NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/654753
APRIL 2016 • NEBRASKAland 43 leaves are very small and so crowded and closely pressed against each stem that a plant could easily be mistaken for some kind of moss. Until spring, that is, when the silvery foliage all but disappears beneath a profusion of tiny white flowers. Moss phlox has a limited range in Nebraska, primarily the southwestern part of the Panhandle in the Kimball Grasslands. Here it occurs in rocky habitat where the sandstone bedrock of the Ogallala Group is exposed on upland divides and on bluffs and other broken topography. Moss phlox thrives in this dry, windswept habitat where it is often the most common species among the array of cushion and mat-forming plants that turn these "barrens" into miniature gardens in the spring. Pollinator Magnets Most phlox species are highly attractive to pollinating insects. Nectar produced at the base of the flower tube compels butterflies and moths to unfurl their threadlike proboscises and probe the flower, picking up pollen in the process. Western species have smaller flowers with shorter tubes and are important pollen sources for native bees. As these insects move from flower to flower they transfer pollen grains and facilitate the fertilization needed to produce the next crop of seed. Timber phlox is an important floral resource for a variety of insects in early spring, with documented visitors including 14 species of butterflies, six moths, three flies and nine bees. Twenty-three different species of butterflies have been observed visiting prairie phlox, including a number that are now imperiled due to the destruction and fragmentation of tallgrass prairie. Five different species of ground-nesting solitary bees have been found to forage on the flowers of moss phlox. Along with rewarding insect visitors with nectar and pollen, many phlox species lure potential pollinators to their flowers through the use of olfactory signals – what we consider fragrance. To the human nose, the fragrance of phlox flowers resembles cloves, honeysuckle, lilac and even vanilla. The strength of fragrance seems to vary between species. In the Kimball Grasslands region of Nebraska, where large colonies of moss phlox occur, you can often smell the plants before you see them. From the Wild to the Garden The Reverend Charles Simmons Harrison (1832-1919) was a Nebraska minister with a passion for "the floral world." He established a nursery in York around 1876 that would eventually have clientele throughout the United States. He developed many new varieties of garden phlox, as well as iris and peonies. In 1906, he published A Manual on Phlox, a booklet packed with information on growing phlox along with admonishments to plant flowers, well, everywhere. "Adorn the farm home," promised the theologian-nurseryman, and "your young girls will be cultivated ladies and your boys gentlemen instead of boors." The reverend's zeal for phlox in the garden was sparked by an almost otherworldly vision from the wild. He recounts a wagon trip across the tallgrass prairie of Minnesota that found him awash in prairie phlox. "One day I drove through a garden of thousands of acres of wild Phloxes. I never can forget the scene. All around I was greeted with those happy, smiling faces, and all the air was incense laden. Far as the eye could reach I was surrounded by those great masses of loveliness. I was in raptures." Thankfully, wild gardens of phlox can still be found in Nebraska. ■ Jim Locklear is director of conservation at Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha. He is author of the book, Phlox: A Natural History and Gardeners Guide, published by Timber Press in 2011. He was surprised and happy that the publisher chose a photo of prairie phlox for the cover of the book, which Jim took at Dieken Prairie not far from his home in Lincoln. HOOD'S PHLOX flourishes in Nebraska's Panhandle region and is the most widespread of the western species. MOSS PHLOX thrives in tough environs like the Kimball Grasslands in the southwestern part of the Panhandle. PHOTO BY JON FARRAR PHOTO BY JIM LOCKLEAR PHOTO BY JIM LOCKLEAR PHOTO BY JIM LOCKLEAR