Sights and Scenes of Oklahoma

Pink Prairie Posies

Mid-June is a time when there are so many wildflowers blooming on the prairie that it is amazing and impossible to see them all. This summer, I have been attempting to photograph the common flowers and favorites, and also to find and photograph some I haven't seen before.

 The four photos of Showy Prairie Primroses above show them at different stages.

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I notice that there are cycles of predominant colors. 

There was a white cycle, followed by a yellow cycle cycle and of course these overlap and mingle.

The Prairie Gentian or Prairie Sabatia has a tough five-petaled pink flower.

It is one of my favorites to press because it keeps its shape and color well.

Wild roses come in several styles and shades from pale pink to this bright color. 

 

 The Pasture rose is a simple flower with  four petals and a yellow center.

Mimosa and Sensitive Briar are related although sensitive is a ground plant and mimosa

is a flowering tree that grows wild in pastures, woods and fence lines.

Both have a sphere-shaped pink flower with bright yellow tips of pollen that make them resemble miniature fireworks.

 

Sweetpea and vetch are also  pinks of the season.

Coneflowers from white to dark purple are Echinacea.

Pink, Pink, Pink Prairie Posies!

Prairie Larkspur

Here is another of my favorite June wildflowers. 

It may be confused with the Tube Beard Tongue which is wild foxglove.
The blooms run down one side of each stem. I think it has a dainty elegant shape to fit its fanciful name.

Along with the Prairie Larkspur we find Indian Paintbrushes and Daisy Fleabane.

Prairie Wilflowers

 

This wildflower is a beard tongue. It grows in pastures and fields and in the right-of-way along highways in Oklahoma.

Fair are the meadows,

Fairer still the woodlands,

Robed in the blooming garb of spring;

Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer, 

Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

(From Fairset Lord Jesus, Volkslieder, 1842)

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Wild Prairie Roses

In a dry and sun-filled place like this along a fence bordering a highway, a wild rose bush will encumber a fence until it hides it completely. It is a beautiful sight in late May and early June. I found this rose along highway 16 in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma.

An old fence post is barely visible. You can't see the barbed wire at all.

A rose bush can grow up a post or tree and overtake it.

This bush is brighter colored than most. It was at an abandoned homesite.

 

In shady spots, the pasture rose blooms. 

Its blooms are less profuse and  the simplicity is wonderful.

Finding a wild rose climbing a pasture fence, is like finding a friend in an unexpected place.