The Butterfly Garden at the Annett Nature Center is dedicated to the memory of longtime Warren County Conservation Board employee Ken Ball’s late wife, Dorothy, and in Recognition of Ken’s long and heartfelt service to the board. The garden, situated in the center of the circle drive at the ANC, serves as a centerpiece for the entrance to the Annett Nature Center. It consists of numerous raised flower beds, built from native Iowa field stone with crushed brick walkways. The center bed also houses a pair of small ponds and a cascading waterfall surrounded by a brick patio and benches. The outside of the circle drive is set off with large Iowa stones with small flower beds between them.
The flower beds, planted in 1999, hold a large number of native prairie plants that bloom spring, summer and fall. White, purple, orange, yellow and blue are just a few of the colors to be seen. Adding even more interest are the retaining wall terraces on the west side of the building, also planted to flowering native plants, and the prairie restoration area surrounding the ANC, consisting not only of flowering plants, but a variety of native prairie grasses as well.
For a pdf brochure on the Annett Nature Center, including a small map, click here.
Here is a sampling of the plants you can find in the butterfly garden and the grounds around the Annett Nature Center (To get an enlarged view of any picture, simply click on it):
Common Name
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Latin Name
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Photograph
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Sand coreopsis
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Coreopsis lanceolata
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Prairie Coreopsis
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Coreopsis palmata
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Prairie cinquefoil
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Potentilla arguta
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Black-eyed Susan
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Rudbeckia hirta
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Yellow coneflower
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Ratibida pinnata
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Butterfly weed
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Asclepias tuberosa
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Michigan lily
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Lilium michiganense
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Cardinal flower
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Lobelia cardinalis
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Spider wort
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Tradescantia ohiensis
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Meadow blazing star
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Liatris ligulistylis
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Blue flag iris
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Iris virginica shrevei
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Purple milkweed
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Asclepias purpurasces
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Purple Coneflower
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Echinacea purpurea
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Pale purple coneflower
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Echinacea pallida
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Narrow leafed coneflower
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Echinacea angustifloria
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Yellow purple coneflower
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Echinacea paradoxa
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Prairie phlox
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Phlox divariata
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Prairie onion
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Allium stellatum
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New England aster
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Aster novae-angliae
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Prairie smoke
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Geum triflorum
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Purple prairie clover
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Petalostermum purpureum
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White prairie clover
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Petalostermum candidum
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Culver’s Root
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Veronicastrm virginicum
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Rattlesnake master
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Eryngium yuccifolium
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Wild quinine
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Parthenium intergrifolium
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Wild white indigo
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Baptisia leucantha
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Prairie larkspur
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Delphinium virescens
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Foxglove beardtongue
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Penstemon digitalis
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Whorled milkweed
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Asclepias verticillata
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Illinois bundle flower
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Desmanthus illinoiensis
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Shooting star
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Dodecatheon meadia
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Pasque flower
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Anemone patens wolfgangiana
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Canada anemone
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Anemone canadensis
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