I had a very pleasant hike last night at Gjerloff Prairie, a nearby site owned and managed by Prairie Plains Resource Institute. It was breezy, which made photography challenging, but there was a lot going on. Rain from earlier in the day was moving off to the east, and the cloud remnants were trailing behind the front, breaking up as they followed.

This time of year, flowers are becoming more abundant, but most are small enough they’re not obvious from the distance. Ragwort, pussytoes, blue-eyed grass, violets, prairie dandelion, showy vetchling, and others are all going strong, but the visual aesthetic of the prairie is still driven by last year’s grass, with this year’s grass inserting itself into the picture from beneath. The flowers aren’t hiding, so much as they require proximity to be seen. That provides a nice incentive to hike. Here are a few shots from last night.