Description: Please join us for a tour of a 2+ acre restored prairie in Bull Valley! The walk will be on Sunday, July 20, 2025 at the property of Mike Gallery and Donna Hriljac. Walks will begin at 11am and 1pm. Mike and Donna write: Our prairie restoration work encompasses 2 1/4 acres. We began restoring in 2017. Initially we were faced with little more than Hungarian Brome, an invasive grass from Europe, in our 2 acre section and plain old lawn grass in the 1/4 acre backyard section. So starting from scratch, we burned the brome in the 2 acre piece, we worked to remove invasives like honeysuckle and buckthorn and we cut all manner of out-of-control growths like dogwood, autumn olives and an overabundance of walnut trees. With that complete, we seeded the first acre in 2018 with the Pollinator Palooza seed mix from Prairie Moon Nursery in Minnesota.
After a two year break, we seeded our 1/4 acre backyard in 2020 with a Shortgrass Woods Edge seed mix and seeded the second acre of the 2 acre piece in 2021 again using the Pollinator Palooza seed mix. The result of this staggered seeding is that we have 2 1/4 acres of prairies in different stages of development. When we host our garden walk, one acre will be 7 years old, the other acre will be 4 years old and our backyard 1/4 acre project will also be 4 years old. This results in the opportunity for some interesting comparisons about one acre’s plants versus the other’s versus the backyard’s mix. In July, we expect a wide variety of plants to be flowering on all sections. We welcome anyone who is interested in prairie restoration for their yards or communities or is just curious!
This yard walk is free of charge and no pre-registration is required. The walk is not an open house. Guided tours led by the homeowners will begin at 11am and 1pm.
Directions: 7911 Bennington Court, Bull Valley, IL, 60098. Take Bull Valley Rd to S. Valley Hill Rd. Turn north (left turn coming from Woodstock, right turn from McHenry). Turn right onto Concord Dr, go for 0.3 miles. Turn left at the “T” intersection to stay on Concord. After 0.5 miles, turn left again onto N. Concord Dr, go for 270 feet. Turn right on Bennington Ct.
