One of the reasons I was really excited to do this trip was to have the opportunity to see real prairie. Sadly, most prairie is plowed under or developed. I read that Iowa has about .1% virgin prairie. Oddly, Iowans do not seem to plant the prairie flowers on their properties either. You see homes surrounded by vast lawns of green green grass. Surrounded by corn, which is just really big grass. I find it amazing that we were able to drive for literally hours in Iowa on "scenic byways" without seeing any significant wildflowers. The farmers have Round-up'd them out of existence. There are some on the side of the interstate which we got on briefly, and there are random pockets here and there. We found one under an overpass. And a pocket of wildflowers by a river. They are there, but you have to hunt for them more than you should. If this were like Texas they'd make the wildflowers a tourist attraction. Anyway, I could rant about this but won't. Here are some lovely prairie flowers we collected all over Iowa today.
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| Ratibida pinnata |
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| Ratibida pinnata |
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Verbena
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Dalea
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| Cup flower (Silphium perfoliatum) |
These, and others made a nice bouquet for inside the truck. Near days end we left the arrangement at Chief War Eagle's monument in Sioux City Iowa which overlooked the (very flooded, more on that tomorrow) Missouri River.
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