Wonderful wildflowers

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This article was published 26/03/2022 (1491 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“You belong among the wildflowers

You belong in a boat out at sea

You belong with your love on your arm

You belong somewhere you feel free”

Tom Petty, Wildflowers

Hoary puccoon and dragon’s mouth, bee balm and showy lady’s slipper. Their names are as intriguing and unfamiliar as the places they choose to show themselves — sandy roadsides, dark boreal bogs, windswept hills and waterlogged ditches. These are Manitoba’s wildflowers and a closer look will reveal a world of wonder and beauty, right there at our toes.

The season begins with Manitoba’s official flower, the prairie crocus, the pale blue petals appearing as the final clumps of snow disappear into the spring air. Although it certainly looks like a member of the crocus genus, our local favourite more closely resembles a buttercup, botanically speaking. Technically, it’s Anemone patens and it grows from seed and not a bulb as a true crocus does. Those hairy petals cluster around its yellow centre, keeping the plant warm on those chilly nights in April when frosts threaten. Prairie crocuses like to grow in colonies, so if you spot one, have a spin around where others are likely to be lurking. They like sunny and sandy spots.

Best Spots: Living Prairie Museum, Winnipeg, Spruce Woods Provincial Park, Narcisse Wildlife Management Area

Summer Favourites

That iridescent blue bloom will let you know right away that it’s a fringed gentian. But spotting one is easier said than done. These finicky late bloomers like soil that stays damp in full sun—not an easy feat. They don’t like competition and individual plants only live for two years. Plus, they won’t show their colours on cloudy days. So consider yourself lucky is you find one.

Best Spot: Steep Rock

If you start to smell lilacs while on a hiking trail, chances are a spreading dogbane is near. The bushy perennial likes to take up lots of space and send out endless blooms. The small pink, bell-like flowers smell wonderful and sport stripes inside that are a deeper colour. If some milky liquid comes from broken stem or leaf, you know it’s a dogbane. Plus they are a favourite home of the Fritillary family of butterflies.

Best Spot: Hecla Island Provincial Park

Northern Belles

It’s a succulent perennial edible and likely one of the most astonishing wildflowers you’ll see. The tiny white symmetrical blooms of sea beach sandwort pop out of a mat of green that clings in clumps to the coastal shoreline atop rocks and shells. The leaves are high in vitamins A and C and salty! They make a delicious addition to a mixed green salad.

Best Spot: Hudson Bay coastline

Labrador tea

A forager’s favourite. Clusters of linen white flowers appear in June, standing out among the dark underbrush of black spruce where the flowering shrub loves to grow. Harvest the leaves anytime of the year for a lemony, sprucey drink that’s long been a favourite of Indigenous peoples.

Best Spot: Thompson

Bog Buddies

The phrase ‘needle-in-a-haystack’ applies to finding a stand of calypso orchids. Named after the Greek nymph who was good at concealing herself, these thumbnail-sized orchids are simply beautiful with their pink petals, white lip, purple spots and a yellow beard. They favour boggy spots with plenty of cover overhead. Get down low for the best view.

Best Spot: Pisew Falls Provincial Park

Pitcher plants

These have deep tubes that attract insects, making then carnivorous and a little scary. But flies need not worry about the flowers of this purple bog plant. The blooms are odd in that they hang down, looking ready to drop right off. But in fact they provide nectar and pollen to visiting bees.

Best Spot: Brokenhead Wetland Interpretive Trail

Tools of the Trade

A library of reference books will provide a lifetime of discoveries. Lone Pine Publishing offers excellent choices including Manitoba Wayside Wildflowers and Edible and Medicinal Plants of Canada. Wildflowers of Churchill and the Hudson Bay Region by Karen L. Johnson is excellent for northern species.

shel@shelzolkewich.com