Deep Prairie Purple

During Fourth of July week, the only fireworks aren’t just in the sky. There are explosions of color as the prairie pours out purple.

The tallgrass sends up blooms of pale purple coneflowers…

Twirls and swirls of color.

Soft, fuzzy, antennae-like purple, deep in the stamens of moth mullein.

Firecrackers of  deep purple lead plant, with orange embers.

Bees buzzing ’round satellite spinners of purple prairie clover.

Lilac bee balm exploding into floral fireworks.

Tick trefoil and germander dot the tallgrass with occasional ooohs! and aaahs! of  lavender.

 

Violet dancer damselflies send purple aloft, darting here and there in surprising directions; then come to rest in the morning sunshine.

Vervain spikes light purple sparklers along the paths.

Unlike the noisy fireworks on July Fourth, these purple fireworks explode against a soundtrack of birdsong and wind. A bit of a rest after all that night time noise, isn’t it?

 

Why not see for yourself? Go for a hike today — enjoy the quiet, and the magic of the color purple.

All photos copyright Cindy Crosby (top to bottom): mother bison and baby bison (Bison bison)  Nachusa Grasslands, The Nature Conservancy, Franklin Grove, IL; the prairie in July, Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; moth mullein (Verbascum blatteria), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL.; lead plant (Amorpha canescens), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL.; purple prairie clover  (Dale purpurea) and a bee, Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL.; monarda  or wild bergamot, (Monarda fistulosa) Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL; Illinois tick trefoil (Desmodium Illinoense) and germander (Teucrium canadense), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL.; violet dancer damselfly (Argia fumipennis violacea), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL.; hoary vervain (Verbena stricta), Schulenberg Prairie, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL;  prairie in July, Nachusa Grasslands, The Nature Conservancy, Franklin Grove, IL.