Dancing on the Prairie

Purple Coneflowers

Purple Coneflowers © 2008 Bo Mackison

Pale Purple Coneflowers.

Bridal Flower

Bridal Flower © 2008 Bo Mackison

Like a blushing bride waiting

Dancing in the Prairie

Dancing in the Prairie © 2008 Bo Mackison

or dancer of the hula in the gentlest of breezes.

Showy Goat’s Beard

Showy Goat's Beard

Showy Goat’s Beard © 2008 Bo Mackison

This wildflower, also known as Meadow Salsify, blooms from May through August in Eastern Canada and the Northeastern and Midwestern regions of the United States. It is a flower that literally follows the sun, a true sun-worshiper. The blossoms only open on sunny mornings and as they do they turn to face the sun. They close by noon as protection against the harsher mid-day sun,but then open the next sunny day.

Goat's Beard Going to Seed

Goat’s Beard Going to Seed © 2008 Bo Mackison

The plant’s white, plumed seeds form a puffball that is especially fluffy, hence the name of the flower – goat’s beard. Native Americans used the sap of the plant – a thick, milky substance – as chewing gum. The tap root can be cooked like a parsnip or roasted to make a coffee-substitute. Even the leaves are edible – either raw in salads or cooked.

Devil’s Paintbrush

Orange Hawkweed

Orange Hawkweed © 2008 Bo Mackison

Orange Hawkweed is often referred to as Devil’s Paintbrush. It was named so by farmers, who see the weedy flower as being a troublesome beauty. It naturalized from Europe, probably in the 17th century mixed in with seed crops, and spreads quite aggressively and quickly, so it is considered ecologically invasive.

Ox Eye Daisies and Orange Hawkweed

Ox Eye Daisies and Orange Hawkweed © 2008 Bo Mackison

It’s orange color, making it stand out against the many yellow flowers found blooming at this time, adds to the open prairie’s color, but also chokes out native plants that cannot compete. The Hawkweed secretes a toxic substance that inhibits many flowers from growing very near.

Obviously the equally invasive ox-eye daisy doesn’t mind too much. How come so many of the flowers I see seem to be of the invasive sort? I have noticed over the years – I’ve been cataloguing wildflowers in Wisconsin since 1977 – that I am seeing the native flowers, but many in lesser numbers.

Orange Hawkweed Buds

Orange Hawkweed Buds © 2008 Bo Mackison

Here is the Orange Hawkweed in bud. It does make for a rather fancy weed. Its flowers are short lasting, each blossom lasting only one day.

These photos were taken along the shoreline of Green Bay in Peninsula State Park near Fish Creek, Wisconsin. The over-welcome visitors are being monitored by park rangers, and so far 3 flowers have made the removal list. (Garlic Mustard, Eurasian Honeysuckle and Phragmites)

Wildflowers Blooming in the Prairies

Spiderwort

Spiderwort ©2008 Bo Mackison

Spiderwort is a common plant throughout Wisconsin, blooms from now until September. If you want to enjoy this flower, you have to visit before mid-day and each flower only lasts one day. It becomes droopy in the afternoon, and shrivels and disappears into a sticky, liquified mass by nightfall.

Bitsy Yellow Hearts All 'Round

Bitsy Yellow Hearts All ‘Round ©2008 Bo Mackison

The Prairie Rose is another frequent Wisconsin flower, blooms from late May through late July. I love it under a macro lens – lots of bitsy yellow hearts spring out of its center.  In late summer, the flower heads transform into rose hips which are small, edible fruits. They stay on the plant through the winter and provide food  for birds and small mammals during the snowy months.

Native Americans collected the hips and used them medicinally, often as a treatment for headaches or stomach problems. The Native Americans and early pioneers used the wild rose for food, and a “health food” at that. Rose hips have 24 times more Vitamin C per unit than orange juice.  People still collect the hips for vitamin supplements, the rose petals for rose petal soup and rose petal jam is also made using a combination of the petals and lemon.

White Wild Indigo

White Wild Indigo ©2008 Bo Mackison

This is the White Wild Indigo plant. It rises 3 to 6 feet from the prairie floor and is currently waving its long flower covered spires across the prairie landscape.  The sap of the wild indigo has a blue dye and was often used as a substitute for the true indigo plant. It was also used as a treatment for lung diseases by Native Americans in the northcentral United States, though in larger quantities it is poisonous.

Columbines in the Garden

Red Columbine

Red Columbine ©2008 Bo Mackison

I have collected seed from these columbine plants and grown them every year since I have had a home of my own. The original plants were cultivated by my grandfather in Illinois. I gathered seeds from his plants beginning in 1979 and have grown them in several gardens in Milwaukee and Madison.

Wild Columbine

Wild Columbine © 2008 Bo Mackison

They bloom from late May through early July and are a favorite with long-tongued bees and the hummingbirds.

Red Columbine

Columbine © 2008 Bo Mackison

Even the bumblebees get in the act to get the nectar, though they cheat. Since they can’t reach the nectar because of the columbine’s long slender tubes, they bite holes in the ends of the spurs to get some of the sweet stuff. More than one way to beat Mother Nature . . .