Still, There are Blossoms

Aromatic Asters

Prairie Color in Asters © 2012 Bo Mackison

“What is seen by the eye is transformed and colored by the vision of the mind.” ~ Robert Wade

These asters are my favorite of all the asters. Not delicate and petite, but rather “in your face” and frazzled, full of the spirit that they require as one of the last flowering prairie plants of the autumn. They can manage a bit of stress, too. They can survive a mild frost easy enough, though once a hard frost hits, the prairie fades from golden and russet to deeper shades of brown. The flowers’ pale, shrivel, and drop upon the prairie earth.

So when I walk in the prairie as the season turns (officially) from summer to autumn, I always check on how the spirited, aromatic asters are doing. I smile at the bits of color left in the prairie, those blossoms of bright purple.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Walking in the prairie is a walk for the senses and a balm for the depleted soul.

Waiting for Silence

Prairie Rosinweed

Prairie Rosinweed © 2012 Bo Mackison

Waiting for Silence – A Poem

i listen
for the noise of daily life to subside;
for the voices in my head to quiet;
for the busyness of business to halt.

slowly i discover

silence is not…

absence

nothingness

absolute

Sun Salutation with Black Eyed Susans

Sun Salutation © 2012 Bo Mackison

silence is…

presence

cosmos

completion.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She takes photos constantly, and shares them daily. She writes poetry often, but shares it infrequently. Today she is on her way to the prairie again – her muse for both photography and words.

Tall Grass Prairie Wildflowers

New England Asters

New England Asters © 2008

The last show of wildflowers in the prairies are in bloom. The prairies are full and thick, now beginning to yellow a bit. The New England Asters are easily cultivated, and found in many gardens, but they are especially handsome in the thickets of grasses on the prairie.

Rosin Weed

Rosin Weed © 2008

What a name for one of the most perfect prairie wildflowers I’ve seen in a long time! Rosin Weed is an excellent flower for the prairie, and used extensively in prairie restorations as it is attractive to bees, butterflies and birds.  Its sap contains resin which was once used as a chewing gum. (Ick – I’d rather have peppermint myself.)

Blue Vervain

Blue Vervain © 2008

This would be an easy flower to miss, except it grows so tall the flowers tend to stick out over many of the shorter grasses. The Blue Vervain flowers themselves are tiny – less than 1/4″ wide – but the plant stands up to 6 feet tall.

Vervain was a popular plant, well-known for its many medicinal uses – made into a brew and used as a tonic, an aphrodisiac, and a sedative. Centuries ago it was hung on European peasants’ doorways to ward off the devil and other evildoers, and it was worn as an amulet to bring good luck.

Wonders in the Tall Grass Prairie

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Path through a Tall Grass Prairie © 2008

A path leads through a small segment of a tall grass prairie. Oak savannas are spreading into the prairie in the background. This prairie will have a prescribed burn next year.

Fire plays an important role in managing prairies, just as it has been a natural and frequent occurrence on the grasslands for thousands of years. The prairie flowers, grasses and animals all rely on the burning, which prevents invasion by larger shrubs and trees, and removes most of the accumulation of mulch that typically smothers the growth of the small prairie plants, some nearly microbial in size.

Gayfeathers

Marsh Gay-feather, A.K.A. Marsh Blazing Star © 2008

This late season prairie wildflower, Liatris spicata, blooms from the top down, instead of the more common bottom to top growing pattern. It is a favorite of many species of butterflies. It is a rather spectacular plant, ranging in height from 2 to 4 feet tall.  In fall, the deep brown seed head attracts dozens of yellow finches for a dramatic show. It is more common the further east you travel, though it was once abundant in southern Wisconsin.

Native Americans and early settlers considered the plant an important commodity due to its medicinal properties as well as its nutritional use. The Lakotas ground its roots to make an appetite stimulant, and also ate the entire plant to treat heart ailments. it was said to strengthen the “bound muscle with poor rhythm.” The plants’ corms were also used the Lakotas, as well as by other tribes and early settlers, as winter food.

Big Bluestem Grasses

Big Bluestem Grasses © 2008

The big bluestem is the tallest of the grasses, waving upwards of 8 to 10 feet tall. It is also referred to as turkey-foot grass, as the grass often splits into threes near its top.

There are five very well adapted perennial grasses which predominate the tall grass prairie or grassland biome: big bluestem, little bluestem, Indian grass, switch grass, and prairie dropseed. This woven masterpiece of fibers, which thread themselves together in a protective matting, allows the prairie and its smaller plants and animals to survive threatening winds, fires, drought, and prolonged, harsh winters.

I think there is nothing lovelier than walking through a tall grass prairie at this time of year, the winds gently pushing the tall stems above my head, and searching in the yellow-brown for purple asters, sunflowers and other late wildflowers – the harbingers of autumn.

Sunny Yellow Prairie Flower

Sweet Coneflower © 2008

This is a close cousin of the black-eyed Susan, the foliage is firmer and the plant tends to grow taller, up to 4 1/2 feet in height.  The name comes from the plant’s perfumery – rather a sweet anise- or vanilla-scent lingers when the leaves are crushed.