It’s been a dry and windy spring here in east-central Nebraska. Up north, including at the Niobrara Valley Preserve, they got a lot of snow this winter, but most of that missed us. Oh well.

Often, when we have dry and windy springs, wildflowers show up a little early because dry and windy is accompanied by warm temperatures. That hasn’t been the case this year. I’m guessing a combination of cool and dry soils is behind what seems like a slow year for plant growth and flowering.

Regardless, spring is marching on, albeit with a distinct limp. This weekend, I spent a few pleasant hours wildflower hunting at Gjerloff Prairie (Prairie Plains Resource Institute) north of Aurora. Appropriately for the year, the early morning temperature was below freezing (27 degrees F) as I waited the sun to come up, and there was frost in the lower valleys.

Like the spring, my hunt started out slowly and I walked a long way before seeing anything in bloom. Eventually, I found some sun sedge plants in a recently-burned patch. Following that, I started to come across more flowers, but they were few and far-between. As the sun rose, the temperatures quickly followed, and it was a beautiful morning to be out, despite the low number of flowers.

I didn’t come across any bees out at Gjerloff Prairie this weekend but I’m sure they’re out and around. I’ve been seeing butterflies in my yard (mostly orange sulphurs, which migrate north to us each spring), along with some moths, flies and wasps. Wild plum and other shrubs are starting to flower, which are always crucial pollinator resources, but might be even more important this spring if the other wildflowers are slow to get started.

Wherever you are, I hope you’ve had the chance to see some spring wildflowers in a prairie near you. (Unless you’re in the southern hemisphere, in which case I hope you’re having a pleasant autumn!) It should be an interesting summer – as always.