Imagine being an early explorer walking through a thick wooded river valley, then up a steep hill and at the top of this hill seeing an endless sea of grasses and flowers un interrupted as far as you could see. This is what the explorers of the early times saw as they crossed the Mississippi River into the rolling hills of Iowa for the first time. Words such as “beautiful” and “breath-taking” were used when explorers traveled through the extensive tall grass prairies of Iowa. The photo above offers only a small piece of what all of Iowa used to look like. The only interruptions to the prairies were the occasional wooded steep river valleys that run like lightning bolts across the state from northwest to southeast. Much different then the sea of corn you see in Iowa today which is interrupted by more than just river valleys these days.

The past few weeks have shown nothing but pure beauty in the prairie as several flowers have bloomed adding so many color combinations. There are several flowers yet to bloom, but I would say we are at peak for the highest amount of flowers blooming at one time.

A Sea of Sunflowers is what it could be called as these Grayhead Coneflowers are just one of the many Sunflowers and Daisies that are blooming right now. Yellow Coneflower is abundant throughout the prairie and roadsides in Iowa.

Butterfly Weed is in full bloom and the orange color it gives off makes it extremely showy. These are becoming popular in the landscape world and are widely available at area garden centers and some come in other colors from what you see here, however orange is the native color type, it’s known for its ability to attract butterflies. It holds a special spot in my landscape because it was the plant chosen for my to do a large research report on in college.

This is an interesting plant in bloom. It’s called Rattlesnake Master. It has leaves like a succulent Yucca and the flowers look like you see here. They hold up well throughout the winter and has very nice winter interest. These have not quite caught on in retail horticulture at this time.

Monarda, Beebalm, Horsemint. It comes in many names but it all describes the same wonderful plant. This is one of the crown jewels of the prairie and it usually covers large areas which is the case along the prairie remnant where I found this one. It can also be found abundantly along road sides and ditches across Iowa. This is a very popular landscape plant, but you can usually find it in a dark red color instead of what is seen here. Please keep in mind this is a spreader and it likes space. I have a few and the hummingbirds love the funnel-shaped flowers.

 

The tall pink flower in front is a native pea flowering perennial. It seems to be on the rare side around here as I’ve only seen it in a couple spots.  In the back round is native Rudbeckia or Black Eyed Susan! It is found abundantly throughout Iowa especially along roadsides. It’s also one of the most popular landscape flowers that can be found and is easily found at area garden centers.

Purple Prairie Clover can be found throughout Iowa but it is on the rare side in the prairie remnant along the trail. I found this along the roadside. These are not widely available in retail horticulture.

I end this post with this photo of a beautiful prairie remnant filled with several flowers reminding us how beautiful the area we live in is! This is new remnant I noticed at the end of last month is along a rural  gravel roadside across the road from the one on the great western trail. It has a very wide variety of native flowers but not as many grasses as the one on the trail. I will talk more about this new find in future posts.

 

Are you interested in leaning more about using native grasses or native flowers in your landscape?

I will be teaching 2 free classes that will be held at Ted Lare Garden Center in Cumming, Iowa. One will have a piece on native grasses and another will be all about native plants. Spaces are limited and you will need to reserve a space early which you can do by going to the link I provided, information can be found below.

 

Grasses Class; Saturday July 18th 11AM- Ted Lare Garden Center Cumming Iowa ( Reserved Spaces Limited )

Native Plants for Iowa; Saturday July 25th 10am– Ted Lare Garden Center Cumming Iowa ( Reserved Spaces Limited )

 

For more Information on these classes visit Ted Lare Garden Center Website