Flowers of August

For sheer abundance and variety of roadside wildflowers, July and August are probably the best months of the year in my part of Wisconsin.

Here's a sampling of flowers (and a few other things) I've seen on my August rides....

Cloudy Sunday Evening Ride

Hairy vetch, a member of the pea family that deserves a prettier name:

A field of Canada goldenrod:

Delicate flowering spurge:

Hare's-foot clover going to seed:

American Lotus growing on a nearly-hidden backroad lake:

On that same backroad I often spot feathers lying on the ground:

Glowing thistle brightening a cloudy day:

Alien-looking horsemint blooming at the edge of the woods:

A favourite barn under grey skies:

Deer standing in a twilit shade (I passed this deer four times trying to get a good photo, but the light was too poor):

A cheery woodland sunflower shining above dark leaves:

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Cloudy Morning Ride to Work

I've been trying to ride to work once a week, as weather permits. Though I don't usually stop for photos, on this particular morning the temptation was too much.

First there was a field of chicory mixed with red clover:

The last two miles of my route to work are along a river trail, where wildflowers sometimes* grow with abandon. In the space of a mile I saw baby coneflowers:

And hoary alyssum:

Large patches of Butter-and-eggs, or yellow toadflax, in the grass beside the trail:

And fleabane:

Ragweed (bane of my existence and the cause of many a sneeze):

And minuscule cinquefoil:

A regal spiderwort stood aloof from the other flowers:

Bright birdsfoot trefoil made spots of gold:

Spotted knapweed waved dainty lavender petals:

Everybody knows the next one, right? I rode past clouds of it nodding in the breeze:

Goldenrod grew on the river side of the trail:

And prairie onion, a new-to-me flower:

A glorious jumble of orange milkweed and late-blooming crown vetch:

At the water's edge, gorgeous swathes of purple loosestrife:

*It's a good thing I photographed the trailside flowers when I did - the next week the city mowers came along and cut them all down. Grrr.

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We interrupt this flower-laden post for a brief photo of Lunch from the Garden:

Isn't summer delightful?

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Sunny Morning Ride to Work

No flower photos on this day (thanks to those darn mowers), but I did see twin fawns next to the trail:

View of the river:

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Partly Cloudy Saturday Evening Ride

This ride was made memorable by the most painful insect bite I've ever received. I don't know what bit me, but it felt very like a jellyfish sting I once got. The pain persisted through the ride and into the night, but (thank God) was gone when I woke up the next morning.

Photos were few that evening, but here's the best of them:

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Sunday Late-Afternoon Ride

The next day's ride was much better - no insect bites, and plenty of flowers.

Blue vervain growing next to a marsh:

Joe-Pye weed nearby:

Swallows have been gathering for weeks now. I passed a group of them on a wire, with a single mourning dove in their midst:

Summer-heavy trees lining a favourite bend in the road:

Wild sunflowers and goldenrod supporting a rustic fence:

Gratuitous bike shot, with turtle:

It's been a good year for whorled milkweed, the tiniest of the milkweed species. Here's some I found growing at the edge of a field:

Nearby were some small flowers (fleabane, I think) going beautifully to seed:

And salsify, looking magical and ready to fly:

Around the corner, a huge patch of Pennsylvania smartweed grew in a damp spot:

While wild cucumber tried to take over the road:

A few miles later, I passed a small patch of stiff goldenrod (much rarer around here than the ubiquitous Canada goldenrod seen above):

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Sunny Saturday Afternoon Ride

This short ride happened yesterday, and yielded only one photo - a coneflower surrounded by some rather interesting buds:

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August has been mostly cloudy this year, with plenty of rain - in some places, more rain than we could well handle. I wish we could share the surplus water with our friends in the dry west and northwest.

Has your August been cloudy or sunny? Rainy or dry?

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