Iowa
A tour of peaceful Iowa wildflower videos
Readers often tell me they appreciate Bleeding Heartland’s wildflower series as a break from the stress of following political news and the negative energy of social media. I feel the same way when I browse the hundreds of lovely photographs in the Iowa wildflower Wednesday archive.
But for a truly peaceful experience, nothing beats spending time with wildflowers in the real world. When you are stuck indoors, spending a few minutes with Iowa wildflower videos can a pretty good substitute for wandering around natural habitat.
This post features some of my favorite Iowa wildflower videos by two of Bleeding Heartland’s occasional guest authors: Bruce Morrison and Katie Byerly. Their YouTube channels (Bruce Morrison and Iowa Prairie Girl) are delightful in their own ways.
VIEWS FROM PRAIRIE HILL FARM
Bruce has been a working artist and photographer for many years, and along with his wife Georgeann has been restoring prairie patches in rural southeast O’Brien County for more than two decades. I’ve been fortunate to visit the Prairie Hill Farm Studio and view some of Bruce’s artwork in Morrison’s studio—a renovated late 1920s brooding house/sheep barn.
I discovered Bruce’s wildflower videos relatively recently, but he’s got lots of experience with this medium. He uploaded “Mid Summer at Prairie Hill Farm” way back in 2011—the year before I wrote the first installment of “Iowa wildflower Wednesday.” And it’s not even the oldest one on his channel!
Bruce’s videos generally follow the same format. No script, no narrator, no subtitles. Just images of native plants (and pollinators) with the sounds of nature as accompaniment. Even without being able to identify the birds or insects visiting the wildflowers, it’s so relaxing to watch and listen.
More recently, Bruce has produced shorter “Prairie Moment” videos, focusing on one native species for a minute or so. Here’s the latest example, showcasing Big Bluestem with views of different parts of the plant, at various stages of development.
Bruce typically treats the viewer to a few pollinator visits, as with this prairie moment featuring false gromwell.
The plants are often swaying in a light breeze. Here’s prairie rose, Iowa’s state flower.
Some plants are subdued and not at all “showy,” like Porcupine grass.
Others are bright and cheerful, like this view of butterfly milkweed (one of Iowa’s few orange wildflowers).
Speaking of cheerful, let’s spend a few minutes with Katie, whose wildflower videos take a different approach.
EXPLORING NORTHERN IOWA WITH PRAIRIE DOG
Katie launched her channel about five years ago. In nearly 60 installments, she takes viewers to a wide variety of natural areas—usually not far from her home base in Cerro Gordo County.
Katie narrates all of her videos, sharing tips on how to identify various Iowa wildflowers. In this installment on blue vervain (one of her most-watched), Katie takes viewers into a drainage ditch to describe the leaves, stalks, spikes, and flowers, and how to distinguish these plants differ from the related species hoary vervain.
She also informs viewers about any notable facts about the featured plant, such as the anti-itch properties of jewelweed (one of my personal favorites).
Katie says white wild indigo is one of her own favorites.
Last year’s video on big bluestem (one of the hallmark tallgrass prairie plants) was popular as well. Katie likes to share alternative common names for each plant—in this case tall bluestem, blue joint, beard grass, turkey foot, cattle’s ice cream (because cows love to eat it), and king of the prairie.
I got a kick out of Katie’s video about Maximilian sunflower, one of those “damn yellow composites” (which can be challenging to distinguish from one another). She threw in a little bit of folklore, explaining that sunflowers have been seen as symbols of loyalty, good luck, or truth: “If you sleep on a sunflower, put it underneath your pillow, the next day the truth will be revealed to you.”
Some of Katie’s wildflower videos have a bonus feature: her companion Prairie Dog. Look at her sweet face resting on Katie’s leg for several minutes as we learn about stiff gentian.
I hope you’ll take some time exploring both of these channels. Watching Iowa wildflower videos is bound to be less stressful than whatever YouTube’s algorithm thinks you want to see.
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers on offense, defense development
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers on how the Cyclones offense and defense is developing.
After securing multiple commitments on the offensive side of the ball, Iowa State football has landed its first defensive commitment in the 2027 recruiting class.
Keaton Wollan, a three-star linebacker out of Amery, Wisconsin, committed to the Cyclones on April 21. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound linebacker announced his decision on social media.
