More than 90% of Kansas is in drought right now, but prairie plant roots go deep and have developed strategies to survive, as evidenced by this field where sunflowers, goldenrods and blue sage are thriving.

Here are Jerusalem artichoke blooms, from green flower buds to fully open, pollinated by a sweat bee among its disk flowers.

There are many species of goldenrod in Kansas, and all of them are godsends for the many bees, beetles, butterflies and other insect pollinators who visit their copious blossoms.

The American ground potato is a vine with edible tubers even more nutritious than the domesticated potato and was a staple food for many North American tribes. “Topeka” means “place where we dig potatoes” for the Kansa and Osage tribes.