Since I started Bleeding Heartland’s weekly wildflower series in 2012, I’ve planned to feature Iowa’s state flower, the wild rose. However, for whatever reason I never ran across this plant at the peak of its blooming period when I had my camera handy. This year I was determined to catch some wild rose blossoms, so a couple of weeks ago I headed down to the Stamps Family Farm near Chariton (Lucas County), having received a tip that roses were flowering. Fortunately for me, the rain let up just before I arrived.

After the jump I’ve enclosed photographs of native wild roses, along with a few pictures of multiflora roses. Rosa multiflora is considered an invasive species in much of North America, native to eastern Asia and brought here “as garden plants and as root stock for ornamental roses.” It’s on the noxious weed list of Iowa and several neighboring states and is a common sight out in the country.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Thanks to Iowa naturalist Eileen Miller, Bleeding Heartland is able to feature two more native plants I’ve never seen in person–only in wildflower guides. Eileen contributed the commentary about hoary puccoon and fringed puccoon as well as the beautiful photographs below.

This is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

This week’s featured wildflower can be grown in gardens without too much trouble and is popular with many species of bees. According to Wildflowers of Iowa Woodlands by Sylvan Runkel and Alvin Bull, Penstemon species are commonly called beardtongue because “One of the five stamens is sterile and does not produce pollen. It is often modified into a hairy or bearded tongue and probably attracts insects.” The blue or purple lines sometimes seen inside the tubular flowers are also believed to “function as nectar guides to visiting insects.”

After the jump I’ve enclosed several pictures of beardtongue in bloom, not far from Gray’s Lake in Des Moines. The last two photos show this wildflower near other plants I haven’t identified. If you know what they are, please post a comment in this thread or send me an e-mail: desmoinesdem AT yahoo.com.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

To match this exciting week in Iowa politics, it’s only fitting to share an exciting wildfower. Eileen Miller contributed the spectacular photographs of Golden Corydalis (Corydalis aurea), as well as the commentary. Although this plant is native to Iowa and much of North America, I’ve never seen it in real life–only in wildflower guides.

This post is also an open thread: all topics welcome.

Today’s featured wildflower comes courtesy of Leland Searles, a photographer, birder, naturalist, Iowa Master Conservationist, Master River Steward, and owner of the ecological consulting firm Leeward Ecology. He contributed the photographs and commentary below about Golden Alexanders, a brilliant yellow spring wildflower. You can view more of his photography here. Lee also put together the Raccoon River Watershed Phenology calendar, which is a must-have for Iowans who love native plants and any wildlife (mammals, birds, reptiles, insects).

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

After dandelions, violets may be the native plants most frequently spotted on Iowa homeowners’ lawns. While we usually think of violets as being blue or purple, I’ve also seen many yellow and white violets around the neighborhood and along bike paths. According to Wildflowers of Iowa Woodlands by Sylvan Rukel and Alvin Bull, “Numerous [violet] species found in the state are highly variable and frequently hybridize. Identification is highly technical.” So, I haven’t attempted to figure out which species in the large Viola family are represented in the pictures below. They have one thing in common: heart-shaped leaves with toothed edges. These leaves often remain long after violets have stopped blooming in early to mid-summer.

Violets have frequently been used in traditional medicine and in some modern herbal remedies, but I’ve never tried ingesting any form of this plant.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

Warm, dry weather is in the forecast for most of Iowa later this week, so it’s a perfect time to go look for spring wildflowers in parks and along trails. Today’s featured wildflower is a buttercup I spotted along the Bill Riley trail in Des Moines, in between Greenwood Park and Water Works Park. Several photos are after the jump. At the end of this post, I couldn’t resist including one shot of swamp buttercup next to what may be the most despised Iowa wildflower.

Morel mushroom hunters have been finding treasures in Iowa woods this past week, or so I hear. If you come across any garlic mustard while you’re out and about, now’s the time to pull this invasive plant up and throw it away in garbage bags. Recent rains will have loosened the soil, and the garlic mustard roots are not too deep to pull out. Also, while I’ve seen many plants flowering, I haven’t seen any gone to seed so far this year.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.  

