Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Flowers of the Field

There are lots of interesting wildflowers ('weeds') blooming these days in our meadow, and along roadsides, fencerows and in ditches.  They're mostly common, but I always like watching for them as the season unfolds into summer.

The bright yellow Bird's-foot Trefoil has become one of the most common along our roadsides.  Sometimes the roadside looks yellow there is so much of it.

And in our lawn, the clover is ubiquitous.  There is a little grass in there too, but the clover really helps the lawn stay looking green.

The hawkweeds are some of the most intricate little flowers.  The Yellow Hawkweed or King Devil seems more common, but we also have some of the Orange Hawkweed or Devil's Paintbrush (not to be confused with Indian Paintbrush).  It's one of my favourite, simply because I like bright colours.

The deep purple Common Vetch is one of the most persistent weeds in the garden, but it appears in the meadow and along roadsides too.

I've found the Yellow Vetch much less common, but still pretty.

These are the tiny Balsam Ragwort flowers.

There's lots of Red Clover too, really more a deep pink colour.

The Daisy Fleabane looks like a tiny daisy, with very small white rays around the yellow centre.

And finally this year I spotted some very tiny white flowers which turned out to be Bluets.  One of the most inconspicuous flowers, I've simply never noticed it before.  The blossom is about 1/4" across.

The yellow Goatsbeard, that opens in the morning to face the sun, has mostly gone to seed now, forming what looks like a giant dandelion seed head.

So next time you're walking the fields, along a fencerow, or even along the roadside keep an eye out for these 'flowers of the field'.  they do change over the season, and soon we'll meet some others that come out in bloom.



15 comments:

  1. So many treating wildflowers out there to enjoy, and you captured them pretty good with some more excellent photos.

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  2. Wildflowers are the best kind of flower. Carol

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  3. Even though they're exotics, they're still pretty.

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  4. Thank you so much for including these lovely flowers on your blog. I am glad you notice them as so many people don't or just dismiss them a blankey blank weeds. They do have their own beauty.
    MB

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  5. Pretty enough to be in any garden. Come to think of it most of them are in my garden!

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  6. I recognize most of these being weeds here in NZ too

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  7. Red clover, what I saw most as a child on our farm, and the "goatsbeard" just like the dandelion that we blew to tell the time.

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  8. I'll be heading down to Baker Lake today to walk five miles to Noisy Creek. I'm sure I'll see plenty of flowers along the way, which I'll share with you later. Thanks for the great walk with yours. :-)

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  9. All the weeds/flowres along the road side are so pretty. Our lawn has quite a lot of clover in it but I kind of like it. Gives the lawn a little character. : )

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  10. Trefoil is one of my favourites...never weeds!

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  11. We share many of these same blooms, especially the clovers and the trefoil and vetch plants, here in NH. Although we no longer have a yard of our own, there is a nearby river trail and large city park so we have no shortage of these beauties and more.

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  12. The wildflowers are such beauties! Love them!

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  13. Some beautiful photo's here ...

    All the best Jan

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  14. As we were driving to Terre Haute today, I was noticing the Bird's-foot Trefoil, thinking I want to get out where I can take some photos...and was wondering if the vetch and crown vetch are blooming out at the strip pits. I wonder what would happen if I brought Bird's-foot Trefoil home and planted it...need to look it up and see just how invasive it is...

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