It's Been Worse...Throw a Bit of Fun Into the Mix!

It's getting on into the end of July and a lot has transpired in the pasture.  Its still very dry and warm...especially this week...temps in the mid 90's and a dew point that's nearly subtropical!  We got lucky about 2 weeks back and received  a little over one and a half inches of rain.  VERY grateful for that!  But still hauling water to the gardens and several smaller/newer trees that are showing stress.

I got a new toy a couple weeks back too...an older electric golf cart!  I am breaking speed records for water hauling now.  It is everything I thought it'd be - useful AND fun!

 

I call it the Prairie Schooner...been "sailing" all over the place in it and does it ever climb hills well!  Both Georgie and I take it for a spin daily. carries 4 buckets of water in the back and a short filled one on the floor in front...when there's no well, and hoses don't reach 100's of feet, this is the next best thing and the ride cools you off too!

Even though its been quite dry (still in a "severe" drought) the pasture's plants have been doing their best.  We're finding things are shorter in stature than "normal" years...and some plants have actually not bloomed and may not this summer now.

But here's a few that have been showing up since the last posting...

 

Wild Four-O'Clock (Mirabilis nyctaginea) with a nectaring Common Looper Moth (Autographa-precationis), along the road fence line on our native pasture. These almost always get past me (the Four-O'clocks), and when I seem to remember to look - they're about spent! I also see these Common Loopers often here...I guess their larvae feed on many things here like the asters and the verbena, as well as many other forbs. Plus I see the Eastern Bluebirds feed on the larvae frequently - everybody benefits! (photograph © Bruce A. Morrison)

 

 

 

The Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia) has bloomed all over the pasture but now going to seed. When we first moved here 20 years back it was the only purple coneflower I could find in the entire county "and" in adjoining counties...Waterman Prairie here had only E. angustifolia. But now we're seeing E. pallida everywhere in the roadsides - even in our ditches since the county planted them about 12 years back. The inset shows a native bee collecting pollen...and I'm still trying to figure out what type it is. Although its nearly impossible to see in this image, there are 4 insects on the inset image blossom...the bee, two fly species and a very large ominous looking insect (beetle?) hidden underneath the bee. Didn't see it until I was processing images! (photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

 

Lots of milkweeds blooming in the pasture here, this one often overlooked as its fairly diminutive...but the White-lined Sphinx Moth finds it just fine. This is also likely the most numerous "Asclepias" out here...they pack themselves in tightly together in large numbers, but blend into the undergrowth well. Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata) SE O'Brien County (photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

A few more from the pasture...(top left to right) Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea), Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens) and White Prairie Clover (Dalea candida)...things are going to seed fast. (photographs - © Bruce A. Morrison)

 

Top left - then clockwise - Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium), Ox-eye Daisy (Heliopsis helianthoides) with Culver's Root (Veronicastrum virginicum), Grey-headed Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata), and last -  Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa).  Because of the current drought, the Rattlesnake Master has mostly gone dormant...out of the entire pasture only one has bloomed this summer so far.  The Culver's Root, the Bergamot and the coneflowers are doing fine...the plants are shorter but still blooming well.  (photographs - © Bruce A. Morrison)

 

Its been worse...hot and dry, but we're still fortunate compared to others - and we're making the best of it!

Wishing you a safe and peaceful summer out there!  Be good to one another. 

 

Dog Days...

Backwater - Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

August has arrived...it should still be June as far as I'm concerned but then what I think won't change things so that's that.  I am looking forward to some time...maybe by mid Autumn, that my time will not be tied to deadlines so much and I can once again slow down...take a guiltless nap every once and a while...just stroll around the pasture or down the road with no goal in mind - just chill out and relax.  Boy that actually sounds good!

In the mean time I'm still prepping for a solo showing in early October at the Pearson's Lakes Art Center in Okoboji, Iowa...I'll throw out more information closer to the date though.  

I've been really struggling with a landscape here in the studio that did a number on me...but I haven't removed it from the easel yet...maybe I haven't given up on it yet?  That happens; I'm sure I'm not the only person that has run into this dilemma and it won't be my last either I know.

 Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

One thing comes about out here when August rolls around - things are visibly transitioning.  The early to mid summer flowers are finishing up...the Compass plants and Cup Plants are all in flower and maturing, goldenrods are starting to bloom, the liatris are beginning to move along too, the prairie clovers are about done, and the warm season grasses are in flower or early stages of putting on seed.  It's still mid summer (I don't want to rush things) and the prairie is "Pollinator Heaven" right now...and of course the hotter it gets out there - the happier the pollinators seem to be!