At this time of year, I love seeing the native plants change almost daily. On the Bill Riley bike trail in Des Moines yesterday, I saw lots of violets, bluebells, spring beauties, toothwort, dogtooth violets, and some buttercups that Bleeding Heartland will cover next Wednesday. In our corner of Windsor Heights we are seeing most of the above, as well as the first Jack-in-the-pulpits, bellwort, sweet William (phlox), and littleleaf buttercups blooming. Buds are developing on May apples, wild geranium, Virginia waterleaf, and even Solomon’s seal. I have trouble identifying birds and insects, but we are seeing a wider variety of both, including a red admiral today. Here’s the latest central Iowa butterfly forecast.

Today, Bleeding Heartland reader Eileen Miller has shared some of her photographs of snow trillium, a beautiful early spring wildflower. I’ve seen these blooming along the Living History Farms woodland trail (between the 1850 farm and the 1900 farm), but I’ve never captured good shots of them. Eileen’s description of this flower is after the jump, along with her pictures.

Naturalist and Iowa outdoor enthusiast Eileen Miller has given Bleeding Heartland permission to publish her gorgeous photographs of an early spring wildflower: Hepatica. (Common variants include Hepatica nobilis and Hepatica americana). This plant can flower anytime between March and June in Iowa woodlands. This year, it started blooming relatively late because of the harsh winter.

After the jump I’ve posted Eileen’s photographs, along with her descriptions of the plant, its stages of growth, and its pollinators. I’ve never managed to get such clear shots of insects on wildflowers.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

After a brutal winter and an unusually cold March, I’m more happy than ever to see early spring wildflowers. Two weeks ago, nothing was blooming yet around my corner of Windsor Heights. About ten days ago I finally saw the first blossoms on bloodroot, which can sometimes flower in mid-March. Within the past week I’ve seen the first Dutchman’s breeches, rue anemone, toothwort, and even a dogtooth violet flowering. I’ve heard reports of spring beauties opening up in central Iowa, but haven’t seen any in bloom yet.

The star of today’s diary may be the Iowa wildflower most commonly planted in gardens. Thomas Jefferson himself cultivated the plant at Monticello. In fact, many people are unaware that Virginia bluebells (more commonly known simply as bluebells) are a native plant in Iowa. But you can find them in wooded areas, and they will spread easily across your yard if you give them free roam and have enough moisture in your soil. Photos of this stunning flower are after the jump.

This post doubles as a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

What’s on your mind this weekend, Bleeding Heartland readers? Across central and parts of eastern Iowa, today was this winter’s first good sledding opportunity. But road conditions are iffy, and tomorrow’s high temperatures will be in the single digits, so be careful if you need to venture out. Earlier this month, I posted a bunch of winter safety links here.

Today’s Sunday Des Moines Register includes a feature by Mike Kilen on Leland Searles’ Raccoon River Watershed Phenology calendar. In a blatant play for the reader’s attention, Kilen led with the calendar’s many references to animal mating. This calendar is a fantastic resource for Iowans interested in birds or native plants. You can order copies here; part of the proceeds go to the non-profit Raccoon River Watershed Association.

The Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge is open year-round, and they have snowshoes for visitors to borrow if you want to explore the prairie. Highly recommended. The center also holds some special events during the winter, including a guided snowshoe hike on December 28 and a bird count scheduled for January 4.

I just learned about this website containing links to Iowa natural areas, including marshes, prairie remnants and fens as well as state parks and preserves.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

What’s on your mind this weekend, Bleeding Heartland readers? This is an open thread.

As a major cold front and a dusting of snow covered much of Iowa in recent days, birds have been relying more on feeders. I’ve refilled ours every two or three days instead of once every ten days to two weeks. Now would be a excellent time to put out thistle seed for finches or any feeder containing a mix of birdseed.

November is the peak time for deer-vehicle collisions. The other day I was on a two-lane highway near dusk and saw a doe dart across the road, narrowly escaping a deadly encounter with trucks traveling in both directions. Of course, I thought immediately of Senator Chuck Grassley.

