THE MOST COMMON, BUT IT’S ABOUT THE LIGHT…

Wild Geranium, Pohlman Prairie Preserve, Little Maquoketa Valley, eastern Iowa

A short hike through the woods up the slope in Pohlman Prairie Preserve resulted in a good number of wildflower encounters, some of them even not so common. Pohlman Prairie is a small piece of ”goat prairie”, a type of dry prairie that is found here in the Driftless area mostly along the valley of the Upper Mississippi River, but this one is only a mile away, here on the bluffs of the Little Maquoketa Valley.

It was the photo of probably one of the more abundant blossoms on the forest floor, the Wild Geranium, that intrigued me the most. Dappled light is not always a photographer’s best friend but here I really liked how it made the blossoms stand out from the green on the ground under the canopy of the trees.

Nikon Z6 III, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm,    @200 mm

WILDFLOWER SLIDE SHOW

Today we went to Pohlman’s Prairie, a so called goat prairie on top of the bluffs above the Little Maquoketa Valley. This is only a mile away from our home. The trail leads first into a wooded side valley before it enters the small prairie area. Both, the valley and the grassy prairie area are home for many wildflowers, grasses and plants. Some of them we can find here on our own bluffs but others were new to us.

I thought I put a little slide show together with some photos of the wildflowers that we found today or at other locations along the Mississippi River. Some species. like Bloodroot or Hepatica are done blooming already but I have included them too. I hope you enjoy!