Many types of Bumble Bees are busy pollinating 

the Culver's Root (Veronicastrum virginicum) blossoms

photographs - © Bruce A. Morrison

A member of the Bacchini sub-family

of Hover Flies (family Syrphidae)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

A member of the Hover Flies family (Syrphidae)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Painted Lady pollinating a Wild Bergamot

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

The Culver's Root here was a big hit one evening down on the pasture...we had lost a good clump to the new septic fields we had installed but thankfully there are still enough to go around here.  We had everything from wasps to Bumble Bees to all kinds of Hover Flies...many of which are quite different looking!

photographs - © Bruce A. Morrison

When you have a lot of pollinators out and about you also get some predator activity, and August is a particularly good time to see all types of spiders out working their webs - especially great to see in the early morning dew.

Pale Touch-Me-Not (Impatiens pallida)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

We also have a couple mid summer woodland types of native flowers blooming here in the north grove right now.  One plant I've seen repeatedly each summer and never caught it in bloom is really putting on a good show right now, and certainly welcomed by the local pair of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds nesting in the yard!  They are commonly referred to as "Jewel Weed"; the type we have here are the Pale Touch-Me-Not - a fun plant to show kids when the seed's ready to disperse!  Just touch a ripe seed pod and "POP" the sheath snaps open and the seed goes flying! This is a fun plant to collect seed from.

White Snakeroot (Ageratina altissima)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Our other mid summer woodland bloomer is the White Snakeroot (Ageratina altissima), a fairly common plant even in disturbed areas...which doesn't surprise me seeing it in the old grove remnant here. Its a great plant for pollinators and lasts well into Fall.

I hope to get out more, not fuss so much about what's taunting me on the easel, and enjoy what summer we still have to enjoy...the bugs aren't so bad right now too so what better reason to get out there!

Thank you for stopping by and visiting the blog - be sure and click on any of the photos for a larger view - Have a Great Summer!!!

 

Summer!

 Been a tough May and June for bugs!

Rats, let May and June go by without an entry...had a lot I could have written, just too many interruptions, projects and head in the wrong place I guess...oh ya - and BUGS!

Finished a couple small pieces since the last entry...had a great songbird spring and now a lot going on in the pasture here...uh more than usual, more on that later.

"Red-bellied Woodpecker (male)- Portrait"

(color pencil drawing -  © Bruce A. Morrison)

Did a nice little life size portrait of a Red-bellied Woodpecker a few weeks back...it is just slightly larger than those in the past..I wanted a more-to-life-size presentation, where I felt many of those in the past were a bit under sized.  The Red-bellieds are here year around and are really quite attractive up close, especially the males - as was this color pencil drawing.

"Windrows in Cloud Shadow"

(oil painting -  © Bruce A. Morrison)

Just finished a small oil painting of a pasture down the road about 3-4 miles...It was a great cloud shadow afternoon; I love those days in the landscape...as a kid I used to race them across open fields of a friend's farm.  I added some windrows in the foreground shadow and spot lit the middle distant ground field pattern and bales.  I had issues and hurdles with this one...firstly not getting the foreground dark enough to appear as in cloud shadow - then the middle ground not brightly lit enough to suit me...I spent about 3 weeks glazing the foreground to deepen and cool down the cloud shadowed windrows and foreground trees...then scumbling the middle ground area to make the sunlit pasture and landscape appear warmer and more brightly lit.  In the middle of all this I had cataract surgery in both eyes - wow did that add some issues!!!  In fact the cataracts kept me indoors much of the time, much much too bright outside now, which is improving every day though.

 

 Male Bobolink in the south pasture

(photographs - © Bruce A. Morrison)

I did try and chase a male Bobolink around the south pasture in dark glasses right after the surgery - didn't want to wait as they're finishing up their nesting and will be gone very soon.  I know I've talked about Bobolinks before more than once; after they finish nesting they will flock up and move around to other areas and parts unknown...will have to wait till next year to see them again.  Anyway - thank goodness for auto focus telephoto lenses, its not easy focusing through dark glasses!

