After a seemingly endless winter with record snow falls a weekly occurrence, we slogged through a June of near record rain accumulation. The wildflowers of the northern Black Hills responded with an equal ferocity. First to appear in early June was a perfusion of purple blooms.
Penstemon, a trumpet shaped beauty, covered the lower hillsides.
Dame’s Rocket, a taller splash of color, appeared slightly higher up. Some years Dame’s Rocket is a rarity. This year it appears to have taken over in places. These were intermingled with Wild Roses and an occasional Deptford Pink (classified as a weed for some reason), as well as Blue-eyed Grass.
The purple flowers abruptly gave way to a multitude of Prairie Coneflowers with their fascinating Fibonacci curve arrangement of seeds in the center of the blooms.
Hot on their heels were waves of Ox-eye Daisies and Black-eyed Susans with smatterings of Long-spur Violets and the peculiar Butter And Eggs.
By mid July the grass on ungrazed hillsides was chest high and a bit spooky to wade through: rattlesnakes make their homes here and not being able to see your feet through the foliage can make you a bit anxious. Throughout all of this profusion of plant life there are the ubiquitous Bracted Spiderworts, Salsify, and Lanceleaf Bluebells.
Add a million or so varieties of goldenrod, dozens of types of grass, and several dozen other plants I haven’t mentioned and you’ll find enough variety to keep a flower photographer busy for an entire summer. All of this variety is within an hour or two of driving from any of the Black Hills smaller towns.
