Keeping up with our area’s wildflowers has been pretty difficult the last few weeks. Our “spring” has been so much wetter and colder than normal so our wildflowers are lagging behind their normal bloom time.But now that the sun is out and the temperatures are rising, we have a show of wildflowers to make you smile if you take the time to notice.
Don’t get me wrong….it is not a burden to enjoy the bursting out of colors and shapes along the walking trail and our hiking trail. I love seeing the familiar happy flowers and it warms my heart to realize how many of them I actually can identify with no hesitation. The slow flower-by-flower learning of my local area is a joy and it makes the last four or five years of focusing on looking up and naming flowers worth the effort.
Here is a sort of photo journal of some of our wildflowers from the last few weeks.
Yarrow
Golden Brodiaea
The chinese purple houses are everywhere this year. I think the abundance of rain has brought it all out. It is almost “common” this year.
This is my treasured purple milkweed and there are only two plants that I could find this year. I have gone back to see if it is blooming and it is still in bud. I don’t want to miss it.
Mustang clover blankets whole hillsides along our trail. Isn’t it a happy flower?
We don’t have too much larkspur but there is one spot that I can find it every year. It also doesn’t last long so I was glad that I was able to catch it on the bloom.
The Checkermallow has such a delicate pink color and check out the bud. Doesn’t look like candy?
I can’t remember the name for this pretty flower….
Blackberry blossom
Monkeyflowers are the flower of the year. They line the roadside ditches with explosions of yellow.
What about your part of the world? What are your common wildflowers and what is in abundance this year? I would love to hear your stories.
Beautiful Barb! My daughter and I just took a flower walk yesterday (but I haven’t gotten the photos up on-line yet). We saw daisies, red clover, buttercups, wood anemone, bunchberry, bluets, possibly pickerelweed, and our FAVORITE: ladyslippers.
I love that you are reaping the harvest of your years of diligence. That is so hopeful for me as we are brand new readers here. We just finished outdoor challenge 1! Thanks for such a glorious resource! 🙂
I so enjoyed your variety of wildflowers!
Beautiful flowers! I love taking pictures of flowers, as well.
I think photography has become another way to document my nature study. I often use photos and sketches in my nature journal.
It gives me a concrete record of what we saw.
Beautiful photos of the wildflowers in your area! We saw an abundance of bluets and spring beauty earlier in the season. I need to plan a wildflower walk to look for and identify the summer-blooming ones. I’m just starting to learn the names of all the wildflowers in our area and it’s fascinating! Our local botanical garden sells plants and seeds for native flowers and I hope to eventually plant a whole garden of native NC plants. — Kathy at http://www.needleandspade.com