Chasing Wildflowers—4.5 Stars
- May 26
- 3 min read
05/26/2026
Chasing Wildflowers: An Adventurous Guide to Finding Minnesota’s Native Flowers in Their Unique Habitats, by Phyllis Root and Photography by Kelly Povo, University of Minnesota Press, 2025.
Chasing flowers native to Minnesota is what friends Phyllis Root and Kelly Povo do. They are curious, adventuresome, smart, and ethical as they travel around the state, visiting some of the diverse habitats within each of its four biomes. Their first book, Searching for Minnesota’s Native Wildflowers, was published in 2018. But there was more searching to do, particularly for blooming flowers in the unique habitats where they had evolved.
This second book is chock full of gorgeous half-page photographs of the plants they discovered as they traveled from Lake Superior’s rocky North Shore to a conifer swamp and then fens, a Jack pine woodland, sand dunes, a dry hill prairie, rocky outcrops, a forested floodplain, a goat prairie, and the Driftless area. At the culmination of their searching, they discovered that the ditches and roadsides they had driven by were also full of blooming native wildflowers. Some of their most unusual finds included Ghost Pipe (Monotropa uniflora) and Rose Pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides). The book includes a helpful section listing places to go in each of the habitats they visited. There is also a helpful glossary and an extensive index.
Our Ramsey County Garden Volunteer readers gave the book an average of 4.5 out of 5 points overall for how much they enjoyed the book, how useful it would be, and how much they would recommend it to another gardener. Comments included the following:
If you would like to read Chasing Wildflowers, there are 2 copies in our library. You can also check out the authors’ blog FlowerChasers.com and listen to their recorded Wildflower Chasers audio postcards for Morning Edition on Minnesota Public Radio.
Reader Poll
Enjoyable - 4.5 out of 5 stars
Educational - 4.0 out of 5 stars
Recommended - 4.5 out of 5 stars
Average - 4.25
Reader Comments
“This is a lovely book and fun to peruse. …. It inspired me! I’ll pay closer attention next time on the trail.”
“Gorgeous photos, and fun campy prose.”
“I learned about a lot of new to me wild flowers and … habitats in MN.”
Readers suggested that it would have been helpful to have a simple state map showing the areas mentioned.
Next Book Club Discussion
The next book selected for discussion is Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden by Jessica Walliser
Discussion suggestions (below) are intended to make the reading and discussion relevant to Ramsey County Garden Education Volunteers but are not to be considered exhaustive or limiting to the discussion. Participants are encouraged to bring their own questions and observations to the discussions. Before the discussion, additional book-related questions may be sent to participating volunteers to further guide your reading and suggest further directions the discussion might take.
Discussion Suggestions
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you see an insect/bug in your garden? Did reading this book pique your curiosity and have you reconsidering that initial reaction?
Were there things that surprised you about the ways in which plants and insects intersect?
What do entomologists say about the value of insects? What is their message to gardeners and our communities ?
Have you found any beneficial insects in your garden? What “bad bug” does this insect prey upon? Do you have plants that attract this particular “good bug?”
In what ways is gardening for bugs just as important to the greater world as it is to your garden?
How can you use the information in this book in your role as a Garden Education Volunteer?
