacea Project researchers are sporting the accessory of twist ties! These little colored loops may not look like much, but they play a big role in helping us track genetic crosses. By labeling individual flower heads, we can monitor pollen movement and parentage across plants. Each twist tie is a data point in our effort to understand the survival and fitness of the Angustifolia, Pallida, and their hybrid crosses in fragmented prairie populations.

Meanwhile, I’ve been keeping a close eye on my Comandra transplant experiment. I’m happy to report that several new plants have started sprouting! Unfortunately, all the transplanted Comandra plants have died. I’ll be collecting more observations to evaluate which conditions are supporting the best growth.