Summer purples

Mid-summer is a time when attractive purple-colored species are flowering. Right now there are at least four; in addition, a few flowering pale purple cone flowers are still left. The three below are favorites.

Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) is very prolific this year, probably because of the successful wetland burn that Fish & Wildlife Service did in mid April. We always have a few flowering plants, sometimes in the Crane Prairie but more commonly in the sedge meadow wetland. But this year, probably because of the burn, we have swamp milkweed all over the place. This will be an excellent opportunity for seed collecting.

The lesser purple-fringed orchid (Plantanthera psycodes) is a very attractive orchid which popped up spontaneously in the Valley Prairie. The seed must be coming from somewhere else in our wetland, although so far we haven't discovered it. Somehow, I don't think the adjective "lesser" is appropriate, as this orchid is really large and quite attractive.

















Purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea) is one of my favorites, and we are now finding it well established both in our planted prairies and in some of the prairie remnants (where we also planted it). This species is doing especially well this summer, probably because of the frequent and substantial rains. We also have the white prairie clover (D. candida), which is more robust and also attractive, but not nearly as colorful.