 "White Wild Indigo (Baptisia alba)"

(photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

Been loving the pastures this summer, so much blooming and each ear a surprise.  About 6 years or so ago I found leaves of a plant tat hadn't shown itself there before...I recognized it as a Baptisia.  The next year I lost track of it, then actually forgot about it.  A couple years ago I saw it again and then remembered the first sighting.  Its gotten bigger each year and this year went into bloom!  A gorgeous plant and blossoms, a Wild White Indigo (Baptisia alba).

(click to enlarge)

The pasture is going through a "bit" of a transition right now...is necessary but still more of a change than I'd like.  The process hasn't been finished yet because of the extreme heat we're experiencing right now (mid and upper nineties with dew points of 78-79) - not a good condition to be working outside.  The "process" is a new septic tank and fields...the fields being in the pasture.  Right now it appears we'll have about I/10th of an acre to rehabilitate when all is said and done.  Losing a few good clumps of Culver's Root and some other desirable plants but hopefully no more than that!
Trying to get on to my next painting - with a solo exhibit approaching faster each week, I'm starting to feel a bit of anxiety!  I hope the summer temps cool down a bit and maybe actually get some outside time with the camera too!

Hope you have a safe and pleasant summer out there...take care!

Egads - July!!!

Behind on my blog posts - the Prairie Pasture out in front of the studio has been drop dead gorgeous the past couple weeks...even though the rains have been overly plentiful and troublesome to many in the area - the prairie pasture loved every drop! 

There has been a great deal of flooding these past weeks and many crops have drown, towns flooded and even a derailment in a flooded river valley 45 minutes northwest of us of a train pulling heavy crude from the fracking areas of the north.  If there were more prairies and less cropping of every nook, cranny and fence line imaginable - there would be less flooding, run-off and erosion of our precious soils. 

Here's a few photos, drawings and paintings of the many plants blooming here in our pastures right now!

 Wild Bergamot (monarda fistulosa) 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Echinacea angustifolia and Prairie Coreopsis (Coreopsis palmata)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Hoary Vervain - (Verbena stricta) 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Canada Milkvetch (Astragalus canadensis)

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum) 

oil painting - © Bruce A. Morrison

 False Gromwell (Onosmodium molle) and Prairie Phlox (Phlox pilosa) 

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Heliopsis helianthoides with Orange Sulphur butterfly and Soldier beetle

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Heliopsis helianthoides

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Monarch caterpillar feeding on Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Showy Tick Trefoil (Desmodium canadense)

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

Wild Four O'clock (Mirabillis nyctaginea)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Enjoy the summer - as things change real fast out on the prairie; they'll be something different blooming tomorrow for sure! 

 

Prairie Plant of the week - Siphium laciniatum (Compass Plant)

Siphium laciniatum (Compass Plant)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

This week's prairie plant features the Compass Plant; this plant is fairly iconic on the tallgrass prairie - a large plant, usually towering above me as I walk through the mid to late summer prairie.  The birds love their seeds and this plant provides a solid platform for many bird nests as well.

I first spread seed for this plant in our first year here at the acreage and five years later we had flowering stalks 5-8 feet high!  It was well worth the wait I'd say, but I'd recommend only seeding for 2-3 years (maybe less) and then wait for the plants to establish, otherwise you'll have stands too thick to navigate!

Siphium laciniatum (Compass Plant)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

The leaves on Compass Plants are very distinct and quite large and handsome.  The plant gets it's common name from the leaves tending to orient themselves in a general north-south direction...they are very large, a foot or more in length and half a foot or more wide...very thick and substantial to say the least!

The yellow flowers are 3-4 inches wide and are alternate up the plant's heavy/thick stem.  They attract a great variety of pollinators too!

The Compass Plant's leaves and roots was used by several first nation tribes for many different uses...in the book "Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie" by Roosa and Runkel, it is even mentioned that burning a dried root during a lightning storm acted as a charm to ward off lightning strikes...or hopefully so!

It was also said that when in bloom, a gummy material forms along the upper 3rd of the main stem.  This resinous material was used by Native Americans as a chewing gum.

Siphium laciniatum (Compass Plant)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

This is one plant that deer really seem to like in the early summer stage of growth but avoid later on when it gains height...I don't know how good of a forage it may have been to pioneers first settling the prairies but the Roosa/Runkel book says it was liked by cattle as well; likely being a reason it was pretty much eliminated wherever cattle were grazed year after year...I personally have found that cattle are very hard on native forbs, many will not sustain heavy grazing pressure like that year after year.

