Jewels of the Plains: Wildflowers of the Great Plains Grasslands and Hills by Claude A. Barr (review)

Twenty-five years ago I planted a small wildflower garden in front of my prairie home. It was meant to be an alternative to grass, which had to be mowed and watered. It has matured into a lovely little piece of prairie. Soon I was collecting grocery bags of Missouri evening primrose seedpods and smaller quantities of other seeds, which were given to others. When I started a “restoration” project on five acres of previously plowed ground, this little garden became a good source of native seed. It is easy for me to see how Claude Barr’s wildflower garden became a source of income and inspiration.

In 1994 my husband and I returned from working abroad to our home in the Flint Hills of Kansas. I immersed myself into the prairie around my house, learning as much as I could about the native plants, animals, and geology. One of the first books I purchased was Jewels of the Great Plains. It was not a field guide you could slip into your pocket, but the rich stories and descriptions were inspiring. I decided to write about my experiences wandering the tallgrass prairie. A sample of my stories was sent off to a publisher. It was turned down. I put Claude Barr’s book away and went on to other things. Now the opportunity has arisen to renew the joy of my 1994 reading in this revised edition.

Claude Barr was a true “plants man.” His generation and the generations before him abounded with men scouring the globe for plants of agricultural and horticultural value. While others traveled the world, Claude did what he could on limited resources. He stayed “home” in the Great Plains of North America. His love for the land is obvious in this description of the Kansas-Colorado border: “The distant view has a lonely, quieting effect, bringing a sense of things as they ought to be and a wonderment that any portion of the earth’s surface could be so perfect.”

Barr was an intelligent and educated man. He turned down an opportunity to pursue graduate study at Harvard to help his parents survive on the farm in South Dakota. Self-educated in the botany and geology of the region, Barr presents his list of topographical features in order “to depict novel and attractive characteristics of the region, as well as to correct the common concept of the Great Plains as a featureless expanse.” Chapter 1 describes the land from Saskatchewan to the High Plains of Texas, including the Llano Estacado. Interestingly, he explains the Llano Estacado without mentioning the legacy of Spanish exploration of the Great Plains.

His simple explanation of why the central portion of our continent is open prairie is the same as I taught in my role as educator at a biological field station, except that he speaks of the “shortgrass prairie” where drought is the greater enemy of trees than fire. His reiteration of the role water plays in the lives of prairie plants is important for gardeners to respect.

Barr’s descriptions of Great Plains native plants, which is the majority of the book, are better than the field guides with their difficult botanical verbiage. For example, the lyrical description of pasqueflower brought back fond memories of my 17 years living in Minnesota. Some species not well known to him nor thriving in his garden have shorter descriptions, less lovingly described. He warns us about the dangers of species that spread (both introduced and native), a problem that has become of major importance today.

James Locklear’s introduction and notes, especially the additional comments on other species of garden merit, add value to this edition without interfering with Barr’s personal account. I highly recommend this book to gardeners and lovers of wildflowers everywhere.