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Showing posts with label dogbane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dogbane. Show all posts

Wednesday, 13 July 2022

Wildflowers of the island

While I enjoy flower gardens, I enjoy especially the natural gardens of wildflowers which Mother Nature produces every year. She is a clever one too since she orchestrates a succession of beauties, as some go to seed, other blooms take their place.


Now the lilacs and rockets of the roadsides and pathways are gone to seed. The daisies which spend some of their blooming time with those two, 





now commune with other blooms.The variety is lovely. 


Vetch, in its pink/purple beauty attracts bees 





as do the wild roses which are also in abundance. 




Red Clover grows tall, reaching for the sun in a crowded field, as does St. John’s Wort.





Numerous Broadleaf Meadowsweet blossoms line pathways now 





as Goats Beard claims a spot along an embankment. 





Some are gone to seed.





A close look on a sandy trail reveals Red Sand Spurrey, a tiny bloom about the size of a baby’s little fingernail.





It looks like a succulent and is easy to miss although it is worth one’s time. A tiny blossom on a vine among the shrubs, is easy to miss too. Bittersweet Nightshade looks delicate but its purple blooms with yellow centres cause one to pause and admire them. 





Blue Flag Iris always catches my eye along a trail. 





One works hard in a garden to grow blooms half so pretty. Buttercups, familiar blooms of our childhood, are favourites of the ants.





Tall Meadow Rue is almost waist high among the shrubs 





and Spreading Dogbane is a shrub with tiny bells.





Along the shoreline at Rice Point, some familiar blooms along with Bedstraw and Large Hop Clover almost hide the fence along a property line.





Wildflowers are so much prettier than fences.    


Wednesday, 15 July 2020

Wild and wonderful

The trails this time of year are bordered with wildflowers which always catch my eye. As the weeks go by, the succession of plants makes any trail look new. I always stop and take in the wild beauty along the way which makes any walk slower. However, these moments of beauty give even the most familiar places, an element of surprise and wonder.


Part of the parking lot near the boardwalk has a natural border of Spreading Dogbane now. It is such a welcoming sight.





St. John’s Wort is blooming along the trails now 





and Ox-eye Daisies are always appealing.





Queen Ann’s Lace is beginning its tenure 





as well as wild roses.





Bindweed always surprises me with its pretty bloom but I wouldn’t want it in my garden. It is an invasive species and is notoriously difficult to eliminate.





The areas with combinations of wild beauty competing for position along a trail are among my favourite places.





Vetch and purple clover join many wild floral scenes. 


There are over two months of this wild beauty left along the trails. I look forward to it!