Wildflowers of summer

This is the third wildflower post in my series of photos taken during the spring and summer of last year. The difficulty has been in choosing just a few of the hundreds of photos I took! For instance, the orange daylilies could be found in great clumps bordering corn fields, or mixed gloriously with other wildflowers along the country roads. I could do an entire post just using photos of these gorgeous flowers, but I have so many others I want to include as well.

My first 2 wildflower posts are here and here if you'd like to look at them.

I've found two websites very helpful in my quest to identify and gather information about the various wildflowers I've noticed during my drives and walks. They are The Connecticut Botanical Society and Wildflowers of the Northeastern and Northcentral USA

You'll find beautiful graphics of each individual bloom on the second site.

Daylily - Hemerocallis fulva

Lilies beside a cornfield the second week in July

Lilies and lace

Here the lilies are mixed with Queen Anne's Lace and what I think is Poison Hemlock. I've had a hard time finding a positive identification for this one, so if anyone can help, please let me know. Both the latter plants are members of the carrot family. You can also see it in the next photo.

Beauty beside a small country road

As I mentioned in my first post, the roadsides didn't get their usual Spring mowing by the county workers because of an extremely wet June, so we were treated to an abundant display of wildflowers lining the roads.

Queen Anne's Lace and birdfoot trefoil

Notice the tiny spot of red in the center of the Queen Anne's lace flower head.

Opening flowerhead

Before the intricate flowerhead unfurls it looks like this, and is wonderfully fascinating. There's often a bright little bug of some kind to be found hiding in the hollow.

Mayweed and birdfoot trefoil

The Mayweed looks a lot like Oxeye Daisies, but the foliage is more lacey. It belongs to the Aster family. It's also known as Stinking Chamomile (charming name!) and Dogfennel. The Trefoil belongs to the Pea family.

St. Johnswort and Musk Mallow

The St. Johnswort belongs to the Mangosteen family.

Lilies and mallow

The front yard of the house hidden around the corner is full of both lilies and mallow. The people who live there apparently love both flowers so much that they've also planted this bank below their house full of them. What a fantastic display it makes! Lilies apparently love lots of water because they flourished during our wet Spring and Summer of 2006 more than I've ever noticed before.

Musk Mallow (Malva Moschata)

Mallow has a family of it's own (Mallow - Malvaceae). I absolutely love this shade of pink!

Here's more of it brightening the bank of a stream beside the road.

Further up the hill lilies were growing beside elderberry bushes.

Lilies and elderberries a bit closer.

On this particular stretch the roadsides were really spectacular.

Berry bushes grow beside the mallow and many other wildflowers lining the banks.

It's hard to find a website that shows the various native berries. I've found chokeberries, pin cherries, and others, but I haven't found photos that clearly show the differences. If anyone knows their berries, or a good website for them, I'd appreciate the information.

We had another snow storm yesterday and the snow continues to fall today, but it's not bad compared to what we've experienced lately. Mother Nature teased us with a warm-up at the beginning of the week with temperatures around 50º and 60ºF (10 to 15C), but now we're back in the 20's and 30's (-1 to -6C).

Spring is coming though, and we have much to look forward to!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!