Pheasant season opened in late October, but bird numbers are down significantly, due to weather conditions and habitat loss. The trendlines are even worse in South Dakota.

Via the Next City blog, I saw an amazing map of the “United Watershed States of America.” Land use planner John Lavey created the map after wondering, “What if all the states were configured around principal watersheds?” In Lavey’s map, “Iowa” consists of areas feeding into the Mississippi River. Western parts of our state that feed into the Missouri River are part of “Missouri” on the map.

Speaking of watersheds, the Raccoon River Watershed Association is selling a beautiful 2014 calendar as a fundraiser ($18 per calendar or $15 each if you order at least ten). Many calendars include lovely Iowa nature photos, but to my knowledge, only this one contains detailed information about Iowa phenology. Dr. Lee Searles created the calendar with birders, native plant lovers and nature enthusiasts in mind. For instance, it notes that early warblers usually start arriving on April 8. Yellow coneflower starts opening around July 3. Northern Goshawks start to come down the Raccoon River around September 15. UPDATE: Here’s a link to the calendars.

For the second year in a row, I’m ending Bleeding Heartland’s wildflower series with pictures of asters. They are often the last wildflowers you see’ll in the fall, as some species continue to bloom even after several frosts, when most other plants have turned brown. The pictures after the jump were taken in late September, but within the past few days I’ve seen some white asters still in flower.

Iowa wildflower Wednesday will resume in the spring, whenever I manage to take some pictures of early bloomers such as skunk cabbage, trillium, or pasque flower.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

Happy Halloween to the Bleeding Heartland community! I don’t have any scary nature photos to share. Instead, to mark the holiday, this week’s featured Iowa wildflower is a mystery I haven’t been able to identify. I hope a native plants expert will be able to tell me which kind of blazing star (Liatris) it is. Some have suggested rough blazing star (Liatris aspera) or dotted blazing star (Liatris punctata). I thought rough blazing star looked more like these plants, but I’m not sure.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

The wildflower season is winding down, but I plan to do a few more of these posts before putting the series on break for the winter.

Most Iowa wildflowers have gone to seed, but you may still find some goldenrods or asters blooming on prairies or at woodland edges. After the jump I’ve enclosed several photos of a striking yellow aster I found recently along the Meredith bike trail between Gray’s Lake and downtown Des Moines.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

I am notoriously bad at distinguishing the yellow asters of late summer, but as far as I know, I have enclosed several pictures of Jerusalem artichoke after the jump. The surefire way to confirm the ID would have been to dig around the plant looking for tasty and healthful potato-like tubers, but I didn’t want to disturb any soil on public land. I hope some native plants experts in the Bleeding Heartland community will correct me if I have featured the wrong wildflower.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been meaning to get down to the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge to take pictures of the late summer/early autumn wildflowers. Like an idiot, I kept putting off my visit, forgetting that the federal facility would be affected by a government shutdown.

So, instead of new shots of flowers blooming right now in central Iowa, today’s post features pictures I took about six weeks ago in Dallas County. Prairie sage usually blooms in August and September and is easy to spot on the landscape long after its flowers have gone.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

Hot, dry weather in July and August spawned record-breaking pollen counts in some parts of Iowa last month. Follow me after the jump for pictures of the wildflower most hated by hay fever sufferers. Not goldenrod, which also blooms in August and September and is often wrongly blamed for late summer seasonal allergies. I’m talking about giant ragweed.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

I’m taking a break from prairie wildflowers this week to showcase one of the most common plants blooming in Iowa woodlands during the late summer. White snakeroot has a large and tragic place in American history. This native plant indirectly caused thousands of deaths on the frontier during the 19th century. Abraham Lincoln’s mother was probably one of its victims. Several photos of white snakeroot are after the jump.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

You don’t have to travel to a natural area to see today’s featured plant. Ironweed grows near many Iowa roadsides as well as on prairies or in marshes, and its bright pink/purple color makes it easy to spot. After the jump I’ve posted several pictures of ironweed growing in a restored Dallas County prairie.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

This week’s featured Iowa native is one of the tallest of the tallgrass prairie plants. Like ox-eye, sawtooth sunflower, common sunflower, and its close relative cup plant, compass plant (Silphium laciniatum) is a member of the aster family with yellow flower heads. Its great height makes it easy to distinguish from the other yellow asters. Generations of people have used the plant to help find their way. Several photos of compass plant are after the jump.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome. Happy new year to the members of the Bleeding Heartland community who celebrate Rosh Hashanah.  

