On an absolutely beautiful autumn day, we hiked out to the river to enjoy the sunshine and fall colors. We were on the lookout for some fall seeds and we discovered a new flower!
I have no idea what this plant is but it was about four feet tall and was swaying in the breeze…waving us over to take a closer look. Aren’t these the prettiest little flowers?
Each branch ended with these delicate flowers and the stem of the plant was purplish red.
We also discovered a patch of evening primrose dispersed among the big boulders lining the river’s edge.
We also spied this massive mullein plant with its soft rosettes of leaves.
We were so distracted by the plants and flowers that we didn’t collect any seeds for our nature journal entry. I am thinking that it will take a change in the weather before I am inspired to collect seeds and sit down long enough to make a page for our fall seeds. Can you blame me?
What a beautiful place to visit. The delicate purple flowers are lovely.
I was amazed at the purple flowers…never seen this particular plant before and I am still trying to discover what it is.
It’s turning cold here in the Midwest (I’m not sure yet where you are) and so the kids and I went for a bike ride around town last weekend, looking for seeds. I wanted to head out before it was too cold and everyone had their yards all cleaned up. We have several, but need to ID a couple.
KellyH
We live in the northern part of California up in the Sierra Nevada foothills so we are not too cold yet and just now getting real fall color.
We collected seeds right before the snow set in and we had a great time. We also collected many from our own food. We just finished by making a seed board (glued them onto card stock) it was fascinating to see all the different shapes and sizes of seeds and all the methods of seed dispersal that are used by the different seeds. Thank you for the inspiration in the newsletter.
I would love to see your boards if you can send me a photo. harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com
The purple plant looks like it’s in the heather family, but I’m not sure where you are located.
I thought the same thing but have had no success in identifying it yet.
hmmm…..may be vervain instead! 🙂
Without leaves, I can’t be sure what the purple plant is, but it could be Verbena hastata, or Blue Vervain.
Thanks for the direction…definitely something in that family.
I think it may be purpletop vervain. http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=8228 I am going to go back and make some more observations.
I also want to thank you for the inspiration in the newsletter about seeds and pods! Last month I made a special effort to find and identify the seeds and pods around my house. As a result, I learned and discovered so much. Observing seeds and pods is a great way to learn about the plants around us.
One of the best nature study activities I’ve ever enjoyed!
Wow Jenn! It is amazing how much we can learn about the simple things we mostly take for granted around us. Seeds and pods are little miracles in the making and so very interesting. Thanks for your kind comment and note.