The Year in the Ground — A Wood of One's Own

Tailored to SE Wisconsin · Ozaukee Co. · Zone 5b
Every plant on the property, mapped across the twelve months. Green is bloom, gold is when the fruit or food is ready to eat, and rust is when to collect seed. Split cells mean two things happen in the same month. Timing runs a week or two behind Madison/Milwaukee-proper references because of the river-bottom cold pocket — read the edges as "early in a warm year, late in a cold one."

Bloom

Bloom (edge / tentative)

Edible harvest

Seed collection

Native Wildflowers & Forbs

Plant	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D	Notes
Butterfly weedAsclepias tuberosa													Pods split Sept — brown seed. Leave 1 pod per 10.
Common milkweedAsclepias syriaca													DNR window Sept 1–30 for your counties. Young shoots/pods edible cooked.
Swamp milkweedAsclepias incarnata													Same brown-seed signal as the others.
Wild columbineAquilegia canadensis													Capsules tip down, black seed rattles out. Easy.
Prairie smokeGeum triflorum													Collect at the "smoke" plume stage in June — disperses fast.
Golden AlexandersZizia aurea													Seed darkens July. Edibility uncertain — toxic look-alikes.
Great blue lobeliaLobelia siphilitica													Tiny seed in dry capsules — collect Oct.
Cardinal flowerLobelia sp.													Collect Oct when capsules brown.
Blue-stemmed goldenrodSolidago caesia													Fluffy-seed signal; one of the latest bloomers.
New England asterSymphyotrichum novae-angliae													Wait for white pappus, then pull. Last major nectar.
Wild bergamotMonarda fistulosa													Leaves make a good tea. Seed heads brown Sept.
Foxglove beardtonguePenstemon digitalis													Dry brown capsules Aug, tiny seed.
Creeping Jacob's ladderPolemonium reptans													Woodland shade bloomer; seed June–July.
Wild spotted geraniumGeranium maculatum 'Dark Roast'													Capsules spring-launch seed — bag them or check daily.
YarrowAchillea sp.													Flat brown seed heads Aug–Sept.
ConeflowersEchinacea sp. / Cheyenne Spirit													Dry cones, break apart (gloves). Hybrid seed won't come true.
Dense blazing starLiatris spicata													Collect fluffy heads when tan, Sept–Oct.

Prairie Anchors · Grasses · Sedges

Plant	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D	Notes
Compass plantSilphium laciniatum													Large seed Sept–Oct; birds/chipmunks strip it fast.
Prairie dockSilphium terebinthinaceum													Watch heads closely as they brown.
Prairie dropseedSporobolus heterolepis													Fragrant seed shatters — catch as it ripens.
Fox sedgeCarex vulpinoidea													Sedge "bloom" is inconspicuous; seed early summer.
Pennsylvania sedgeCarex pensylvanica													Early spring pollen; seed late spring. Spreads by rhizome anyway.
Creeping thymeThymus sp.													Culinary leaves anytime. Grown from divisions, not seed.

Ferns (ostrich, cinnamon, lady) produce spores, not seed or bloom — omitted here; they're structure, not calendar events.

Native Shrubs & Keystone Trees

Plant	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D	Notes
Pussy willowSalix discolor													Earliest bloom on the property. Propagate by cutting, not seed.
ServiceberryAmelanchier × grandiflora													Edible June — "Juneberry," genuinely good. Birds compete hard.
Black chokeberryAronia melanocarpa													Edible late Aug–Sept — astringent raw; juice/jam/syrup.
ButtonbushCephalanthus occidentalis													Not edible. Seed "buttons" hold into winter — collect Oct–Nov.
Winterberry (♂ + ♀)Ilex verticillata													Berries toxic to people — for birds. Fruit holds Oct–Mar.
Purple leaf sand cherryPrunus × cistena													Sparse tiny fruit for birds; not a food crop.

Naturally Occurring Native Canopy

Plant	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D	Notes
American plumPrunus americana													Edible Aug–Sept — tart, great jam. Most reliable native fruit here.
ChokecherryPrunus virginiana													Jelly/syrup Aug — never raw, don't crush pits (toxic).
Black cherry (mature)Prunus serotina													Fruit edible (jelly/wine) but high in canopy. Keystone wildlife tree.
Swamp white oakQuercus bicolor													Acorns Sept–Oct; sow immediately (no dry storage). Wildlife mast.
BoxelderAcer negundo													Samaras persist into fall/winter. Volunteer freely anyway.
ElmUlmus sp.													Early bloom + spring seed drop; samaras ripen fast May.

Fruit Trees & Edibles

Plant	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D	Notes
PeachPrunus persica													Ripe late Aug–Sept. Self-fertile; frost can wipe the bloom.
PearPyrus sp.													Sept–Oct. Pick slightly under-ripe, finish off-tree.
Montmorency cherryPrunus cerasus													Early–mid July. Self-fertile. Net or birds clear it in days.
Plum (Walmart)Prunus sp.													Aug–Sept. Bloom timing shifts w/ unresolved species ID.
BlueberryVaccinium sp.													July–Aug, staggered by variety. 'Pink Lemonade' ripens later.
BlackberryRubus sp.													Late July–Aug.
GrapeVitis sp.													Sept–Oct. Inconspicuous but fragrant bloom.
MulberryMorus sp.													June–July. Drops over weeks; messy but abundant.
Fig 'Figomenal'Ficus carica													Late summer–fall IF it fruits. No true bloom; 5b survival unresolved.
LavenderLavandula sp.													Culinary buds harvested just as they open, July.

Chosen Ornamentals

Plant	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D	Notes
Japanese mapleAcer palmatum													Tiny red bloom; samaras collectable fall if you want seedlings.
Persian lilacSyringa × persica													Fragrant May bloom. Hybrid — sterile/rarely sets seed; grow from cuttings.
'Millennium' onionAllium sp.													Two-month summer bloom. Sterile cultivar — divide, don't seed.
Cheyenne Spirit coneflowerEchinacea hybrid													Seed collectable but won't come true from a hybrid.

⚑ How to read the edges

The April–May window is your bottleneck. Willow, elm, plums, cherries, serviceberry, columbine, and prairie smoke all overlap — that's a lot of collection and bloom-watching packed into six weeks. Front-load your attention there.

September is the heaviest single month. Nearly every native forb sets seed while the milkweeds, Silphiums, and fruit crops all come due. Block out real time.

The genuine August nectar gap is thin between the Silphium/Liatris peak and the aster/goldenrod finish — white turtlehead and boneset (on your want-list) would bridge it exactly.

Seed-storage split: most dry forb seed keeps dry in envelopes over winter; but oak acorns and any fleshy fruit seed (plum, cherry, aronia, serviceberry) can't be dry-stored — fall-sow immediately or cold-moist stratify.

Elsewhere in the Companion Library

This annual calendar is the near view. For the decade-scale plan — how the wood matures over years — see The Long Haul. See also A Wood of One’s Own (the field guide) and Soil & Potting Notes. ↩ Back to the library