Recently my quest to photograph spring flowers led me to two different locations in north Iowa. The first was in the Pinicon Alders Wildlife Area in Mitchell County near the town of McIntire. This is a very nice reserve along the Wapsipinicon River offering a variety of habitats including hardwood forests, prairies and wetlands. While there I captured the above image of Wild Geraniums and a closer up one below.

After this I headed over to Hayden Prairie State Preserve in Howard County near the town of Lime Springs. This is an area preserved as a native tallgrass prairie and offers an adundance of interesting flowers and other plant species. On the day I was there there was an abundance of Shooting Star plants in bloom as pictured below.

Below are shots of two different variations of Downy or Prairie Phlox.

Below is a shot of Idaho blue-eyed grass which can come in a variety of colors.

From past experience I know that the Hayden Prairie Preserve also is a great place to get shots of yellow Lady Slippers in bloom. It was still a little too early for those to be out when I was there so I’ll be going back again soon to try to capture them. In the meantime I hope you are all enjoying the beauty nature has to offer in this magical time of year.