Not all of the fireworks are up in the air during the month of July! The Indiana Dunes are bursting with wildflowers of all shapes and colors. Flowers are blooming in the wetlands from West Beach to Cowles Bog, so check out our “July Hotspots” below, and then head outdoors to see how many of these treasures you can spot before they’re gone!
Visit the Indiana Dunes Flower Quest homepage for important information, and then grab your camera and hit the trails! Be sure to share pictures of the treasures you spy at #DunesFlowerQuest.
Need some help identifying your discoveries? Try identify.plantnet.org.
Butterfly weed (or Butterfly Milkweed), a common plant with an uncommonly beautiful flower, is found throughout the midwest and the plains. It’s also an incredibly useful plant! Native Americans used fibres from its dried stems for rope and clothing, and its medicinal qualities earned it another common nickname, Pleurisy Root. Oh, and in spite of its name, it really doesn’t have milky sap, although butterflies do like its lovely flowers!
Reference the Quest Map to help guide you to this flower.
This unique flower looks a little like a golf ball with delicate spines all over it (or some say a pin cushion!), but it’s actually a sphere of tightly clustered white blossoms. The buttonbush grows in wetlands and other low-lying areas, and its seeds are a favorite for ducks and shorebirds. In bloom, it attracts butterflies, and because bees also enjoy it, it’s also called a honey-bell!
Reference the Quest Map to help guide you to this flower.
There is nothing common about this wonderful plant: it feeds over 450 species of insects, and it is the crucial food source for monarch butterfly larvae. In fact, the common milkweed produces a chemical that, when consumed by the monarch, helps it deter predators by making it mildly toxic to birds. Planting milkweed in your garden is a simple step you can take to help these wonderful butterflies, and you’ll be glad you did–the milkweed produces lovely clusters of pink and purple flowers, and they smell wonderful!
Reference the Quest Map to help guide you to this flower.
With its white petals and yellow florets in the center, this member of the aster family definitely lives up to the daisy in its name, although its flea-repellent nature is the stuff of stories and superstition. Still, it does attract a number of small bees and flies, and although its flowers look delicate, this hardy plant can thrive in a number of environments, even along roadsides, and can help stabilize soil and protect against erosion.
Reference the Quest Map to help guide you to this flower.
This attractive pink flower is native to Europe and Asia, and can now be found on both coasts and throughout the midwest. Given its beauty, the name might seem puzzling: it harkens back to a Roman naturalist named Pliny, who wrote that the name stems from the belief that the root of the plant could cure the bite of a rabid dog!
Reference the Quest Map to help guide you to this flower.
This plant with numerous small white flowers grows in a variety of soils, and gets its name from the latin word for “to purge,” a reference to its early use in addressing stomach ailments. This toxic plant is hardly medicinal, however: Contact with it can cause everything from redness to blisters, and it can even be fatal to cattle if consumed in large quantities. This is definitely a beauty worth admiring from a distance!
Reference the Quest Map to help guide you to this flower.
This unique plant can grow up to four feet tall, and it gets its name from its distinctive drooping (or nodding) stalk covered with small white flowers. It thrives in wetlands, and is also known as the “water dragon,” making it a perfect part of the Flower Quest!
Reference the Quest Map to help guide you to this flower.
These native wildflowers are found in the eastern half of the United States, and they are actually a part of the mint family, making their leaves quite fragrant when crushed. With their tubular purple flowers, they are favorites of bees, butterflies, and even hummingbirds, and their seeds provide food for goldfinches and other birds.
Reference the Quest Map to help guide you to this flower.
Pitcher plants are one of the few native carnivorous plants, and they get their name from their pitcher-like shape. These amazing plants capture rainwater in the base of their flowers, and when an insect crawls into the pitcher, small hairs on the petals keep it from leaving. When the unlucky victim falls into the water below, enzymes produced by the plant dissolve the insect so the plant can consume its nutrients. Incredibly, as lethal as that sounds, the pitcher plant also provides a safe haven for the larvae of two different species of mosquitoes!
IMPORTANT: Purple Pitcher Plants can only be seen at Pinhook Bog, which is only accessible via ranger-led open houses on summer weekends.
Reference the Quest Map to help guide you to this flower.
These lovely white flowers are related to carnations, and sometimes the blossoms are so large the plants droop from the weight! Although it produces no real aroma, it is a favorite of a number of moths.
Reference the Quest Map to help guide you to this flower.
We don’t often associate wildflowers with pine trees, but the tamarack isn’t like other pine trees! Not only does it lose its needles in the fall, but its delicate pinecones resemble roses as they begin to grow. They thrive in wetlands and bogs, making them quite at home in Pinhook Bog.
IMPORTANT: Tamarack can be seen at Pinhook Bog, which is only accessible via ranger-led open houses on summer weekends.
Reference the Quest Map to help guide you to this flower.
The beautiful white flowers of the water lily are a beautiful and fleeting sight: only a few days after opening, when the plants have pollinated and been pollinated, they disappear under the water, where the plants’ seeds mature. The currents and waterfowl then disperse the seeds. Because of their wonderful aroma, they are also known as the “Fragrant water-lily.”
Reference the Quest Map to help guide you to this flower.
These distinctive plants have flowers that grow in small, spiky clusters at the top of their stems. The white beakrush thrives in the relatively inhospitable soils of bogs and fens, and it gets its name from the beak-like shape of its seeds.
IMPORTANT: White Beakrush can be seen at Pinhook Bog, which is only accessible via ranger-led open houses on summer weekends.
Reference the Quest Map to help guide you to this flower.
Please note that Pinhook Bog is only accessible via guided tour and some West Beach wetlands are visible from the trail edge only.
The story of the monarch butterfly is one of incredible transformation and epic travel. We are also part of this adventure, and each of us can play a key role in the survival of the monarch. Believe it or not, it can be as simple as planting milkweed.
