Summer Wildflowers

Mid-July is the season for summer wildflowers, those usually beautiful flowers that some call 'weeds'.  They deserve a lot of credit though, since they grow all on their own, unlike the heavily pampered flowers we grow in our gardens.

Buttercups are one of the first here, and one of my favourites.  The town left these growing in a nearby ditch for a few days til they were mowed down.

Bright yellow Bird's-foot Trefoil spread all the way up the Collingwood Street hill.  Here I was literally only a few hours before the mowers!

This is one of those nasty invasive plants that is spreading widely here, Wild Chervil.  You can see it in ditches and along field edges all around here.

And this is Dames-rocket, easily confused with Phlox.  But this one has four petals, Phlox has five.

This is the remarkable seed-head of the Goat's-beard, like a giant dandelion seed.

This scraggly looking plant is Sow Thistle, taken in front of the brick wall of the new Long Term Care Home.

This pretty purple bloom is Knapweed, a plant with tough wiry stems that spreads too easily, but with a very pretty flower.

My favourite among all these is the Chicory, such a gentle blue.