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This Morning Outsideby Diane PorterJune 22, 2010 Summer is in full swing now. Coneflowers are just beginning to bloom.
I love to see the native wildflowers doing well in the place where they were born. Coneflowers are a characteristic plant of tallgrass prairie, which is where we are, here in Iowa. Birds like them, too! I've seen goldfinches eating the petals. My guess is that the birds are taking in the carotenoids, the chemicals in the flower that make things yellow. Yellow flowers. Yellow birds. The goldfinches have to get the yellow-making stuff from their food. And after the flowers are finished blooming, many kinds of birds eat the seeds. Free bird seed. Free color for the goldfinches. Free beauty in the environment. So many reasons to love coneflowers! —Diane Porter
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