First off, we have a potential change in title for the prairie complex that we are trying to build. Central Point is the township that I grew up in and where the prairies reside. This is in keeping with the theme that these are in many ways no longer my prairies. We have received a perpetual easement from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and it is now part of their refuge system. While it is on land that Linda and I own, and that will stay in our family when we are gone, in a tangible sense we have transitioned to caretakers, both for our children and grandchildren, but also all others who gain from its presence.

While I have elaborated upon many of the plants which reside on these prairies, and have typed up a list that I have updated, during the course of this year I will try to create something that is more than a dry list. It will discuss each plant’s prevalence in both the native and the restored prairies. I will allow myself digressions into thoughts and memories and hopes for the future. This post will be updated as new species are identified, as populations change, as I get relevant (or very cool) photos, or as something new is learned from observation or from others who know the prairies. I will make no claims for a complete list, as the world is a big place, and even my little corner can hold secrets that it may not divulge. And so I begin with a suite of 15 plants adapted to xeric sites, the gravel hills:

1. Pasqueflower (Anemone patens) Abundant on my native prairies with a population likely in the low thousands, with many on every hill. It is becoming more common on the restoration as more seed overcomes dormancy and more plants attain the size to push out blooms. I saw the first bloom in the restoration two years ago, a couple more last year, and then 20 or so this year, so I hope and expect that even more appear in future years. As it seems they need to establish for a few years before they have the ability or need to make seed, this implies that they are a long lived species. Some of my first prairie memories are of trying to keep up with my older brother Leon in the pasture south of our farm going out to pick the first flowers of spring for our mother. As a plant that makes its growth very early it can become thick in overgrazed native pastures where competition has been removed or held back. They are a humble little flower with no discernable aroma, but after a long winter they are shockingly beautiful. I have continued to gather seed when available, and am putting a bit out this spring, and will likely continue in the future.
2. Thimbleflower (Anemone cylindrica) Common, but scattered in the native prairies; I doubt there are more than 200 plants. Last year I saw perhaps 20-30 in the restoration. It can be very frustrating to seed as the cottony hairs which coat the seed create a ball of seed, from which it can be very difficult to separate individual seeds. That same characteristic makes them easy to gather as they remain as a coherent head for a long time after maturity. This was a plant I was hardly aware of until I began the restoration work.
3. Gray Goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis) Common in native prairies with my estimate in the low thousands. It is the only goldenrod truly adapted to the gravel hills, though other species are hanging in there so far in droughty sites in the restoration. Like all the goldenrods it tends to be an increaser in pastures as it seeds itself in well and cattle are indifferent to grazing it (though some clearly gets chewed). I have a fair catch in the restoration with several hundred growing.
4. Threadleaf, or Needleleaf Sedge (Carex diuruscula) Fairly common on the tops of the gravel hills, along with Sun Sedge (Carex inops). They are both humble little plants, western species which compete wherever the sod forming grasses like blue grama (Bouteluoa gracilis) allow them room. I have gathered a little bit of seed in the past, though none this year, and even tried to transplant a bit of sod which contained them, but as far as I know there are none yet in the restoration. As both species are strongly rhizomatous a little could go a long way when individual plants turn into expansive clones. I think as low plants that grow very early they are advantaged by light grazing, though they may disappear with heavy, repeated grazing.
5. Yellow Sundrops (Oenothera serrulatus) Common in my prairie hills on the most xeric soils, a small species of primrose. So far I have found only one or two in my restoration, which likely found their way on their own. Gathering seed is difficult, as the plant becomes hard to see as it matures, just another small brown bit of foliage. Ben was trying to keep watch on them to get some seed before it shattered, and I will be interested in whether we have some to experiment with. A member of a suite of about 10 humble early blooming forbs found in very xeric sites.
6. False Toadflax (Comandra umbellata) Sticking to the theme, here is another of the early blooming/xeric adapted forbs. False toadflax literally blankets areas of the gravel hills with tiny white blooms, It is very rhizomatous, so areas devoted to a limited number of clones can have a big impact. I have tried to transplant rhizomes before without success, so I worked diligently to gather the seeds this year, of which there are surprisingly few, with large seeds for a small plant, and I hope to either have the Native Plant initiative (NPI) grow some plugs, or just place individual seeds nicely in appropriate spots. With its aggressive ability to clone a few will go a long way.
7. Hoary Puccoon (Lithospermum canadensis) Also a common early blooming denizen of the gravel hills, though with an expansive footprint, more able to compete in slightly wetter, dry mesic environments, Hoary puccoon is another species that I have not so far gotten extablished in the restoration, and something of a priority for me. Seeds are not easy to gather, as they mature and drop as successive flowers bloom and develop over a period of several weeks. Thus, though plants are not hard to find, each plant may have only one or two mature seeds which are reputedly hard to germinate. We will see if fortune is kind this winter. It can sometimes be found in ditches and other disturbed areas, not that conservative at all. Seeds may have to go through a bird gut to be germinable, but if we can recreate a bird gut with a little sandpaper we may be able to get something to happen. It is likely persistent and able to spread naturally if we get something going. I also must mention that it has perhaps the most distinctive and appealing odor of any wildflower in the prairie. I no longer can smell much after all the cancer treatments and subsequent surgeries, but this was a bloom I used to wait for after a long winter, more for the aroma than the appearance, and I have fond memories of picking them and carrying a small bouquet around to bask in their fragrance.
8. Fringed puccoon (Lithospermum incisum) Once again, an early blooming resident of the hilltops. I didn’t realize how common they were until this year, when ideal May weather set up a bit of a superbloom just off the ridgetop of every hill. Seed set, which seemed very spotty in other years, was excellent, and Ben and I gathered a lot of plants. Just like it’s sister species above seeds develop and drop off as the season progresses, but rather than one or two mature seeds hanging on, it seemed more like six or eight per plant. They are occasionally found along fencelines, and in ditches, implying bird dispersal as an effective aid to their spread and germination. Ben and I will try to emulate our avian cousins and see if we can get more going in the restoration. There are several that I have seen there so far, likely the courtesy of sparrows travelling between the prairies and the restoration. This species was not really on our radar until we realized how much seed we could get, and we will take advantage of the opportunity.
9. Nuttall’s Violet (Viola nuttallii) For now, this is the last of the xeric miniatures that go together. The picture is of a clump I am about to dig in the native prairie to transplant into the restoration. Included with the little violets were some bastard toadflax, some Kentucky bluegrass, some needleleaf sedge (Carex diuruscula) and dormant blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) and perhaps a couple other plants. This violet is more common in my hills than the normally common prairie violet. Like many of the plants in my xeric prairies this is more of a western species adapted to harsh conditions and short rations. The transplant failed, and I have none in my restoration, meaning I will try again next year.

