I drop one afternoon last calendar week with my son visiting Jennings Prairie , a restored prairie in Pennsylvania . Although prairies were never exceedingly vulgar here in this state , most of those that did exist are long gone , victims of ontogeny and farming . It was a pleasure to walk through the prairie site and see what part of our nation once looked like .
Jennings Prairie is part of a state - park facility known as the Jennings Environmental Education Center . The prairie ecosystem at Jennings is 20 acres and is the only world and protected prairie in Pennsylvania . The prairie was established to protect the prairie blazing wiz ( Liatris pycnostachya ) and is home to many rarified and endangered Pennsylvania flora species as well as to the endangered massasauga rattler . As a nurseryman , I always witness pleasure observe “ young ” places , and Jennings Prairie is a veridical nature - lover ’s delight .
Here are some pictures of our find :
The bloodless flower pictured is cowbane ( aka water hemlock ) , an extremely poisonous plant life in the carrot crime syndicate . unwarranted - intellectual nourishment foragersmight mistake this plant for the eatable Carum carvi , but they can say a distinction by bruising the industrial plant in question . If it gives off a strong unpleasant odor , it ’s cowbane and should not be consumed . The blue downy skullcap see growing with the cowbane is a member of the mint family and grows taller than most other skullcap kind . Its beautiful , fragrant peak are desirable of cultivation in a backyard garden .
Meadowsweet has fern - like foliage , and its blossom have a stiff , sweet odor . This well - know prairie bloom is used by herbalists to care for a variety of term , include coughs , colds , bronchitis , upturned stomach and bladder infections . It ’s usually the leave that are used in medicine , while the flowers , which can also be used as a natural sweetener , provide flavor .
The jaundiced Rudbeckia at the bottom of the picture , normally called black - eyed Susans , uprise among Phlox ( in purple ) and Virginia passel batch ( in white ) at Jennings Prairie . Although they are wildflowers , these native coinage can also be grown in your menage garden . ( I enjoy Phlox and grow it in my own garden . )
Learn more about wildflowers grown in prairies and elsewhere withHobby Farms’wildflower identification placard .
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