A Sunny Sunday Walk

On a recent Sunday, we drove to a park in the next county to walk a section of the Ice Age Trail. This particular loop of trail circles a spring-fed kettle lake and runs through a surprising diversity of terrain, including fen, sedge meadow, savanna, wet and dry forest, and mesic prairie. (In plain English: lots of trees and water and flowers.)

The day is warm, with a fresh breeze blowing. Near the start of the trail, a sunny bridge beckons us onward:

Of course I'm keeping an eye out for wildflowers, and soon spot a woodland sunflower:

Over our heads are the velvety berries of staghorn sumac:

As the terrain segues to oak woodland, acorns begin to appear:

Sunshine filters down through the canopy:

A tall aster blooms in an open spot:

Though we're circling a lake, the lake itself is rarely seen. Here we get a glimpse of it through the trees:

Heal-all blooms by the side of the trail:

And I'm excited to spot a great blue lobelia; I haven't seen one in years:

Clumps of moss dot the forest floor:

A second bridge marks the start of a transition from woodland to sedge meadow:

As the tree canopy slowly gives way, different flowers begin to appear. First we see white snakeroot:

Then evening primrose:

And horsemint:

An outlet stream crosses the flowery meadow:

Next we spy thistle:

Blue vervain:

And glorious swathes of goldenrod and Joe-Pye-weed:

We cross a long boardwalk over a fen, then we're back on a sandy path leading through a short section of trees. Another turn, and suddenly we're out on the windy prairie, where yet more goldenrod is framed by the white berries and wine-tinted leaves of grey dogwood:

Great waves of Queen Anne's lace break against the now-grassy trail:

Sunny yellow cup-plant blossoms reach for the blue sky above:

Huge clumps of black-eyed Susan delight the eye:

And coneflowers wave ragtag skirts in the wind:

After threading our happy way through this glory of wildflowers, we stop for one last photo of goldenrod and black-eyed Susan:

Then the trail turns a final corner and we're back at the parking lot where we started.

What a satisfying Sunday walk!

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Tall Flowers of Summer

If Spring is the exciting infancy of Nature's year, Summer is the lanky teenage phase - somewhat untidy, and marked by surprising growth spurts that seem to happen overnight. It's the time of year when inconspicuous knee-high plants start behaving like the weeds they are, and suddenly the fields are full of flowers taller than I am.

Here are some of my favorite wildflowers of late July and early August, ranging in size from shin-deep to waist-high to tilt-my-head-back-tallness.

Blue vervain has become much more widespread the last few summers. This photo was taken at the edge of a large field completely covered with its blossoms:

Ironweed brings bright pops of color to the roadside:

Also growing by leaps and bounds is this field of corn that I pass on my way to work:

Along the river trail, the knapweed is several feet tall:

With Queen Anne's Lace not far behind:

On a Saturday ride I spy tall purple loosestrife blooming amidst a cloud of knapweed gone to seed:

A bee works busily among nearby goldenrod:

In the marsh, I find a new-to-me flower with a charming name - white meadowsweet:

And feathery blossoms of Joe-Pye-weed:

Many miles later I stop at a favorite wildlife area to see what's blooming this year, and wade through swathes of waist-high wild bergamot to snap this photo:

Flowers growing here include button eryngo:

Coneflower (Ratibida):

And the aforementioned wild bergamot, the thickest I've ever seen:

On the way home I pass a long stretch of extra-fuzzy hare's-foot clover, aka rabbit-foot clover. At less than knee-high, these are the shortest flowers in this post:

What are your favorite flowers at this time of year?

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Snapshots from July (and June)

Time has been rolling past, as it ever does, and somehow I've let six weeks' worth of ride photos build up without blogging any of them! I have no excuse, and will offer none. Let's look at wildflowers instead.

Here is some stately spiderwort, with a cloud of yarrow in the background:

Cheerful daisies growing wild in a field:

Dainty crown vetch:

And regal hoary vetch:

Bright hoary puccoon:

And, just for a change, a beautiful double rainbow that appeared between passing storms:

Back to the flowers. This beauty rejoices in the name of hoary vervain:

(On a side note, why hoary? Why not something more euphonious, like fuzzy or fleecy or woolly?)

Here's a lovely wheatfield that I pass on my way to work:

Starlike St. John's wort:

Glorious orange milkweed:

Snowy viburnum:

Knapweed:

One of the many varieties of wild sunflower:

A gorgeous combination of daylily and hoary vetch:

Wild bergamot (the Phyllis Diller of flowers, I always think):

Common milkweed:

The humble soapwort, or Bouncing Bet:

Fleabane:

And one of my favourites, delicate whorled milkweed:

Life isn't all wildflowers all the time, hence this photo of Amish hay-gathering:

And now, back to our scheduled programming. This is rudbeckia, or black-eyed Susan:

Though we've had some brutally hot and humid weather this month, there have also been refreshing days of halcyon blue-and-white skies. This was one of them:

The next little plant is the charmingly-named heal-all:

A favourite bend in the road:

This tiny flower has a name much bigger than itself - pointed-leaf tick trefoil, or Desmodium glutinosum:

This is a new-to-me wildflower called common kidney vetch:

This might be coreopsis:

And this, of course, is Iris the bike:

Butter-and-eggs, anyone?

Another of my favourite flowers, wild chicory:

My last photo is for the train-lovers among us:

Whew! All caught up now.

How is July treating you?

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