Wildflower
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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Simple Spring
While walking through a swampy area of woods, I stumbled upon this simple, single flower. The bright area behind the flower is daylight reflecting off a wet area. I don’t know what kind of flower it was, but it was small. This bloom was only about the size of a thumbnail.
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Hepatica Blue
Enduring a winter that won’t give up, I had to dig through the archives for a little bit of spring color. This is one of my favorite spring wildflowers because of its delicate beauty and its early bloom; one of the very first you will see in these parts. Looking forward to seeing them again.
The hepatica (also known as liverleaf or liverwort) is a genus of herbaceous perennials in the buttercup family, native to central and northern Europe, Asia and eastern North America. This one was photographed in northeastern Wisconsin.
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