In a topsy-turvy gardening season, when June clematis are blooming in August, an Iowa favorite known as Naked Ladies have finally made an appearance. Also known as surprise lilies among other names, the perennial flowers possess an astounding synchronicity, blooming at the same time throughout the region. For the past several years, they have popped […]
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Tag: Iowa
Photos: 2019 Czech Village Blues
CEDAR RAPIDS — Perfect weather provided ideal accompaniment for the third annual Czech Village Blues. An enthusiastic crowd filled a good portion of 16th Avenue SW, where the stage was set due to ongoing construction of flood protection around Sokol Park, where last year’s festival was centered. The 2019 Czech Village Blues, hosted by the […]
Quaint Iowa town hosts vibrant Czech cel...
Like many small Iowa towns, Clutier helps keep its community alive with an annual celebration. With a population of just over 200 people, Clutier is located in east-central Iowa, in an area fondly dubbed the “Bohemian Alps” and more formally as the Scenic Czech Trail. Related: Find three cultures along the Iowa Valley Scenic Byway […]
Cedar Rapids neighborhood: “We’re litera
UPDATE: Following a public hearing, the Cedar Rapids City Council will vote Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2019, on allowing Cargill to build a railyard in a residential neighborhood. Unlike the typical rezoning measures that require the council to vote three times, designating an “essential service” allows the council to only vote once. The meeting is at […]
Nature watch: cicada emergence
Large-scale cicada emergence, with periodical broods crawling out of the ground every 13 or 17 years, capture widespread attention when tens of thousands can mob en masse onto a single tree. But even one cicada, emerging from its shell, is fascinating in itself. Related Cicadas: Sounds of summer The process can take an hour. Cicada […]
Photos: Presidential field at Progress I...
CEDAR RAPIDS – Thousands of Iowans withstood sweltering heat to hear from nearly half of potential Democratic presidential candidates during the fifth annual Progress Iowa Corn Feed on Sunday, July 14. Though initially with 12 confirmed candidates, two didn’t make the event: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who left Iowa to address a […]
Celebrating 150 years: Photos of Czech S...
CEDAR RAPIDS — In its early years, the Czech School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, ended sessions with an ice cream social, a tradition that continues today. Past students recalled the socials held along the banks of the Cedar River, behind the school on Second Street SE. The school building is no longer used for Czech […]
Cicadas: sounds of summer
The buzzing of cicadas provides the quintessential sounds of a midsummer’s night in Iowa. A bulk of periodical cicadas, which emerge en masse every 17 years, is scheduled to make an appearance in Iowa again in 2031, but annual cicadas can be heard every summer in many parts of the state. Entomologist Donald Lewis, of […]
Photos: 2019 Freedom Festival Parade
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Sultry weather didn’t appear to diminish the crowds or spirits of the participants in Saturday’s Freedom Festival Parade. Temperatures that reached the 90s, teamed with high humidity, led some families to stake out shade along the route through New Bohemia and Czech Village as early as two hours before the parade’s […]
Iowa’s record low winter temperatures no
(UPDATE: A short-lived reprieve; first two Japanese beetles of the season spotted on our raspberry bushes on June 26.) The first Japanese beetles of the season are typically spotted around this time in east-central Iowa, but so far there appear to be no signs of the voracious invaders, at least in our Cedar Rapids gardens. […]