Prairie Dock

I treasure this plant because it blooms so late in the summer. It offers pollen for the late bumble bees and other pollinators. The bumblebees often sleep in the flowers at night in October. I just have one plant that grew from a packet of prairie seeds that I scattered in northern Wisconsin about 8 years ago.

This plant is native from Canada to Georgia, so it must offer pollen just before winter sets in in Canada, too. My daughter finds the plants in the Silphium genus to be too aggressive in her West Virginia field. Winter doesn’t close in there as fast as it does in Wisconsin.

This big green leaf challenged me to get it onto one sheet of paper. To paint it life sized, it took up most of the space, crowding out the flower