10. Prairie violet (Viola pedatifida) Not all the violets in my prairies are the yellow flowered Nuttalls. There are prairie violets down towards the base of the same hills where the Nuttall’s violets carry the high ground. I have never been able to gather any seed, so I broke down a few years ago and bought some to spread, and now have some growing in the restoration. Ben was able to gather some this year, so we may try growing some plugs to transplant. As violets are the obligate food source for regal frittilary butterfly larvae, a federally listed species I commonly see in my prairies I feel some added responsibility to get more plants of both species going in the restoration.

11. Alumroot (Heuchera richardsonii) This is very common in my native prairies, with plants growing all the way from pretty xeric down through dry mesic. The seed is teeny tiny, little more than dust, so a little goes a long way. I purchased a little seed to begin, and had quite a few start up, but I think the seed source was to the south, as many died out the first couple winters. Plants will not bloom unless conditions are good, meaning I got to see just how common they are this year as most used the spring rain to push up blooms, and we gathered a fair amount of seed, literally millions in a few ounces. The trick of doing a good job with seeding them is that they will not mix with other seeds well, being so small. They grow in the same environment as several other small seeded forbs, so I may just mix them together and spread them separately from the main mix.

12. Slender Penstemon/Beardtongue (Penstemon gracilis) This is one of those small seeded wildflowers (both about 400,000 seed per ounce), and one that once again I gathered a fair amount of this year. I have many in the restoration, in a variety of environments. and it is a wonderful, pale violet burst of color in late May, just after the very first flowers like the pasques. All these early blooming hill flowers are likely very important to native bees and other pollinators. This is one of the 20 or 30 biggest successes, and one that I will consider gathering for sale in the future, especially if I am able to use this years bounty of seed to get a large number of new seedlings going.

13. White Penstemon/Beardtongue (Penstemon albidus) These begin blooming earlier than their brethren, the P. gracilis, while the pasqueflowers are still out, and I consider them another of the hardiest forbs, growing on otherwise barren areas. We gathered good amount of this as well, at least several ounces to perhaps a pound when we complete processing them. While they only occupy the most xeric 5-10 % of the prairies there can be hundreds where they occur. I have several acres of appropriate habitat in the Huggett prairie we will burn next spring where most of the seed will go. There are probably several hundred in the restoration now, and with some luck we will have hundreds more growing next year.

14. Pennsylvania Cinquefoil (Potentilla pennsylvanica) This is yet another small, humble early blooming species of the dry hills, mostly blooming in June. Once again there was a bumper seed crop we harvested, and it will likely go in with the other small seeded species for distribution on the more xeric areas. There are many in the native prairies, far more than I thought there were as they showed themselves by using the spring rains to bloom. I have some in the restoration, but hope for a lot more. Like the white penstemon, I think they are a short lived species that puts out a lot of viable seed, much like an annual, and that we could make very good progress in one year with luck. Below is a vegetative cinquefoil next to a false toadflax.

15. Downy Painted Cup (Castilleja sessiflora) Unlike many other forbs listed above, there are just a few in the native prairies, but the little seed we gathered the first year turned into thousands of plants in the restoration. This is a sister species to the red flowered Indian Paintbrush that is always in the pictures of mountain meadows, white flowered and very showy in its own way. It is a hemi-parasitic species, meaning it can grow independently, but thrives when there is a host plant, like blue grama, to borrow from. I have no idea how I ended up with so many in the restoration, but it is another species which we gathered a lot of seed from this year, and we should have plenty to gather in the future. The seed will likely go into the same bag with the Pennsylvania cinquefoil and the white penstemon for spreading on the most xeric soils.

I will close this batch of fifteen species (actually sixteen, as I combined the two xeric sedges) with pictures of a yellow sundrops, mentioned above, and the first pasqueflowers of a couple years ago. I already look forward to seeing my old friends again in five months, next April This winter I hope to add more pictures of other species, and eventually all of them as I take more pictures. And, I hope to get a couple more installments of plant descriptions up soon, though it may wait until the fall seeding is complete. I think I will go out to do some this afternoon.