Words can't describe the strong sense of freedom I feel driving along a strait township road or walking through a knee-high prairie filled with little bluestem, western wheatgrass, and switchgrass. The echos of harriers in the distance as natures wind chimes (bobolinks) sing all around are sounds everybody should experience.
As you Ohioans are searching for some late spring bloomers, I took a look around a native prairie for some early flowers here in ND. Here's a short list of some of the plants I found.
- Hoary puccoon (Lithospermum canescens)
- Small-leaved pussytoes (Antennaria parvifolia)
- Hunt's bumblebee (Bombus huntii) pollenating a field milk vetch
- Narrow-leaved stoneseed (Lithospermum incisum)
- Prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) getting ready to burst.
Hi Mike...real beauties you have photos of here!!
ReplyDeleteIt seems your really enjoying yourself here in ND.
Great post, Mike. It will be interesting to compare and contrast the species composition to ND and Ohio's prairies. We have the Lithospermum canescens in many of southern Ohio's prairie openings as well.
ReplyDeleteLove the Nuttall's Violet, I'm a Viola freak and I've yet to see that one. I got the chance to see some Prairie Smoke a few summers ago in Minnesota. I wish it made it as far east as Ohio, such a cool looking bloomer!
...especially love the last shot, and the thirteen-lined ground squirrel in the previous post! ND is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI'm still looking for canescens in H.C. and the Hunt's shot is awesome!
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