Though we're only a month past the summer solstice, the landscape of mid America is taking on that burned-out look. Driving back to Colorado, the farmlands of Missouri were still verdant but it was a dull, faded green. Pale blue chickory lined the highway and mixed carpets of coneflower, yarrow and blazing star brightened some of meadows but most of the early summer wildflowers had gone to seed. Once in Kansas, only sunflowers brought color to the withering grasslands and, on the High Plains of western Kansas and eastern Colorado, only the wooded stream channels and irrigated cropfields were green.
While the abundant moisture of winter and spring is still evident in the shimmering ponds and healthy-looking trees, the intense sunshine, high temperatures, dry air and relentless winds quickly dessicate the topsoil and the grasslands fade to the dusty browns of fall. They may green-up briefly after heavy summer thunderstorms and early autumn rains but, for all practical purposes, the annual growth of these prairie grasses is over. It's haymaking time on the Plains.
