I'm sure that most of the plants on your lists are great and have some wildlife value, Anna, but the ones that jump out at me are - Castillega indivisa/Indian paintbrush - I can only drool at pictures of this beautiful host for buckeyes and fulvia checkerspots since it doesn't occur here, but it's also a good nectar plant for butterflies, and, judging by the looks of the flowers, for hummingbirds, also. It's supposed to be impossible to transplant, but it can be propagated from seeds. If I lived in Oklahoma, I'd order seeds and sow them in a meadow with native grasses - most members of the snapdragon family are parasitic or partially so on grass roots. Centaurea americana - you already have plenty of this - I'd make sure it stays! Antennaria and Artemesia - Both these are host for American ladies, and, if they're as tough as the cudweed in my area, they should be easy to grow. Asclepias, spp. - All of these are desirable, both as hosts for monarchs and the nectar in their flowers, which are real popular with all butterflies. Asters - These give beautiful flowers in the fall that butterflies nectar on, and they're supposed to host pearl crescents. I've planted some rice button asters to add to the naturally occurring asters in hopes of getting PC cats someday. Desmodium - This is the principal host plant for long-tailed skippers in my area - it's VERY easy to grow! Liatris pycnostachya - I just love this beautiful plant, and butterflies love to nectar on the flowers. Tephrosia virginiana/Goat's rue - As far as I know, this plant doesn't host any butterfly, and I've never seen any butterflies or hummers nectaring on the flowers, but it thrives on the poorest, driest, most eroded, pure red/orange clay parts of my property. The rainbow of pastel colors of the flowers is charming, and it might be useful as a host or nectar plant to something - I don't get to the parts of my property where it grows too often. Sherry

I have praire dropseed seedlings that I plan to dig up next spring. Would you be interested? In my zone it is way too late to dig up any grasses. I also have wild quinine (parthenium integrifolia) that I will be digging as well. Any interest in that? LMK Felisa

Iowa Praires presented in Watercolor really tells it all. Check out the book: The Elemental Prairie Sixty Tallgrass Plants Watercolors by George Olson Essay by John Madson This is truly the best portrait of Iowa gone by. I recently had the honor of going to a presentation by George Olson. I've been working on a small praire on my back acreage. I plan on expanding to my road ditches. This was a very good time to bring this to light Ironbelly. Very Well spoken. Whoops writen I mean.

Speaking of annuals for reliable, long lasting color and easy filler, if you want to add some easy and nice touches of color and texture to grasses in a hell strip its hard to beat Indian Blanket cooking in the hot sun out there by the street. They are a new addition to mine and I like the way they look in late afternoon sun with all the fuzzy balls catching the light the same way the grass seeds do. Its easy to pull any unwanted volunteers or yank the whole plant before the seeds shatter. Next year the strip will all have more little bluestem among the flowers since I added several small plants. In truth I'm mainly interested in showing my state pride because Indian Blanket is Oklahoma's designated state wildflower. (do you believe that?) Each helianthus annum plant makes neat and tiny bouquet of solid yellow from spring to fall, they don't get very tall in full sun but they really do like to self sow. They add so much color I don't object personally but they along with lazy daisy would definitely turn a buffalo grass lawn into more of a 6 to 8" low growing meadow so that depends on personal taste. They both stay low in height. Interestingly, they are coming up in various spots downhill from my house, some quite some distance away, they love cracks in sidewalks or by curbs in the street. I also saw some suspiciously familiar looking rudbeckia hirta down there too coming up in the crack of a driveway about 9 houses down the hill.