BY LESLIE REGO
Recently, my husband and I have been walking the Harriman Trail in the evenings. The light is beautiful, catching the variety of flowers and trees and making them glow. We have seen both the white mule’s ear and the yellow mule’s ear shimmering during this golden evening hour. The yellow mule’s ear, which blooms about a week after the white, is not as prolific, but the color is vibrant. Against the greens of the plant’s large leaves, the yellow is arresting.
At times, we wander off the trail to walk amongst the flowers in the meadows where we have found abundant prairie smoke (Geum triflorum). The gentle pinks of the flower mixed in with the whites and yellows of the mule’s ear are a nice find.
Prairie smoke is part of the rose family. The sepals of these flowers fuse together at the base to form a tube, or shallow bowl, where the petals and stamens lie. Prairie smoke is very attractive to bees. The bees are very clever and are able to squeeze themselves into the small opening of the flower head to reach way inside the tube to find the nectar. Bees are the primary way the flowers cross-pollinate. In youth, the flower head of the prairie smoke nods downward. As soon as the bloom is pollinated, the head turns upward and opens up. The petals and sepals, pointing toward the sky, become long and feathery, and look like little bursts of smoke.
The other evening, when we were strolling the trail, the light was catching the prairie smoke just right. The reds of the flowers looked like glowing embers and the feathery plumes looked like wisps of smoke coming off of the embers.
When I am walking the Harriman Trail I am attracted to the grand vista as well as the intimate views. The flowers along the trail are set against the very dramatic Boulder Mountains – the solid and rocky with the delicate and fleeting. But perhaps prairie smoke is one of those plants that is not quite so fleeting. The flower gets more and more interesting as it goes through all of the phases – from bud, to flower, to seed head. Each phase is engaging and the moment of the dying light is a wonderful time to capture all of the transitions.
Prairie smoke during this magic hour looks like a blaze, complete with its wispy plumes, creating great drama against the Boulders.
Leslie Rego is an Idaho Press Club award-winning columnist, artist and Blaine County resident. To view more of Rego’s art, visit www.leslierego.com.