Chaparral Prairie, looking splendid

As always, click the photos to enlarge

Chaparral Prairie State Nature Preserve is a riot of color right now. This snippet of the prairie is filled with Rattlesnake-master, Eryngium yuccifolium, Spiked Blazing-star, Liatris spicata, Prairie-dock, Silphium terebinthinaceum, Early Goldenrod, Solidago juncea, and many other plant species.

I made an epic trip to southern Ohio yesterday, specifically to Adams and Scioto counties. It was a 20 hour day, from start to finish, but worth every minute. Foremost on my list was Chaparral Prairie. It looks better than I have ever seen it, and my history with this site goes back to its acquisition. Then, it was some farm fields and overgrown cedar thickets. Botanical clues to its prairie past lingered, though, and after acquisition management began in earnest.

The ongoing fruits of this labor are richly evident now. The prairie is at its glorious peak, and if chance permits, I'd highly recommend a visit in the next week or so.

This is the view shortly after entering the trail from the parking lot. Spectacular, and there are more pollinators of every stripe in this scene than you could shake a stick out. Numerous Monarchs worked the blazing-stars, probably thinking they had dropped into some sort of alternate botanical universe of the very best sort.

The Spiked Blazing-star is out of this world. Some of the prairie openings are full of the stuff.

Some rare white color variants of Spiked Blazing-star - Liatris spicata forma albiflorum - punctuate an opening near the back of the preserve. The loop trail is less than a mile long, and bisects the best offerings of the 130-acre preserve. If you visit, be sure to take a camera.