He chose Iowa State over other offers from Texas Tech and North Dakota State. He previously visited Ames in March, but he also took recent visits to Minnesota and Wisconsin.
As a junior at Amery High School, Wollan was a two-way standout and earned all-state honors for the 2025 season. Defensively, he racked up a team-high 125 total tackles, including nine for loss and 1.5 sacks. He also had four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, three interceptions and one defensive touchdown.
Offensively, he had a team-high 932 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on 160 carries. He also caught 15 passes for 179 yards, and he was an impact player in the return game, logging more than 500 kick and punt return yards.
According to 247 Sports Composite rankings, Wollan is the No. 93 linebacker prospect in the country and the No. 11 overall recruit in his class from the state of Wisconsin.
Wollan is the sixth player to commit in the Cyclones’ 2027 recruiting class.
Iowa State football 2027 recruiting commitments
As of April 21
- Gavin Ericson-Staton, OL | Lombard, Illinois/Montini Catholic
- Isaiah Hansen, RB | Newton, Iowa/Newton HS
- Koen Hinzman, OL | Hudson, Michigan/Hudson Area HS
- Will Slagle, OL | Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell HS
- Bryson Thompson, WR | San Antonio, Texas/Claudia Taylor Johnson HS
- Keaton Wollan, LB | Amery, Wisconsin/Amery HS
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.
Avoiding common car crashes
Discover the common causes of car crashes and learn how to avoid them.
Prepare for more overnight closures at the northeast mixmaster as the Iowa Department of Transportation closes the ramp connecting westbound Interstate 80 and northbound Interstate 35.
Here’s what to know.
When will the Iowa DOT close the westbound I‑80 to northbound I‑35 ramp?
The westbound I-80 to northbound I-35 ramp will be closed to traffic from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. the next morning from April 21-24.
What’s the detour when the Iowa DOT closes the westbound I‑80 to the northbound I‑35 ramp?
During the closures, drivers wanting to go from westbound I‑80 to northbound I‑35 will follow a signed detour.
Instead of taking the closed ramp, motorists will stay on westbound I‑80, bypassing the northeast mixmaster connection. They’ll then exit at U.S. Highway 69, turn around, and head back east on I‑80, where they can connect to northbound I‑35 using the open portion of the northeast mixmaster.
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
An Iowa women’s basketball transfer portal visitor committed to one of the Hawkeyes’ conference foes instead. Former Iowa State guard Kenzie Hare took a visit to Iowa during her transfer portal recruitment, but the 5-foot-9 guard committed to Indiana on Sunday night.
Hare had several visits throughout her transfer portal recruiting process, including trips to Michigan and Illinois State, but the Des Moines Register’s Chad Leistikow reported that Hare also visited Iowa.
On3’s Talia Goodman reported Hare’s commitment to the Hoosiers.
Hare has one year of eligibility remaining. This past season with the Cyclones, in 32 games played and 31 starts, Hare averaged 6.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game on 40.5% field goal shooting and 40% from 3-point range. A hip injury limited Hare to just 10 games during her first year with the Cyclones in the 2024-25 season.
The soon-to-be redshirt senior transferred to Iowa State before the 2024-25 campaign after spending two seasons at Marquette from 2022-24. Hare averaged a career-best 14 points per game on 45.5% field goal shooting and 42.5% 3-point shooting during the 2023-24 season with the Golden Eagles.
Had Iowa been able to lure the Naperville, Ill., native to Iowa City, Hare would have been another valuable addition to the Hawkeyes’ backcourt depth. But, Iowa has landed other backcourt reinforcements throughout this transfer portal cycle.
The Hawkeyes inked both Dani Carnegie and Amari Whiting.
Carnegie was a first-team All-SEC selection this past season at Georgia, averaging 17.8 points per game on 42.7% field goal shooting, 35.4% from 3-point range and 83.3% from the free-throw line. Whiting averaged 9.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.8 steals per game on 42.5% field goal shooting, 32.1% 3-point accuracy, and 71.6% free-throw shooting.
As Hare joins a promising core of players in Bloomington, the Hawkeyes will once again face the former Cyclone at least once this upcoming season as part of their Big Ten regular-season slate.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions. Follow Scout on X: @SpringgateNews
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