Letting Go

Upon returning from my trip up north, what I notice most about my native prairie habitat isn't what's here but what's gone.  When I left, there were a lot of hangers-on... plants that were well past their peak bloom, but there were still a few left.  But, despite hot weather all week, a lot of the hangers on have let go, and in their place there are only seed-heads.  Among those things that are now totally absent:

• purple coneflower (peak bloom early July, but some of those things hang on forever)
• wild bergamot (peak bloom also late June'early July, but a few lasted)
• mountain mint
• blazing stars (even the rough ones are pretty much gone)
• ironweed
• yellow coneflower
• cup plant

So now, the prairie is dominated mainly by grasses and DYCs, especially goldenrod.  A lot of goldenrod this time of year!  A few NE asters (DPCs?) add a little purple color to the mostly yellow hues.

Here's one exception... I just this weekend noticed this boneset in bloom.  Either it really just started (Several Eupatorium species do bloom late!) or I missed it for all the other things going on! 

Another Garden Visit

Here is the new damselfly for the day... but I can't positively identify her. (The bluets are hard -- there's a ton and they all look similar. But the female bluets are even harder!) I think this one might be a female blue-fronted dancer.
I know this is bad photo (of orange bluets mating) but the point I wanted to make is... damselflies were mating today, like, a lot. At one point, I saw three couples at one time.
Sunflower ready to open up! I love the brown sunflowers, because their brown color is on top of the typical sunflower yellow. You can see the yellow through the brown costume, and if you pick a petal and break it, it's yellow inside.
Virgin's bower, the native clematis, in bloom.
Boneset.
Hophornbeam seeds.
Hazel nuts.

Now for the waterfowl update...
Baby swans.
This juvenile duck, probably one of the first born this year, is the size of an adult, but his coloring hasn't fully come in yet (his head doesn't have the pretty green), whereas...
These baby mallards are much littler and so so cute.

Plants turning color already (and, besides this fern and anenome, there are more, like some serviceberry leaves and Solomon's seal).

(Yeah, I know this is sideways. I don't care.)