The power of prairie dock

The photo shows a prairie dock plant making its way up through a pile of gravel.

Last November we regraded our service road, and it took quite a few loads of gravel. One of the gravel trucks was a little overexcited and dumped some gravel onto the edge of the Pocket Prairie. We figured that whatever prairie species were underneath the gravel were gone for good. We did not count on the power of the prairie dock plant!

Of course, prairie dock has very deep roots, so it does not need to get nutrients from the soil surface. And this specimen does not have to worry about competition from weeds, etc.