Wildflowers
Monarch Flight
A monarch butterfly rises majestically above the patch of purple asters. I snapped this photo in a field next to my workplace. I’d been working on trying to catch the few monarchs I found in flight. Catching one in focus is a formidable challenge because of their erratic motion in flight. This is a view of the butterfly from behind, wings on the downward stroke.
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A Flair for the Dramatic
This wildflower seems to have a touch of graceful sophistication in its “wild.” A few of these beauties popped up on the edge of our property this summer. This bloom was the only one that demonstrated this particular flair for the dramatic.
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Budding Artist
Sudden Outbreak of Spring
On a recent hike, we stumbled across this delightful display of early spring wildflowers. These were the first wildflowers of the season we encountered. We found a few other wildflowers along the trail, but they were very sparse. In a few days, the trail will have many more of these and other varieties.
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Charmed
Sisterhood
Cluster
This delicate bloom is known as Crown Vetch or Axseed. It is a summertime wildflower classified as an herb in the legume family. (The same category as peas and beans.)
These flowers seem to be popular with bees and butterflies. In the area I found this, bees were busy working the few flowers there.
On the downside, it is a serious invader of prairies and dunes and, apparently, it’s poisonous to horses.
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Sun and Stars
These are wildflowers found on our property. They are in an area where I scattered a bunch of wildflower seeds last year. We never saw any of these last year, so it was a pleasant surprise to see these big, bright blooms among the weeds this year. The white dandelion-like seeds in the center of the flower blew over from some nearby weeds.
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In Praise of Yellow
Tiny Surprise
Danger lurks here! When I took this photo on a walk through the woods, I saw only a nice collection of wild violets. It wasn’t until I viewed this image on my computer that I noticed the tiny crab spider hiding in the bloom on the left.
Crab spiders don’t make webs. They hide, often in flowers, waiting for unsuspecting insects to be drawn by the flower’s nectar or pollen.
I’ve posted photos of crab spiders before – even with a short video of one trying grab lunch – that can be viewed HERE.
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