My stepson Atticus and I had a fun discussion about writing this morning and he reminded me about an April Fools post I wrote back in 2013. It’s the only time I’ve purposely misled my audience on this blog, and even then, I tried to make it pretty obvious that I was being funny, not serious. I hadn’t read the post in a long time and I enjoyed revisiting it. Here’s a link to it in case you’re interested.

The post also made me think about lobelias, since that was part of its topic. We have three different lobelia species that grow and bloom in our Platte River prairies. Palespike lobelia (Lobelia spicata) is the smallest and earliest bloomer, and grows in mesic sites. Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) and blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) grow in wetter habitats, often along the edges of wetlands and streams.

All three species are wonderful, and are always a welcome sight when they bloom. Cardinal flower is certainly the most spectacular, its scarlet color rare among wildflowers and particularly attractive to hummingbirds. Palespike lobelia doesn’t blare its presence nearly as loudly. It is often widely scattered across the prairie and its small flowers aren’t visible from very far away. Trying to find the post-flowering stems for seed harvest can be incredibly difficult, but each plant rewards the finder with hundreds of seeds. Blue lobelia has been the most difficult for me to photograph, but only because I struggle to get my camera to capture the beauty that is so obvious in person.

Here is a quick visual celebration of these three lobelia species to hold all of us over until mid-late summer when they start blooming again.