Show your prairie plants

[Lori S.]

The subject said "Show your prairie plants", so here are some that occur across the Canadian prairies.
1-7) Penstemon nitidus, blooming in the front yard, on the south-facing slope.  It's locally native but I don't believe it's in bloom in the river valley yet.
8, 9) Viola canadensis var. rugulosa, also in the yard.
10) The Geum triflorum along the river are more vividly coloured than the ones I grow.

[Lori S.]

1, 2) Lithospermum ruderale is likely not too widely grown, though the flowers are quite attractive.  These are in bloom in the front yard, where it is a bit warmer, though not yet in the wild.
3, 4)  Buffalo-bean or golden bean, Thermopsis rhombifolia, in the grassy uplands along the river.
5, 6) Also, bastard toad-flax, Comandra umbellata.
7) A modest little Viola adunca in the wild, as compared to the much more robust ones in the yard (8 ).
9, 10) False solomon's seal, Smilacina stellata, forms groves where it occurs.

[Stephenb]

Lori: I discovered Viola canadensis last year - superb plant flowering practically all summer! How does rügulosa differ? (Not sure what rugulosa means - wrinkled perhaps like rugosus?).

[Lori S.]

Stephen, the variety rugulosa is the only variety of V. canadensis that I'm familiar with (it grows all across the prairies), so I have no comparison with other varieties, but the leaves are described in Moss and Packer as "rugulose", or slightly wrinkled, so I assume that's what distinguishes it.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=VICA4

[Ragged Robin]

Lori, can you tell me what soil Viola canadensis likes?  It really is lovely with the tiny flower over a heart-shaped leaf and looks fabulous as tree/woodland skirting as in your photo.

Your yard full of Penstemon nitidus looks spectacular - does it flower for long?

[Lori S.]

Robin, typical prairie soil is alkaline, but I don't know whether V. canadensis is at all fussy about it.  It is a bit rhizomatous/stoloniferous(?), and spreads around but not too rampantly.  
I was hoping to refer to my photo library to tell you more precisely how long Penstemon nitidus blooms, but it looks like I only go nuts with the camera at the start of the bloom!  Anyway, I think it's safe to say I get at least a month of bloom from it here in the yard.

[Ragged Robin]

Lori, thanks for the info and the photos - I love the wild feeling in a garden at this time of year with random colour schemes that are like waves 

[arillady]

I have just noticed this thread. Mention of the Texas roadside natives reminds me of when I was in Texas. My host stopped on the roadside and I was able to photograph at least 12 different small natives. Ladybird Johnson was the person behind all the roadside plantings I think.
I must look up my notebooks from the time as there was a Salvia there that changed its foliage colour dramatically that I would like to source.
I tried to bring back properly packaged seed of a one native whose name escapes me and it was not allowed.

[cohan]

some great stuff, lori--interesting to see some familiar things in different settings, and of course you have many more true prairie plants than i do--i don't consider this area to be prairie at all, but of course some of the plants come in along roadways and anywhere they can get enough light/space..

i wouldn't have though of V canadensis as a prairie plant, since it grows in woodlands here, but does prefer somewhat open woodland, so i guess it could do well through the prairies anywhere there's a patch of trees! does it grow in the open where you are? (Robin, here it grows in dappled sun to heavier shade, mostly under deciduous trees, but i think it ranges into mixed woods as well; i doubt its really fussy about soils, most natives here will grow anywhere they can get a footing--the woodland species are happily growing into an old compost mound at the edge of the property, and right beside it into a pile of pure woodash!)..the colony just on the south edge of our acreage tends to be a bit pinkish, almost bi-coloured..
V. adunca is scattered throughout the 'lawn' here..
i was a bit surprised to see the Smilacina/Maianthemum stellata in that setting--is that  a dry hill, or is it a moist spot? here its mostly woodland/edges, but there is a big patch up the road along a wet area where the willows etc were all removed a couple of years back, and its still doing fine where its not scraped off by the road graders...
love the lithospermum and geum--no lithos here, geum every 5 inches here, but not triflorum that i have id'd, but its possible by the maps.. i need to work more closely on that genus...
just realised my pics are not sized yet, so i will send this then edit them in in a few minutes..

ok--here's a bad shot of the viola, but it shows the colour well..and the Smilacina/Maianthemum up the road, in full sun amongst grass and weeds, where willows used to be..probably they have roots into the wet area below, and grow right up to it..

