This past July has been the longest month of my life. Every morning I wake up and think, “Oh my god is it still July?” That might sound negative, but it really isn’t! I think I feel that way because in June I was so overwhelmed that I felt like I wasn’t really absorbing any information, so the whole month was kind of a blur. Come the end of July I’m feeling more acclimated to the prairie. Obviously I still have a lot to learn and I’m well behind the local interns, but I’d like to think I’m beginning to hold my own. Now that I’m not drowning in new information every time I go outdoors to look at plants, I can really start to appreciate them. This blog post is dedicated to the beautiful flowers of the prairie.

Radiant Reds

My favorite prairie plants thus far are probably Cardinal Flower or Royal Catchfly. Their flowers are an almost impossibly deep, vivid red. In a sea of green, they are a shock to the eyes. Maybe I’ll sound like a sap, but it feels like a miracle that so rich a color could exist and that I’m lucky enough to experience it.

The picture above is from the day the Plants of Concern folks came to Midewin and we helped them monitor Silene regia. It was such pleasant weather outside and towards the end we ventured into a black raspberry thicket, so we snacked on raspberries while we looked for beautiful flowers. That was one of those times I felt very happy about what I get to do for work.