A year after planting 110,000 plugs of 11 prairie wildflower species on 12 acres across 5 farms in the Grand Prairie region of Arkansas, the results are spectacular! In one growing season many species have flowered. Butterflies and pollinators abound! Seeds collected off of these production plots will be used to restore prairie habitat across the landscape for birds, bees, butterflies, and other wildlife. The farmers will make money off the sale of that seed. Thus Audubon Arkansas's NATIVE Project is proving that working lands can work for both birds and people.
The species planted so far are: Compassplant (Silphium laciniatum), Prairie Blazingstar (Liatris pycnostachya), Missouri Ironweed (Vernonia missurica), Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), Rough Coneflower (Rudbeckia grandiflora), Pale Purple Coneflower (Ecinacea palida), Ashy Sunflower (Helianthis mollis), Rattlesnake-master (Eryngium yuccifolium), Rough Blazingstar (Liatris aspera), Slender Mountainmint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium), and Cream Wild Indigo (Baptesia bracteata). This year Audubon will work with farmers in the Arkansas River Valley and Blackland Prairie regions to plant additional species into production plots.
What two acres of wildflower production looks like.