Today’s wildflower offers some of the most striking colors on the tallgrass prairie in late summer. Blazing star, also known as button snakeroot, gay-feather, or prairie blazing star, is closely related to the rough blazing star that Bleeding Heartland featured last year.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

I’ve been on a prairie flower kick this summer, and today’s installment continues the trend. Several woodland wildflowers Bleeding Heartland featured last year are now blooming along Iowa trails and meadow edges, so if you’re walking or bicycling in a wooded area, keep your eyes open for the yellow blossoms of common evening primrose, wingstem, and cutleaf coneflower. I’ve seen some goldenrods flowering lately too.

Speaking of yellow flowers, I enclosed a bonus photo below of big bluestem on a restored prairie in Dallas County. Big bluestem is the “star component of the Big Four native grass species that characterize the tallgrass prairies of central North America.”

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

The tallgrass prairies that once dominated the Iowa landscape contained many different milkweed plants. Even now 17 milkweed species can be found in our state, and diverse habitats like the Duke Prairie in Clinton County contain half a dozen or more milkweeds. I rarely see any other than the common milkweed, which grows in countless farm fields and along thousands of roadsides.

I recently visited a prairie restoration area in Dallas County, where I saw whorled milkweed for the first time. Several pictures are after the jump. As a bonus, I included a picture of seed pods on a butterfly milkweed plant from the same prairie patch. Bleeding Heartland featured butterfly milkweed flowers earlier this summer.

Speaking of bright orange blossoms, I also enclose below a picture of an enormous trumpet vine growing in the heart of the Dallas Center business district. I love stumbling on a native plant thriving in an unlikely location.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

Like last week’s featured cup plant, today’s Iowa wildflower can be found in prairies and has bright yellow flower heads. Several pictures of ox-eye in bloom are after the jump. As a bonus for the UNI purple-and-gold fans in the Bleeding Heartland community, I included a shot of spiderwort, which was growing not far from these ox-eyes at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

This week’s featured wildflower is particularly valuable for insects and birds in prairie habitats, because its leaves hold small pools of water, even long after the flowers are gone. Cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) is blooming now in central Iowa. I’ve enclosed several pictures of this striking yellow flower after the jump.

I highly recommend a visit to the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City (Jasper County) at this time of year. Dozens of prairie plants are flowering. It’s a perfect half-day trip.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

Today’s featured wildflower is blooming not only in prairies all over Iowa now, but also in many gardens. In fact, I took the enclosed photos of purple coneflowers at Clive Elementary School in Windsor Heights, my alma mater and the site of the 2004 and 2008 Iowa caucuses for my precinct. If you’re into natural or herbal remedies, you may recognize this plant’s scientific name: Echinacea purpurea.

Several photos of purple coneflowers are after the jump. As a bonus, I’ve included recent pictures of two other summer wildflowers Bleeding Heartland featured last summer: partridge pea and American bellflower. They are among my favorite Iowa native plants. Keep an eye out for them along bike trails.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

Today’s featured flower is one of the most recognizable tallgrass prairie flowers. You might also find it blooming along Iowa roadsides or bike trails between June and September. I’ve enclosed a few photos of yellow coneflowers below, along with a one picture of a different Iowa wildflower it closely resembles.

Incidentally, if you drive through eastern Iowa on I-80 you are likely to see patches of bright orange butterfly milkweed to the side of the highway.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

Here’s your mid-week open thread: all topics welcome. Today’s featured Iowa wildflower is spiderwort, a purple mystery to me when I noticed it near a patch of Prairie smoke in bloom about six weeks ago. Thanks to Bleeding Heartland user conservative demo and others who identified it.

