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| Diamond Grove Prairie |
“I was raised on country sunshine, green grass beneath my feet.
Running through fields of daisies, wading through the creek.”
--Country Sunshine by Dottie West
I was not raised in the country, I grew up in suburban St. Louis. But that did not stop me from seeking out any tiny patch of green grass, fields of flowers, or a creek to wade in when I was young. Summer was an endless time of staying outdoors hours at a time, exploring natural places, and searching for anything wild; turtles, snakes, bugs, and lots of dirt. Not yet coming into my “naturalist mentality” yet, I brought home handfuls of wildflowers to grace our home. So it was fitting that I spent the summer solstice at a prairie.
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| black eyed susan |
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| golden winged skimmer |
Diamond Grove dressed itself in my favorite color, yellow, for the first day of summer. Purple headed sneeze-weed, crownbeard, black eyed susans, and coreopsis created a yellow carpet wonderland for butterflies, dragonflies, and birds.
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| sensitive brier |
Contrasting colors came from bright red-orange indian paint brush, blue spider-wort, and pink sensitive brier. Hard to find milkwort, wild petunia, and deptford pinks shyly hid in the under story of the tall grasses. It was a morning of prize after prize!
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| wild petunia |
The longest day of the year is a great time to visit a prairie. You can avoid the hot mid-day heat, and still have a lot of daylight in the cooler morning and evening. Don't worry if you missed the opportunity today, tomorrow is the second longest day of the year!
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| false dragonhead and purple headed sneezeweed |
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