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
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
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.
Cleome:
Cleome is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cleomaceae, commonly known as spider flowers, spider plants, spider weeds, or bee plants.
Previously, it had been placed in the family Capparaceae, until DNA studies found the Cleomaceae genera to be more closely related to the Brassicaceae than the Capparaceae.
The Native Americans found many uses for Cleome, for everything from a treatment for stomach ailments, a poultice for the eyes, a recipe for a strong voice, ceremonial blood rituals, to cooking in stews and salads and even to decorate pottery.