Next time you're out on the prairie, walk up next to a Compass plant and see how it measures up!  They're pretty cool in my book!




 

Prairie Plant of the Week - "Ratibida pinnata - Yellow Coneflower"!

"Ratibida pinnata - Yellow Coneflower"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

I made this prairie forb the "print of the week" because it was peaking nicely here at the studio prairie pastures - so why not "plant of the week" too!?

As I mentioned before, this is a very common native prairie flower or forb (flowering herbacious plant).  Most will recognize it a first glance but maybe by different names.  I like to state the scientific name for a plant if I can - that way there is no argument what plant is being discussed!  This plant (Ratibida pinnata) is commonly referred to as a "Gray-headed Coneflower" or a "Yellow Coneflower", and even some times a "Prairie Coneflower"

"Gray-headed Coneflower" refers to the light green or gray flowering head when it first appears - before filling out with small florets and turning brown.

This prairie flower will adapt readily in a flower garden but tends to be pretty tall at times (4-5 feet here in the pasture) so it needs support from other plants or will lie down from being top heavy.

There is not any odor or smell that I can detect from the flowers, but the bees and butterflies are non-the-less attracted to them...the bees can often be seen pollinating by going round and round the rim of florets.  The smell of this plant's seed heads when they are dry and ready to pick - is "amazing"!  Its a wonderful smell that has come to mean "prairie" in the autumn to me.

Thanks for stopping by - be sure and check out the prairie this summer - you do not want to miss it!

 

Print of the Week - "Yellow Coneflower - Ratibida pinnata"

"Yellow Coneflower - Ratibida pinnata"

print from the original color pencil drawing

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

I have a lot of smaller "decorator" type prints and this is a good example of one.  This is a native prairie flower, a very common one that most will recognize...I like to call it "Yellow Coneflower" but most will give the common name "Gray-headed Coneflower" to Ratibida pinnata.  I believe this is because the flowering head of this plant is initially light green to gray when it first appears and doesn't turn brown until the head fills with small florets.

 

I chose this for the print of the week because it is now blooming profusely here in our prairie pastures!  A beautiful sight in mass!

 

The original drawing that this print is published from was in color pencil...the background thrown out of focus by using different methods of dissolving the pencil's wax based pigment and creating a "wash" effect.

 

This print is available as an open edition/signed print here at the studio/gallery or from other dealers given on my web site at www.morrisons-studio.com.

 

Thank you for visiting - I hope your summer is full of beauty as well!

 

Prairie Hill Farm's Prairie Plant of the Week!

Something I've begun posting on Face Book is "Prairie Plant of the Week" - plants from our prairie pasture, below the studio here.  I'm playing catch-up so will post two different plants this time.  This week we have Monarda fistulosa - know by some folks as Bee Balm or Horse Mint. Most prairie folk know it as Wild Bergamot. Its a member of the mint family and is a common native over most of the North American prairie region. This is one plant that pollinators love - "Bee Balm" aptly describes how much bees like it...Bumble Bees in particular! 

One thing I notice about Wild Bergamot is the heat of the summer matures the flowers very quickly and they just do not last long enough for me - if I don't get out there when they "peak", its too late for good pictures!  We've had a couple days (today is one) with temps in the mid nineties and a heat index into the 105 and higher range...that's moving these flowers right along!  I made a point of getting out the the past couple days and this morning to catch them before they wane.

The plant from last week was Echinacea.  Most people recognize purple coneflowers, well this one is native to our county and some surrounding counties in NW Iowa - this one is Echinacea angustifolia - Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower - not to be mistaken as Pale Purple Coneflower or Echinacea pallida (which we also have here). Your common garden variety - Echinacea purpurea is not native here - don't plant it in native settings, keep it in your yard.

Most sources do attribute the Echinacea pallida to being native in NW Iowa, so there's sometimes a question as to what you are seeing.  The easiest visible difference is the longer/narrow "rays" (some folks think of them as petals) on the E. pallida...these rays also droop much more.  Also the E. pallida is much taller - I've seen it regularly at 3-4 feet or slightly taller, whereas the E. angustifolia is much shorter (2-2.5 feet) with short rays.

Curiously, I have never seen E. pallida on a native prairie here in NW Iowa - just on reconstructed prairie or roadside plantings.  The native pasture here had E. angustifolia originally as did the native prairies in the county's SE corner.

I actually think that our Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower would make a great garden plant too!

Thanks for stopping by the studio blog - stay cool out there!