The spiderwort family contains many plants, including the dayflower Bleeding Heartland featured last year. I am not sure whether the pictures below depict Tradescantia ohiensis (Ohio spiderwort) or Tradescantia virginiana (Virginia spiderwort). Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie by Sylvan Runkel and Dean Roosa lists Ohio spiderwort as common in our state. It typically blooms from June through August, but I took the pictures below in late May, near the Meredith bike trail between Gray’s Lake and downtown Des Moines.

Speaking of pretty bluish/purple flowers, this week I’ve finally seen some American bellflowers blooming. That’s one of my Iowa summer favorites.

Since last week’s featured flower was strangely white, stem and all, I wanted to include a splash of color today. After the jump you can find several photos of butterfly milkweed, a gorgeous prairie plant that is easy to grow from seed in gardens. As the name suggests, butterflies love the bright orange flowers. The plant is more striking than the common milkweed that’s more prevalent along Iowa roadsides.

I also included below some pictures of elderberry shrubs, which are blooming in Iowa now. I saw tons this week on the Windsor Heights bike trail, the Clive Greenbelt trail, and the Jordan Creek trail in West Des Moines. Some people collect the elderflowers to make cordial. I’ve never tried it but have heard it’s tasty. The flower clusters can also be battered and fried. Later this year, the dark purple, almost black elderberries can be used in baked desserts or turned into syrup or tincture that may boost immunity.

Finally, I enclose a photo of a white flower I haven’t been able to identify. If you recognize this plant, blooming now in wooded areas of central Iowa, please post a comment in this thread or send an e-mail to desmoinesdem AT yahoo.com. UPDATE: Twitter user Lynzey515 suggests that the mystery flower is White avens (Geum canadense). That looks like a strong possibility.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

This week’s featured native plant is unusual in several ways. Lacking chlorophyll, Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora) is not green at all. It’s mostly white, inspiring the common names ghost flower or ghost plant. I thought it was a fungus on first sight. In addition, Indian pipe “is more of a parasite,” using a fungus to draw nutrients from nearby plants. Several pictures of this strange wildflower are after the jump.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

Iowa’s grape and wine industry has grown rapidly during the past decade, with dozens of commercial wineries all over the state. But if you look carefully along roadsides and bike trails throughout Iowa, you may find this week’s featured wildflower in bloom. Try to remember where you saw it, so you can go back for ripe wild grapes later this summer. Last year, everything bloomed early in Iowa, and I saw bunches of wild grapes in mid-July. Typically the fruit is not ready to pick and eat until later in the summer. With this year’s cold spring, the wildflowers are all behind schedule.  

As a bonus, I enclosed pictures of poison ivy in bloom after the wild grape shots below. Yes, poison ivy is considered an Iowa wildflower, although no one’s going to plant it as an ornamental.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

I’m cheating a bit this week, because while the featured wildflower is a bona fide Iowa native, I took the enclosed photographs at a butterfly garden in Windsor Heights, not in a natural woodland setting. In contrast to the unassuming littleleaf buttercup and sweet cicely profiled the last two weeks, Columbine has spectacular blossoms and is therefore popular in gardens. It can be found in the wild throughout Iowa as well. In past years, I’ve seen it growing along the Bill Riley bike trail in Des Moines.

The columbine that is native to Iowa looks quite different from the blue columbine that is the state flower of Colorado, but both plants are in the buttercup family.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

This week’s featured wildflower usually starts blooming in central Iowa in May and can sometimes be found in June. The small white flowers may resemble other native plants, but the licorice smell that emerges when you rub the leaf or stem is unmistakable. Several photos of Osmorhiza longistylis, commonly known as sweet cicely, anise root, wild licorice, longstyle sweetroot, or sweet anise, are after the jump.

