APRIL 2018 • NEBRASKAland 33
flowering between prairies is interesting. It is one of those
obscure, little plants we know little about," Whitney said.
"It was strange, but after the severe drought of 2012,
windflower went gangbusters at our Gjerloff Prairie,"
Whitney said. Owned by Prairie Plains and located on the
south bluff of the Platte River in Hamilton County, the
160-acre Gjerloff Prairie consists of flat-bottomed canyons
with intervening knobs and plateaus with loess soils. Here,
windflower grows on flats and gentle slopes, and avoids
steeper hillsides.
Whitney explained that at Gjerloff the drought stressed the
dominant grasses, such as big and little bluestem, leaving
openings in the prairie sod. With reduced competition, in
2013 windflower began to spread via rhizomes, flowered
more, and likely produced more seed and eventually
seedlings.
Not only the drought, but management at Gjerloff also has
stimulated windflower and other wildflowers, such as prairie
violet, puccoons and wild dandelion. In recent years, Prairie
Plains has burned portions of the prairie in April. Then,
a few weeks later after the grass has sprouted, staff turn
cattle out on the prairie for a few months. Though they have
access to burned and unburned grassland, the cattle mostly
graze the fresh and nutritious grass regrowth on burned
areas and generally avoid grazing wildflowers, allowing
them to flourish. This management attempts to simulate the
presettlement disturbance pattern of periodic prairie wildfires
and grazing by roaming bison herds under which the prairie
flora evolved and thrived.
Prior to its purchase by Prairie Plains in 2002, Gjerloff
Prairie had sparse wildflowers, but now it has a rich native
flora, beautiful and inspiring. "After the dreariness of
winter, I look forward to the fleeting burst of windflowers,"
Whitney said. "It tells me spring is coming."
■
As windflower seed heads mature, they fluff out, exposing the
feathery-haired seeds to dispersing winds.
A colony of white windflowers on a Platte River bluff prairie in Hall County. Because colonies are a single genetic individual, their
flowers are of one color.
PHOTO
BY
CHRIS
HELZER
PHOTO
BY
GERRY
STEINAUER
PHOTO
BY
GERRY
STEINAUER
