This genus is extremely varied in its plant forms and habitats, ranging from large, succulent trees and tiny, compact succulents to herbaceous perennials and semi- or evergreen, herbaceous shrubs. Their unique flower structure consists of conspicuous leaf bracts of yellow, red, purple, brown, or green, with tiny male and female floral parts in contrasting colors. Many species are notable for these peculiar flowers, as well as their handsome foliage and their remarkable form.
Prairie Walk on Main
Artists on Main Street
In the Fall of 2021, museum staff attended a workshop on Creative Placemaking, which was the jumping off point for the Prairie Walk on Main Street. PTRM was awarded a grant to build a native plant bed in the Community Garden as a way to revive the popular Prairie Walk, which used to be on museum grounds. Staff got to work, enlisting local artist Paul Swanson to build the garden bed and get it placed on Main Street in the Spring of 2022. Plants were planted and continue to be maintained by museum staff throughout the summer season. In the Fall and Spring, seeds are planted in the hopes that new plants will grow the next year. Be sure to plan a stop to the Community Garden when you visit Bowman and check out the Prairie Walk on Main, as well as all the other wonderful Main Street businesses!
Below you’ll find information on each of the different plants in the garden.
Artists on Main Street in Bowman is a program in partnership between North Dakota Commerce, Bowman
County Development Corporation, Springboard for the Arts, and Rethos: Places Reimagined.
Plants in the Prairie Walk on Main for Summer 2024
Lobelia:
Lobelia is a genus of more than 400 species of flowering plants in the bellflower family (Campanulaceae) native to nearly all the temperate and warmer regions of the world, except central and eastern Europe and western Asia.
The genus has a great diversity of forms, and species frequently appear dissimilar from each other. However, most members have simple leaves borne alternately along the stems and two-lipped tubular flowers. The flowers generally have five lobes, often with two erect upper lobes and a lower fan formed of the remaining three lobes.
The most commonly found lobelia in North Dakota is the Great Blue Lobelia (lobelia siphilitica), a blue counterpart to the Cardinal Flower. The unfortunate species name, siphilitica, is based on the fact that it was a supposed cure for syphilis.
Euphorbia:
Rudbeckia:
Rudbeckia is a plant genus in the Asteraceae or composite family. Rudbeckia flowers feature a prominent, raised central disc in black, brown shades of green, and in-between tones, giving rise to their familiar common names of coneflowers and black-eyed-susans. All are native to North America.
The species are herbaceous, mostly perennial plants with simple or branched stems. The leaves are spirally arranged, entire to deeply lobed, and the flowers are produced in daisy-like inflorescences, with yellow or orange florets arranged in a prominent, cone-shaped head; “cone-shaped” because the ray florets tend to point out and down as the flower head opens.
Portulaca: Portulaca is a genus of flowering plants in the family Portulacaceae, and is the type genus of the family. With over 100 species, it is found in the tropics and warm temperate regions. Portulacas are also known as the purslanes.
Common purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is widely consumed as an edible plant, and in some areas it is invasive. Portulaca grandiflora is a well-known ornamental garden plant. Purslanes are relished by chickens. Some Portulaca species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the nutmeg moth
Helianthus:
Helianthus is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae, commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of Helianthus are native to North America and Central America. The best-known species is the common sunflower (Helianthus annuus). This and other species, notably Jerusalem artichoke (H. tuberosus), are cultivated in temperate regions and some tropical regions, as food crops for humans, cattle, and poultry, and as ornamental plants. The species H. annuus typically grows during the summer and into early fall, with the peak growth season being mid-summer.
Several perennial Helianthus species are grown in gardens, but have a tendency to spread rapidly and can become aggressive. They grow to 6 feet and are primarily found in woodlands, adjacent to creeks and moist, prairie-like areas.
Geranium:
Geranium is a genus of 422 species of annual, biennial, and perennial plants that are commonly known as geraniums or cranesbills. They are found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, with the greatest diversity in the eastern part of the Mediterranean region.
The palmately cleft leaves are broadly circular in form. The flowers have five petals and are coloured white, pink, purple, or blue, often with distinctive veining. Geraniums will grow in any soil as long as it is not waterlogged.