77th round entry:

This summer one of my goals has been to find natural treasures close to home. Today we drove just 10 minutes to a community park I had never visited before. Besides the typical playground, baseball fields, and walking track, there is a 3 acre prairie habitat. I was a little “late to the party” this year as many of the native flowers were past their blooming stage and the prairie grasses were over my head! However there were still a few flowers popping with color. This is the only one of these flowers I came across so I am glad I captured it’s beauty! I look forward to visiting this park several times next year. To maintain diverse and vibrant native plants and control invasive non-native plants “controlled” burns prescribed periodically. The most recent prescribed burns of this habitat were March of 2016 and 2018. I would think they will have another “controlled” burn soon.

Photo shot with iPhone on 8/8/2021 in Olivette, Missouri, USA.