The thing about the prairie is this: It is a continual procession of colors and plant shapes and sizes from earliest spring until latest fall when only the bottle gentians, hiding in secret places (but I know where they are), are newly in bloom. Even in the dead of winter when the palette has fewer colors on it the shades are infinite.
The more you look and the more carefully you observe the more there is to see. A prairie may be the greatest show on earth, although it usually gets lesser billing. Too bad there's so little of it left.
The maximilian sunflowers (Helianthus maximiliani) down at Pin Oak are just on the verge of breaking into full bloom. It's going to be quite a performance this year so come on down! We've still got egrets and cormorants and herons and I spooked a white-tail heading back to the truck just as the sun was setting a night or two ago.
Not a goose or a duck in sight right around here, however, and that had put the master hunter who walked down to watch the egrets come in with me last night in a bleak mood since the seasons open soon. Most likely they'll arrive soon. But for the moment, those of us who hunt sunflowers with cameras have the advantage.
1 comment:
My parents have planted several patches of prairie around the farm but none within walking distance. I've always thought that when I get a place of my own, it is going to have a patch of prairie nearby. I just love the tall prairie grasses and multitudes of flowers.
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