Marsh Marigolds grow along prairie streams, on floodplains where they are often accompanied by skunk cabbage, at the edges of prairie potholes, and are great native plants for the edge of the home pond.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Solomon's Seal
Solomon's Seal as it unfurls in the spring. Note the hint of flower buds where the leaf joins the stem.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
What Season Is It?
As proof certain that the real seasons are unrelated to the calendar seasons, it is snowing outside for the third time since the Vernal Equinox on March 20 at 05:48UTC. Actually, it is more of a srain at this point, because the great big snowclumps that were being driven at a significant angle just moments ago are now falling straight down because they seem to be heavier due to being partly melted. But that could change any minute now.
I don't care that much. I am leaving on Spring Break in a couple days and for now, I have my cheater branches. Techinically it is called 'forcing' but I prefer to think of it as bribing. You know. where you bring branches indoors and give them warm air and water for their feet and watch their little buds unfurl magically and grow into huge wonderful green things? So it may be dark and . . . white . . . out there but I have my little bit of green right here in my kitchen!
Pale Purple Coneflower in Prairie Dropseed
Pale Purple ConeflowerEchinacea pallida
Prairie Dropseed
Sporobolus heteroleptis
Recreated prairie in mid June
At the Olbrich Botanical Garden in landscaping in June, 2012
White Wild Indigo
White Wild IndigoBaptisia leucantha
Foliage 24" to 30" tall
Flower stalks 30" to 42" tall
Blue green foliage stands out from green of other prairie plants
Flowers followed by deep blue black pods
Prairie Front Yard Landscaping
Prairie Plants in Place of Front LawnSpiderwort
Coreopsis
Prairie Dropseed
and other short forbs 
Natural Variety in Flower Form of Pale Purple Coneflower
Pale Purple Coneflower
Echinacea pallida
Natural variety of flower form in open pollinated plants
Prairie Dropseed
Prairie Dropseed
Sporobolus heteroleptis
Foliage 15" to 24" tall
Flower/Seed Stalk 24" to 36" tall
Pale Purple Coneflower in a Restored Prairie
Pale Purple ConeflowerEchinacea pallida
Priaire Dropseed
Sporobolus heteroleptis
Mid June
Prairie Under Restoration
Layered appearance of bands of prairie grasses and forbs in a prairie under restoration
Prairie Dropseed
Prairie Dropseed
Sporobolus heteroleptis
15" to 18" tall
Turns yellow in fall.
Mound of very fine arching grass with upright light airy seed heads that are fragrant, reminding one of buttered popcorn.
Salt tolerant.
An excellent grass for the edge between turf and prairie garden.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Poison Ivy
Poison ivy is a native vine. The oil from bruised leaves causes a rash on the skin. On exposure, wash immediately, preferably with an oil-cutting dish soap like Dawn. Birds eat the berries in the late fall and winter. The fall color is a beautiful orange. The plant can be a low ground cover, a below height bushy shrub, a waist high bushy shrub, or a vine. It often appears along paths as a spindly tall shrub because it has been brushed into and worn back.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Green Dragon
Green Dragon
Asarum draconitum
15" tall leaf with 24" flower
Uncommon relative to Jack in the Pulpit
Savanna shade wildflower
Wild Quinine
Wild Quinine
Parthenium integrifolium
3' flat topped flower cluster over 2' cluster of long oval leaves
Long flowering period
Rattlesnake Master
Rattlesnake Master
Eryngium yuccifolium
Flower 3' tall
Leaves 2' tall
Yes, these white 'balls' are the flower clusters of this pretty stately plant. The leaves are pretty on their own, a blue-green that stands out nicely from other green-green foliage. Because the ball is a cluster of individual white flowers that mature into individual seed over time and then linger on into winter, these have the appearance of a very long bloom time.
Wild Senna
Wild Senna
Cassia hebecarpa
Yellow flower at top of plant
3' to 6' tall
Upright dense plant of fine texture foliage makes an excellent shrub substitute in the natural landscape
Prairie Dock Flower Stalk
Prairie Dock
Silphuim laciniatum
5' to 6' tall stiff unbranched stalks tower over 2' tall basal rosette of deeply divided lobed leaves.
Mountain Mint in Very Late Fall
Mountain Mint
Pycnanthemum virginianum
Seeds atop plants turning from summer green to winter dried brown
The silvery buttons of seed heads persist into winter
Dutchman's Britches
Dutchman's Britches
Dicentra cucullaria
A spring wildflower found in the shade of the savanna
Bloodroot
Bloodroot
Sanguinaria canadense
A woodland wildflower commonly found in the shade of the savanna in the springtime.
Liverwort
Liverwort
Hepatica acutiloba
A spring wildflower of the woodlands, Liverwort can also be found in the shade under the trees of the savanna
May Apple
Mayapple
Podopphyllum peltatum
12" to 15" tall
Spring
Grows in the shade to part shade under the savanna trees
Ragweeds
The ragweeds are some of the worse offenders to hayfever sufferers. They produce copious amounts of pollen, as can be seen by the swollen yellowish stalks of the Giant Ragweed below. They are weeds of disturbed areas, especially the edges of agricultural fields and unmaintained properties, but cannot compete with true perennials, including prairie plants. Goldenrod flowers at the peak of the ragwood flowering season, and since the green flowers of the ragweed are inconspicuous compared to the brazen Goldenrods, blame for the pollen is misplaced.
Pollen that is light enough to be windborn is released by green flowers, such as these ragweeds and many trees, while pollen that is too heavy to be carried on the wind is held in flowers with showy colors that attract pollinating insects.
Giant Ragweed
From 4' to 8' tall with large leaves
Pollen that is light enough to be windborn is released by green flowers, such as these ragweeds and many trees, while pollen that is too heavy to be carried on the wind is held in flowers with showy colors that attract pollinating insects.
Giant RagweedFrom 4' to 8' tall with large leaves
Common Ragweed
3' to 4' tall
Common Milkweed
Common Milkweed
Asclepias syriaca
Frequent host to Monarch Butterfly larvae and other larvae and beetles
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