Monday, June 5, 2023

A Mixed Bouquet

... of rides and a hike and wildflowers. (Mostly wildflowers.)

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View from a favorite bridge on a mid-May ride, with swallows swooping and circling overhead:


Leafy spurge taking over a roadside ditch:


Lilac in the wild:


Dandelion pastoral:


Sheep newly shorn:


Another favorite bit of water:


Jacob's ladder, or Greek valerian:


Darling chokecherry blossom:


Bonus for the sharp-eyed cyclist (this is why cycling jerseys have pockets):


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Later that week, on a short hike at a nearby nature preserve, wildflowers spotted along the trail included wild geranium:


Blue-eyed grass, a miniature member of the iris family:


Wild columbine:


False Solomon's seal:


There was also a possible Ent sighting:


At the top of the hill, a lovely view:


Also enjoyed were bright new leaves unfurling in the woods:


Rocks, trees, and sky:


A six-petaled wild strawberry blossom:


And glorious wild lupine growing next the road on the drive home:


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On my next ride, oleaster was blooming all about the countryside:


And viburnum (possibly V. lentago):


A field was edged with dried mystery plants:


Dame's rocket, a favorite (though invasive) wildflower, was just appearing:


Delicate frilled puccoon...


...overlooked a very green pasture, with cattle framed in the wire fence:


Miles later, I found new-to-me wildflower, probably spring-cress:


And Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea), earliest of umbellifers, and one of the few flowers with a botanical name as delightful as its common name:


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On a bike commute later in the week, I found another new-to-me wildflower, prairie groundsel:


And the familiar humble cinquefoil:


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On the last weekend of May, hoary puccoon were blooming:


And balsam groundsel:


At my turnaround point, voices carried across the lake from boaters enjoying the holiday weekend weather:


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The last ride of May was a commute, with photo stops for bird's-foot trefoil along the river trail:


And showy guelder-rose (Viburnum opulus) on a country road:


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I can't quite believe it's June already. The last week has been unusually broiling; we seem to have tumbled straight from chilly end-of-winter into full-blown summer heat. My little garden plants, only a week in the ground, are struggling to find their footing in this baking environment. Things should start cooling down tomorrow, I hope.

How's your weather? Hot, cold, or just right for June?

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9 comments:

  1. Oh, how I do love your wildflowers! Guess what, I also have a photo of Blue Eyed grass on my last blog post! Yes! We had never seen it before and I had only just seen photos of it on a gardening website, so I think that is why it caught my eye. It was so very tiny but very beautiful. One thing, the flowers of the blue eyed grass really are white to begin with, it seems to me and then, they change to blue. Do you find this true also? I love flowers!! And may I say, I am very impressed with you finding that wild asparagus and also, framing the cows perfectly in the fence! x

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    1. Thanks, Kay, and sorry for this ridiculously late reply! I don't know what the blue-eyed grass flowers look like when young; I've only seen them three or four times that I can recall, and they were always blue.

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  2. We fell from winter right into summer this year. However, it is not very hot, except you have to work on a roof like my carpenter had to today. He looked quite toasted when I got home and met him. I hope he got a nice shower after he arrived at home and will be cool tomorrow morning.

    Yesterday we went on a field trip with the class, which was very nice being outdoors in this lovely weather and landscape all green.

    After lots of days with rain, the sun has come every day for two weeks now. The farmers cut their hay and are happy. There are some spots with wild flowers. It make me happy to see their effort to let them bloom nowadays.

    Happy rides and enjoyable summertime!

    Regula

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  3. What an excellent selection of illustrations from your rides and hike. I like someone who can find time to stop and look when out on a bike rather than keep the nose right over the front tyre.

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    1. Thank you so much. When one rides as slowly as I do, one may as well stop to smell the flowers (and photograph them, too). :)

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  4. Such beautiful wildflowers! I'm loving that you have some of the same we have. Your lupine is so much prettier than our low-elevation lupine. But I did get to peek at the high-altitude lupine last weekend, and oh, my!!!

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    1. Ooh, I'm sure that high-altitude lupine was stunning!

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