Downy Wood Mint,
Blephilia ciliata, is the first of the summer flowers on the Blue Jay Barrens prairies. This plant seems to be having an exceptional year and is blooming in incredible numbers. If other flowers follow this pattern, it’s going to be an amazing summer.
The emergence of Great Spangled Fritillaries has coincided with the blooming of the Wood Mint. This attractive butterfly emerged in record numbers last year. It is one of the easiest of butterflies to photograph. There’ve been times when I’ve had to shoo them away in order to get a shot of the flower.
Downy Wood Mint is normally described as being a plant of dry woods, but at Blue Jay Barrens they are more commonly plants of the open fields and thrive anywhere from the dry open ridge tops to the moist areas at the base of the slopes. By the time the tall grasses begin to over top it, the Wood Mint will have its seed nearly matured.
The flowers are arranged in whorls near the top of the stalk. It kind of reminds me of a modern high rise apartment building. The very similar Hairy Wood Mint normally shows more separation between the whorls.
The 30 inch stem is sparsely populated with narrow leaves. The nearly stalkless leaves are another differentiation from the Hairy Wood Mint that has long stalked leaves. The stem is classic mint, displaying four flat sides, with a coating of short hairs that give it a velvet like appearance.
Seeds may well be the most fascinating part of a plant. Each seed has the potential to become a new plant and producing new plants is the ultimate measure of success for any plant population. These urn shaped structures contain hundreds of Blueheart seeds ready to make their own way in the world.
This is the start of the peak seed ripening season. I believe more seed matures during September and October than any other time of the year. Some of the prairie browns are the result of plants drying out in preparation for releasing their crop of seed.
Rose Pink, so showy early in the year, is loaded with pods of ripening seed. Some still show a strong green coloration, but others have turned brown and are beginning to split open.
Heads of the Wood Mint have turned a chocolate brown and are loaded with seed.
Green Milkweed pods will begin splitting in a couple of weeks. The large podded species of milkweeds are loaded with Milkweed Bugs busily consuming the seeds. For some reason, the bugs seldom bother with the Green Milkweed. Maybe the Green Milkweed loses fewer seeds to predators and that’s why it seems to spread so easily.
Side Oats Gramma is displaying stalks loaded with seed. This is my favorite prairie grass. Even though it appears to be a very delicate grass, Side Oats survives the toughest growing conditions. This was my grass of choice when I began my Prairie Garden. I now have a nice stand of this grass in front of my house and annually enjoy the various growth stages of this wonderful species.
