The prairies are in bloom and it's been a lot of fun watching mother nature work its miracles. I have four to five favorite areas I check on through-out the week, plus the few beds we have here at home and they all seem to be doing well this year.
Another thing that they have in common are the ticks , gnats and mosquitoes. Every year they are a problem but it seems this year everyone is commenting on them. Usually when a prairie is burned in the spring the ticks seem to be less bothersome but not this year. The other evening I pulled off a total of five ticks- then I spent the rest of the evening itching.
For those of you with flower interests, the above flower ia a gray headed cone flower, the middle flower is a black eyed susan and the top flower is a mystery to me. If anyone knows its name- I would appreciate a heads up.
Thank you for stopping by and have a great week.
Hi Mike! Love the flowers...our pasture has been pretty tick free since burning this spring, but ya, the skeeters are awful!!!
The top flower is Ratibida columnifera...commonly refered to as just "prairie coneflower" or yellow coneflower. This flower does morf into nice colors of the petals other than yellow...like the one you shot. These (R. columifera) are hybridized for garden use because of this tendency and are often referred to as "Mexican Hats" in the nursery catalogs.
R. columnifera is native to this corner of the state and there is a native stand near our acreage...we have planted it in our pasture too!
FYI, the gray-headed coneflowers are the same family (Ratibida pinnata).
Posted by: Bruce Morrison | July 04, 2011 at 09:56 PM
Thank you Bruce, I had a feeling if anyone would know it would be you. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Posted by: journeyman | July 05, 2011 at 05:49 AM
I love it.:) will now follow you.^^,
Posted by: beach resorts philippines | July 06, 2011 at 10:04 PM
BRP: Thank you and thanks for taking time to leave a comment-always appreciated!
Posted by: journeyman | July 17, 2011 at 10:13 AM