Pasque flower found blooming in the burn zone

We found pasque flower blooming on March 21 in the 7-acre prescribed burn zone. This is the first time we have documented this species at Elysian Prairie. The plants were coming up through bare soil left by the burn, which is typical. Pasque flower is one of the earliest blooming forbs on the prairie calendar, often pushing up before the last frost. It depends on open ground and full sun, and it does not compete well where thatch has built up. The fact that it appeared in the burn zone and not elsewhere on the property tells us the fire did what we needed it to do — it set back the duff layer and gave low-growing natives a chance.

Pasque flower is also a native bee resource at a time of year when almost nothing else is flowering. That matters. Early pollinators need something to work, and this plant provides it before most others have broken dormancy.

Finding it here, on its own, without any seeding on our part, is a sign the soil and seed bank are responding to the work.