Thursday, June 28, 2012

superheroes in pink capes, purple grass, etc.

I will be out of town next week – hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with an old friend – and I’m working like a crazed bunny to get everything I can wrapped up at work before I go. This afternoon, I staggered away from my desk, my head and body seemingly disconnected from one another, my spirit nowhere to be found. The perfect remedy: break out the hiking boots (gotta remind my feet about the hiking boots!), grab the point-and-shoot, and go for a four mile jaunt down dirt roads.
I found plenty of entertainment. It is just amazing how many more species there are to admire, just a half mile to two miles from the house. But I started with the locals. Remember those sleepy pink moths? They’re still around.
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“Don’t worry, little lady.”
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“I’ll save you.”
‘The aptly named primrose moth,’ I am informed. (Schinia Florida)
By the pole barn, where we store firewood, grass that has yet to encounter the lawn mower is in bloom.
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Timothy grass, as yet not quite in bloom, with a visitor.
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Later on, a mile away, the timothy grass was in full bloom. 
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quack grass.
OK, now we’re venturing out away from my typical haunts of late.
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Bittersweet nightshade, many of them already in full-on berry mode. These berries will turn yellow, then orange, then red. A veritable rainbow – as if the flower itself weren’t gorgeous ENOUGH.
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Herb robert (yes, that’s its name) – I thought the sparkly velvet flowers were done for the season, but I’m pleased to see I was wrong.

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Some kind of mutant, gargantuan dandelion-style flower. Sadly, they had ALL already closed up shop, so I don’t know what color the petals (well, rays, technically) are – still, though, I ought to be able to ID it. So far, no luck.
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These seed clusters were the size of my fist.

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Here’s a new one for me: bladder campion (Silene cucubalus). Later on this summer, I’ll show its cousin, white campion. It grows right next to our mailbox.

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Common st. johnswort – which also tends to grow near our mailbox, but I haven’t seen it yet this year.

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barberpole sedge. Bonus: see the spider? I didn’t when I took the picture!
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Partridgeberry – a ground cover, with red berries in the fall. I laughed when I saw how the insides are fuzzy. Kevin said maybe it’s naturally-occurring velcro.
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trillium seed. joy!

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red baneberry is possessed of a certain in-your-face charm, no?

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this is common comfrey.

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a whole hillside of day lilies.
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brand-new to me: motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca).
The hiking boots feel good. That’s a relief.

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