Gardener's Guide to July Wildflowers

A Year in Wildflowers, #4

This wildflower identification guide includes over twenty common summer blooming wildflowers with photographs. Gardener’s Guide to July Wildflowers allows easier identification of wildflowers in the field because it is composed only of the early summer wildflowers of the season. 
Summer blooming wildflowers tend to be flowers of the vast great American prairie. The prairies occupied the interior of the North American continent and supported a cornucopia of flowers, grasses and herbs. The prairies have disappeared and these former prairie wildflowers now occupy sunny meadows and roadsides throughout the Midwest.

These prairie wildflowers follow the early spring wildflowers in the bloom cycle and will continue blooming until autumn. These summer flowers brighten the landscape with their color, their nectar feeds a myriad of insects and the leaves serve as food for many animals that graze on them. The resulting seeds also serve as a valuable food source for birds and rodents.