Wildflower Identification: Prairie Blazing Star

We've entered the hot, and quickly drying, portion of the summer and as such many of the spring and early summer wildflowers have come and gone. But, a new selection of wildflowers have made their way into view. These will bloom during the heat of summer, July and August, many resilient to heat and drought conditions. A neighboring field had a few of these flowers, and when the oldest boys and I ventured back into our tallgrass we saw several on our property too! The Prairie Blazing Star lives us to its name being 3-5 feet tall and full of bright violet/purple flowers. It is also called Thickspike Gayfeather, being a part of the liatris (Gayfeather) genus of plants. There are several other liatrus wildflowers that have varying flower types and heights including Button, Dotted, and Scaly Gayfeather, but this is the tallest of them all.