[Ragged Robin]

Interesting what you say Cohan, I would have imagined it more as a dappled shade plant too but was not sure it would like dry or wetter conditions - anyway it's very attractive and obviously thrives in potash with you

[Lori S.]

Cohan, we talked about the habitat of V. canadensis last year, too  .  Yes, it does like a bit of shade, and occurs in every little copse of trees and coulee on the prairies and up into the parkland and mixed forest.
The smilacina is not tied to moist areas, particularly.  (The photo is, indeed, a dry hill.)  It's common as the understory where there is "bush", though it is also very common in road ditches where water would collect at times.
More photos of the setting... much hillier than the rolling parkland area where I grew up, or the very flat glacial lake bed plains in the south central prairies.

[cohan]

Cohan, we talked about the habitat of V. canadensis last year, too  .  Yes, it does like a bit of shade, and occurs in every little copse of trees and coulee on the prairies and up into the parkland and mixed forest.
The smilacina is not tied to moist areas, particularly.  (The photo is, indeed, a dry hill.)  It's common as the understory where there is "bush", though it is also very common in road ditches where water would collect at times.
More photos of the setting... much hillier than the rolling parkland area where I grew up, or the very flat glacial lake bed plains in the south central prairies.

my senior brain is developing early i remember talking about the violet but i guess i still can't think of it on the prairies! but if its sticking to the patches of trees it makes sense..i am surprised about the smilacina..i guess we just don't have those kinds of spots undisturbed for this sort of plant to grow on...

[cohan]

Interesting what you say Cohan, I would have imagined it more as a dappled shade plant too but was not sure it would like dry or wetter conditions - anyway it's very attractive and obviously thrives in potash with you

robin--should be adaptable to moisture as well--its never guaranteed here--although my area is wetter than lori's on average, it varies a lot year to year; i'd say as long as they have some moisture during the settling in phase, they'd be pretty adaptable, i'm sure your natural moisture would be enough for any plant from here other than those that stick to wet areas!

[Lori S.]

Perhaps I should explain... the Canadian prairies are largely grassland, but intermixed with stands of somewhat stunted trees and/or shrubs where ever they can exist... even in the most open areas, trees/shrubs still grow in the coulees and along watercourses and drainages.  I hope that helps to give a mental picture... ?

Some more species that occur all across our prairies, from the same locale as the other wild photos I've shown:
1) Allium textile
2, 3) Early yellow locoweed, Oxytropis sericea.  These were in bloom in the yard quite a bit earlier.  (The second photo shows it growing in association with Smilacina stellata... as I mentioned, the latter does not require moist areas.)
4, 5) Hedysarum boreale var. boreale starting to bloom.  Oddly enough, my plant out along the fence, though much more robust, is lagging behind these in flowering.  The seedheads are Pulsatilla patens.

Some of the ubiquitous prairie shrubs...
6, 7, 8 ) Saskatoon berry, Amelanchier alnifolia, with berries starting to form.
9, 10) Also perfuming the air in this season, chokecherry, Prunus pennsylvanica virginiana* on the left and wolf-willow (Elaeagnus commutata) on the right.  The single-stemmed, tree-form chokecherry in our yard is looking good now.  (I almost wish it looked awful so there'd be an excuse to cut it down - I hate crawling under it to cut out the suckers!  I wish the nursery people would understand that they want to be thickets - not trees!! - and graft them onto a nonsuckering base.  Oh well, it was here when we moved in and it is a fine specimen.)

*Oops, I'm getting the name mixed up with pin cherry.

[Ragged Robin]

Wonderful shots of your local prairie flora, Lori, and the 4th photo of Hedysarum boreale var. boreale starting to bloom in the foreground of the river scene gives a great impression of the habitat.