summer

It heats up in summer on Ozarkedge. We live in a humid, subtropical climate. The average high temperature in June is 88º F. July and August have average highs of 91º F, but on any given day we can hit 100º or more. We occasionally get relief from the heat when the temps dip into the 80’s. Those are days to be celebrated. July and August are particularly prone to long spells without rainfall.

Despite the heat, summer brings a beautiful bouquet to the meadows and prairie habitat on Ozarkedge. Here's a sampling of a few of my favorite summer native wildflowers.

Even the rocky glades have native plants that have evolved to survive the sweltering sun heating up the glade limestone. Each year some plants have a 'big' year for flowering and others seem to take some time off. Flowering depends on many factors such as rainfall in the current and previous year, seed set, insects, birds and other reasons we have yet to understand. Below are a few of my favorite summer flowering glade plants.