Missouri Evening Primrose
The beautiful yellow flowers that you might be seeing as you drive down the highways of Butler County is a native perennial called Missouri Evening Primrose. This native has a sprawling growth habit and tends to have multiple stems that drape across the ground. It can commonly be found on shallow sites, on the tops of bluffs or growing in rocky road cuts. This native blooms from May through August, has solitary yellow flowers that can be up to four inches wide with four petals and are a bright lemon yellow in color. Each flower only lasts one day typically opening in the late afternoon and staying open all night till the next morning. This plant is an important source of nectar and pollen for night feeding pollinators. When the flowers open they face upward at first but then turn downward after they have been pollinated.
Missouri evening primrose can grow up to 12” tall and spread approximately two feet in diameter. This native is popular in rock gardens, native plantings, as a border plant due to its short height and in native pollinator gardens. Missouri evening primrose does not like poorly drained or wet soils and can get root rot in those conditions. It does like poor, shallow or dry soils and performs well in those locations.
