Since my surgeries have gone well this past year, I am looking forward to working in my yard come spring. I have a list of projects and a list of plants I would love to work on and grow. Including native plants in my yard is a special goal for me.
I grew up in Northeast Iowa spending a lot of time outdoors in a large forested acreage. I was very curious about the plants that grew around me and I would research their names and uses. I still have a booklet I made in school about edible wild plants of Iowa. A lot of these plants grow in central Iowa where I now live, but not naturally in the city.
I hope to beg, borrow or buy seeds or seedlings from my relatives who live in the country. Or purchase from a native plant vendor, locally or online. Prairie Moon Nursery is one such online vendor that I gleefully pin their pictures to my Pinterest project boards. Here are a few flowers that have a special place in my heart.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.firespike.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/aquilegia-canadensis-columbine_flower.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1)
American Columbine
I remember sitting on a rock outside my grandparents house and pinching the tops off of this flower to eat them. We called it a honeysuckle and the roundish tips on the top of the flower were sweet like honey.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.firespike.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/phlox-divaricata-wild-blue-phlox_main.jpg?resize=678%2C1024&ssl=1)
Wild Blue Phlox
One of the most fragrant flowers, I remember picking them on Mother’s Day with my brother and presenting a bouquet to my mom. We called them Sweet Williams and they grew on the edges of the forest in the dappled shade.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.firespike.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/podophyllum-peltatum-may-apple_plant.jpg?resize=678%2C1024&ssl=1)
May Apple
These green umbrellas were everywhere under the trees! We didn’t pick many of them but just seeing them made me happy. It was as if a fairy village had sprung up under the trees.
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