Robert Allerton Park in Piatt county hosts over 1,090 species of plants and sixty species of breeding birds.  The Sangamon river floodplain is the perfect environment for a variety of flowers including cardinal flowers, Dutchman’s breeches, spring beauty, wild geranium and blue-eyed Mary (pictured above).

Allerton Park is featured in Exploring Nature in Illinois: A Field Guide to the Prairie State. Throughout the book naturalists Michael Jeffords and Susan Post invite you to discover fifty preserves, forests, restoration areas, and parks in the Land of Lincoln.

Each Wednesday we’ll preview some of the unexpected beauty of Illinois’s prairies, lakesides, river bottoms, and woodlands found within the book. . . . just in time for you to plan a weekend trip.

You’ll find maps and descriptions of these wild places in Illinois, including many hard-to-find sites, within the pages of the book.