As I look out into my prairie, one plant sticks out like a scarecrow in a cornfield.  One of my compass plants in our prairie is taller than I have ever seen.  I stand 6′1″, and I can’t reach the top of it.  I estimate that is about 9′ tall and it seems to grow taller everyday.  Every morning, I check on it to see if a gust of wind made it snap, but so far, it is still standing tall.  The flowers are about to bloom, so I hope it stays intact.

As I was taking a drive through Ottawa today, I stopped by a spot along the Fox River to check out what was flowering.  The Purple Prairie Clover had just started to bloom as well as a couple differnet milkweeds.  It’s good to see some purple flowers starting to bloom to compliment all the yellow flowers.

As I was driving into Marseilles today, I spotted a small patch of Hoary Puccoon in the ditch.  I knew right away it was a Puccoon, but wasn’t sure which one until I consulted my plant book.  This is one of several locations that I found hoary puccoon growing in so far.

As my family and I were taking a hike at  Starved Rock State Park, we cam across a large patch of Bent Trillium.  We have taken this hike lots of times, but have never seen it before.  It was only by chance we found it because we ended up taking a slightly different path than normal.  The flowers were quite horizontal, and hardly drooping, so they made for perfect position for picture taking.

I found my first flowering plant of the season. I came across a couple bunches of Round-lobed hepatica while hiking at Starved Rock State Park.  The petals were white with a lavender hue.  Lots of other plants were starting to sprout, so I look forward to seeing more as a sign that spring really is here.