Some day lilies have leapt into business! Plain yellow ones. Nothing too fancy.
Gallium molugo – wild madder. A first for me. Meaning, I’ve probably seen it hundreds of times and completely overlooked it. It’s interspersed with some red clover, as you can see from the background foliage.
And now, for a flower any child should know the name of:
Daisy! I have a couple of friends from high school who got married years ago, and they have a little girl named Daisy. So much easier to spell than Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, n’est-ce pas?
A blue cohosh berry with its very own translucent spider lurking underneath it.
And now, for the main attraction…
This is a red eft, perhaps more technically known as Eastern Newt or Red-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens). They start off in ponds as tadpoles, and after they tire of pond life, they turn bright orange and live on the land for a few years. Eventually, they head back toward water and lose their fiery color. They can live up to 15 years, if left unmolested by whoever wants to brave eating them (their skin contains toxins), or by cars. I pick them off the road when I find them there, as they often get squished. I found this one in the shared driveway.
After yesterday’s post, I feel obliged to demonstrate that I, too, am capable of cuteness. I am not quite so orange, though.
Back to the flower report. Our very own white campions (Lychnis alba).
Moving on, it’s time for the hawkweeds! Two kinds: field hawkweed, and orange hawkweed. We’re in serious “oh, that’s just a weed” territory here, but as usual, beauty is beauty no matter where you find it.
Field hawkweed (Hieracium pratense). I think these are just opening up, as opposed to just starting to shut down.
Why look, a gratuitous bug finds its way into the picture! Had I realized it was there, I would have taken more pictures, but as usual, these almost-ready-for-bifocal eyes had no idea it was there. I didn’t know about that translucent spider (above) either, although I could make out the silk strands of a web.
And now for the orange hawkweek (Hieracium aurantiacum).
For bang for your buck in the orange department, it doesn’t get much better than hawkweed.
Bugs just jumping into your camera's view and newts on the driveway? Lucky you. Seems like a sweet life. (Sorry to hear the sad news about your friend from your recent post.)
ReplyDeleteI can't complain! There's the one wee little problem associated with the whole "not working" thing (growing increasingly broke), but my theory is that this is what I'm supposed to be doing right now. =)
ReplyDeleteBy coincidence, at
ReplyDeletehttp://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/sunflower-colony/
I just posted a photograph of sunflowers, the ones that grow wild here in central Texas and are currently at their peak. Their flower heads aren't as large as those of the cultivated variety descended from them.
I have similar thoughts about folks who mow prematurely. Particularly now that I've become aware of the day-to-day movements of wood turtles here in Vermont, not to mention birds that nest in meadows.
ReplyDelete