What is blooming now

On tonight's drive I saw:
Phlox, black eyed susan, wind flowers, bedstraw (LOTS), thimble weed, Early sunflower, false gromwell, Yarrow, Meadow rue, Long headed cone flower, Echinacea (just starting), ground cherry, seneca snakeroot, yellow star flower, silver-leaf scurf pea, and prairie lily blooming. The phlox, lily and thimble weed were not blooming on Monday when I brought the RI relatives out for a visit.
Monique is really good at catching dragonflies. She also spotted prairie rose buds. The roses and the purple prairie clover will be blooming soon.
Also, the big bluestem grass on the burned part of the restored prairie is REALLY TALL. It is not showing its seeds yet, so it will get taller yet. The Big blue on the native prairie and the unburned restored prairie is not nearly as tall yet.

The leaves are growing back on the apple tree. It was completely de-foliated by tent caterpillars. The poor tree has not had blossoms for 2 years now due to those pests.

The buffalo berries, while still plentiful, are no longer edible. They still have the yummy pea-pod taste, but are too tough to chew.

The beautiful prairie lily is blooming now. It only blooms a day or two, so I am always excited to see it. We have a couple that bloom in the low area near the culvert, and a couple of plants in the little prairie remnant by the "tower." I have not seen it growing anywhere else on our land.

The wood ticks are especially thick this year. I expect them in late May, but on Monday's walk, we were picking 10-20 off each person. Still, I would chose ticks over mosquitos any day.