If you drive most anywhere in the county right now, you will see Maxmillian Sunflowers in the bar ditches.
If you ever wondered how this native sunflower got such a name, it was named after naturalist Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied, Germany, who led an expedition into the American West in the 1830s.
These sunflowers can bloom anytime from July through early November. The yellow flowers are 3 to 4 inches and appear in dense clusters on the upper half of the stems.
The plant itself can grow from 2 to 10 feet tall, depending on moisture. These plants can form large colonies, which is typically what you see on the roadside.
Maxmillian is a native perennial plant with an amazing range of benefits. The plant provides a food source for livestock, wildlife, and pollinators. The seeds are an excellent food source for many songbirds and deer.
The plant is considered a high-value nectar plant for pollinators, especially native bees, and honeybees. Research has shown that all sunflowers’ pollen, including Maxmillian, has medicinal value for bees that helps them develop natural resistance to some bee pathogens. The plant itself is a favorite food for deer in its earlier stages of growth.
It is also a desirable range plant, eaten by all livestock. The plant is a favorite of livestock during spring and summer and if grazing is not limited, the plant will be grazed out.
This is why we mostly see it in bar ditches where there is no grazing pressure these days. On rangeland, it is an indication of healthy range conditions and good management.
Cow Pen Daisy or Golden Crown Beard This is another yellowcolored flower that is prolific right now, but please do not confuse the Cow Pen Daisy with Maxmillian Sunflower.
This Cow Pen Daisy or Golden Crown Beard is a very drought, hardy annual native that blooms from April to October. These plants tend to grow from one to four feet tall and are sprawling plants.
As its name would suggest, it grows best in areas of soil disturbance like cow pens. Despite its name, Cow Pen Daisy can be toxic to livestock and especially sheep- this is due to high levels of galegine which cause pulmonary edema, hydrothorax, and fluid accumulation in other tissues. Livestock would not typically graze this plant, but during drought or in small paddocks where there is little other forage they will.
Cow Pen Daisy also stinks. If you shred it or just walk through it, it just plain stinks; it is a known allergen for people with allergies.
So, as you can see, it does have many downfalls and limitations, but it also has some great benefits. Deer do not graze on the plant, but quail and other birds will eat the seeds. The best use of the plant is as a pollinator, bees and butterflies love this plant.
This year I have seen many species of butterflies feeding on them including Monarchs. It is also extremely hardy and drought resistant- it will continue to grow and bloom during the high heat and dry summers we have.
It is best kept in an area to itself where it does not compete with other species of plants and where livestock cannot graze it. I was quick to dislike this plant, but during one of our terribly dry hot summers, I missed a spot, and one plant survived and thrived.
Being one of the only pollen sources alive, it stayed covered in butterflies and bees and was one of the few food sources available to them.
My mom told me I needed to respect anything that hardy and pretty that provided for so many other creatures. So, if for no other reason than out of respect for her, I try to leave one or two to thrive every year somewhere close to the house.