[To see photos and stories of this prairie in other years, go to the links on the main Narrows Prairie page.]

This is the prairie’s third summer, and it’s looking even more colorful than last year. This prairie has turned out better than all the others, so far. It’s very diverse – I’ve seen most of the plants I planted, and there aren’t too many weeds.

At the beginning of the summer, there was lots of Indian Paintbrush (Castelleja coccinea) blooming. I scattered the seeds in the fall of 2004. Now the plants are growing in big patches on either side of the line I walked.

The dominant flowers in July are Monarda and Black-eyed Susan, with Yellow Coneflower just starting to bloom. But under all the common ones are some of the more unusual plants I planted – it’s nice to see them there.

Round-headed Bushclover, Sky-blue Aster

Oxeye, Rough Blazing Star, Junegrass and Prairie Brome

Eastern, narrow area that’s very grassy

Mike took some pictures with his new camera.

This area has lots of Junegrass.

This is looking from the path to Hidden Oaks Point out into the sunny prairie.

Looking west into the mist