Some Prairie Flowers

Spring time color appears more slowly on the prairies than it does in the woods.  The first really noticeable display comes from the Hoary Puccoon.  These bright yellow-orange flowers truly herald the beginning of the prairie flower show.

Hoary Puccoon is one species among many short statured prairie plants that must hurry its development early in the spring season in order to complete the flowering and pollination stage before becoming overgrown by the tall grasses.

A seasonal favorite is the White Blue-eyed Grass.  The bloom is small in size, but highly noticeable among the dead stalks of last year’s grasses.

Flower color trends towards white, but some blue or purple markings are not uncommon and some blooms may exhibit a light blue shade.  Even the bluest examples of White Blue-eyed Grass are far lighter than the other species.

A close examination of the plant clearly shows the resemblance between these members of the Iris Family and their common flower bed relatives.  The amazing thing is that the thin, flattened stems have the strength to remain upright.  I always imagine that the first strong gust of wind will lay them all down.

The first of the Wood Betony plants are just beginning to bloom.  This plant is somewhat parasitic on other plants.  It is most common along the margins of prairie openings where it would have a chance at parasitizing tree roots.  I don’t know the full list of possible host plants.  I’m assuming that its occurrence among a wide range of plant communities means that there are many possible hosts.

One of the smallest of the current bloomers is the Fringed Houstonia.  This plant attains a height of only a few inches and does that in the small openings between the tall grass plants. You might note a close family resemblance to the common Bluets.

It’s bad enough that the plant is so small, but some of the key diagnostic features are almost impossible to see with the unaided eye.  Tiny hairs around the margins of the basal leaves are this guy’s claim to fame.  Early season prairie wildflowers are always numerous the year following a wet season.  I’m expecting big things out of the prairies this year.

Prairie Garden - Old Part - Early April

Growth in the Prairie Garden is proceeding at a rapid rate.  Plants are roughly a month ahead of where they were last year.  The old portion of the Prairie Garden was mowed the first week of February and we’ve had above normal temperatures during the two months since then.  Plants that take their growth cues from soil temperature have emerged at a time when the top growth is still at risk from damage by a frost or freeze.  I know from experience that some of these plants cannot handle freezing and there will be a die-back of top growth when we get a frost.

The most obvious plant in the Prairie Garden at this time is the Western Sunflower.  These plants often survive the winter as a cluster of green basal leaves, so it’s not surprising that they take off as soon as the spring temperatures allow. 

Western Sunflower is an aggressive plant and will soon spread to take over just about any area.  It does produce viable seed, but most of the rapid expansion is through far reaching rhizomes that produce new plants.  The result is a large colony of clones. 

The grasses are coming on very quickly.  I’m wondering if the grasses will give more competition to the early blooming flowers.  This is a clump of Side-oats Gramma, which normally stays very short until the mid-summer months.

The leaves of the False Aloe are rapidly elongating.  These plants will produce flower stalks this year if they are not knocked back by a freeze.  At this stage they are highly susceptible to damage by a hard frost.

Purple Coneflower plants are showing some luxurious growth.

My population of Wild Nodding Onion still hasn’t increased in number.  The only plants I have are those protected by the wire cage.  Most of the seed produced by these plants has been scattered back into the garden, but no more plants have emerged.  I don’t know if the seeds are failing to germinate or if predators are eating the plants as quickly as they develop. 

The first Prairie Garden bloom this year is the Hoary Puccoon.  This is an early plant that is pretty much on schedule, but it usually doesn’t have all of this competing growth to deal with.

These young plants remain unidentified at the moment.  I’ll keep a watch on them until they reach a stage where I can either run them through the keys or I recognize what they are.  It’s not unusual for me to be baffled by a young plant in its early stages of growth.  One reason for this garden is to allow me to watch things grow on a day-to-day basis, so that I’ll be able to identify a plant the minute it sticks leaves above the ground.