I hope some Bleeding Heartland readers will help identify two colorful flowers I’ve featured below as well. Although I found them on a restored prairie patch, I’m not convinced they are native to Iowa.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

Last week’s featured Iowa wildflower is striking enough to catch your eye from a moving car or bicycle. This week, I decided to focus on a flower that is easily overlooked, even from a short distance. Littleleaf buttercup, also known as littleleaf crowfoot or crowfoot buttercup, is found in 44 states and across most of Canada. In central Iowa, it typically blooms in April or May. Several photos are after the jump.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

It’s a busy day at the state capitol, where lawmakers struck final deals on education reform, expanding Medicaid, commercial property tax cuts, K-12 school funding and other state spending. I will need some time to sort through what’s being voted on in the rush to adjourn. Bleeding Heartland will cover final results from the 2013 legislative session in a series of posts beginning tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, here’s your mid-week open thread, featuring a stunning spring wildflower. I found several patches of prairie smoke along the Meredith bike trail between Gray’s Lake and downtown Des Moines. Photos are enclosed below, along with a couple of plants I need help identifying. UPDATE: Thanks to Bleeding Heartland user conservative demo for identifying the purple flower as spiderwort, an Iowa native.

If you’ve walked in the Iowa woods lately, chances are you’ve seen some spring beauties in bloom. Over the weekend I saw hundreds of them along the Bill Riley bike trail in Des Moines and in the oak savanna area of the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City.

Several pictures of this lovely flower are after the jump, along with a couple of mystery wildflowers I need help identifying. If you know what they are, please post a comment in this thread or e-mail desmoinesdem AT yahoo.com.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

I’m happy to report that last week’s light blanket of snow does not appear to have harmed most of the spring wildflowers in central Iowa. Since the snow melted over the weekend, I’ve seen blooms and buds on many wildflowers while walking or bicycling in the Des Moines area. You can find a lot of spring beauties along the Clive Greenbelt trail and Sweet William (phlox) along the Sycamore trail, which connects the Inter-Urban trail with the Neal Smith trail by Saylorville. I wonder whether the frost short-circuited the dogtooth violets, though, because so many leaves were out before the snow, yet I’ve hardly found any blossoms since then.

This week’s featured flower is toothwort, a common woodland flower across Iowa and most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains. A few photos are after the jump, along with a bonus shot of wild geranium leaves. If you find those, come back a few weeks later to spot a very pretty woodland flower.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

I had planned to relaunch Bleeding Heartland’s weekly wildflower posts in late March, but Iowa’s native plants are way behind schedule during this year’s ridiculously cold spring. Even a week ago, the only wildflowers blooming in my corner of the word were bloodroot and dandelions. Just in the past few days, we’ve noticed the first spring beauties, Dutchman’s breeches, and dogtooth violets. My goal for this year is to focus on species I didn’t feature in 2012.

This week’s installment is rue anemone, an early spring woodland flower with unusual features. Its leaves start out brown before turning green, its blossoms have no petals, and it blooms for quite a long time. Photos are after the jump.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

MAY 2 UPDATE: Much of Iowa is under a winter storm warning today. I’m concerned about how the snow and freezing rain might affect the spring wildflowers. I hope I’ll have bluebells to feature in a week or two!

As expected, President Barack Obama nominated Thomas Perez this week to run the U.S. Department of Labor. Media Matters posted “myths and facts” about the labor nominee here. Adam Serwer summarized Perez’s record and commented that Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa is “chief” among the nominee’s “political enemies.” Other Senate Republicans who have criticized Perez include David Vitter of Louisiana and Jeff Sessions of Alabama. John Gramlich commented in Roll Call,

Perez succeeded in blocking Republican-backed voting laws in South Carolina and Texas that his division deemed racially discriminatory. He pressed racial profiling charges against Joe Arpaio, the Republican sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., who is among the most divisive figures in the national immigration debate. His handling of a legal agreement with the city of St. Paul, Minn., in a lending discrimination case has drawn condemnation from Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, who has called it a “quid pro quo” and a “shady deal.”

Senate criticism of Perez so far has come primarily from Grassley and the Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Justice Department and is seen as one of the more-partisan panels in the chamber. Perez’s nomination to the Labor Department will not come before the Judiciary Committee, however. It will come before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is the top Republican.

Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri has put a procedural hold on Gina McCarthy’s nomination as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Spring is just around the corner, so Iowa wildflower Wednesday will return to Bleeding Heartland soon. Meanwhile, enjoy some gorgeous wildflower photos from southern California at La Vida Locavore.