The "What's Your Favorite" Challenge

By: Barb Holtz

We all have favorite things. (I know you're singing the song from Sound of Music in your head right now.) Favorite Starbucks order: tall latte with skim and one shot of vanilla. Favorite pair of jeans: for skinny and not-so-skinny days, right ladies? Favorite song, favorite movie, favorite child (or at least my kids think that's true.) As plant people, no doubt you have your favorite flower.

So plant people, here's your challenge! Pick one. Pick your favorite summer blooming native wildflower and share it with us. Here are a few of mine to get you thinking...

• Tall Ironweed - it's crazy tall and the purple blossom is a stunner
• Butterfly Milkweed - not usually a fan of orange, but you can't beat the pop of color. Plus, it's a nice medium height for your garden spread.
• Ohio Spiderwort - again, purple especially with the yellow dots from the stamens. I'm a sucker for the purple/yellow contrast.
• Ox Eye Sunflower - classic yellow "daisy". I love its simplicity. Just feels familiar and comforting, like walking into my grandma's kitchen.

But my number one fav is...(drum roll please...)...Grey-headed Coneflower! I even surprised myself with this one because of my affinity for purple and blue blooms. So why this yellow beauty? It's the quintessential prairie plant. Grey-headed Coneflower falls squarely in the center of the OPN logo. You can't get more prairie than that! The deeply cut leaves and dropping rays topped off with pineapple-like disk flowers like a cherry on a sundae.

There you have it. The gauntlet has been dropped. Tell us your favorites throughout August and we'll crown a victor come September. Don't forget to tell us why you love your plant...it's all part of your prairie pick.

So...tweet us your favorite, give us a shout out on Facebook, send us a pic of your fav on Instagram...whichever social media site you prefer! We can't wait to hear from you!

Prairie On!