In the Weeds

A weed is just a good plant in a bad place, really.  But the result is a bad plant.  Some of my least favorite flowers are blooming now... a lot of "weeds," including these, can be pretty.  A lot of people call some of the native plants I treasure "weeds" because they move into their yards without being invited.  But invasive species that threaten the biodiversity of the ecosystem... no matter how pretty they seem, when I see them, I can't get past the ugliness of what they're doing.

Here, crown vetch (purple) and birds' foot trefoil (I was sad when I learned that one was invasive):

Yellow sweet clover (with other clovers as well...):

And, everyone's favorite, bindweed.  Just try to get that off a plant it's decided to climb up...

Bad Guys

Usually I like to focus my observations and energy on natives... if I spent too much time paying attention to the invasives, I'd have a terribly negative attitude, as there are a lot of them.  Still, sometimes its important to be aware of their phenophases...

Purple Loosestrife, ravager of wetlands, is in peak bloom now... 

Sweet clover is blooming, slightly past peak.

Queen Anne's Lace... many are blooming,
many are already going to seed...

Chickory -- probably peaked last week but there's still plenty.  

This photo is just to show the whitecaps on the lake --
it's another REALLY windy day!

Updates Part (Whatever)

Purple Prairie Clover

Besides the vibrant purple of the prairie clovers, here are some other observations from today:

Red baneberries are now, indeed, red berries.
Culver's root has the very first flowers at the bottom of the stalks.
This picture didn't really capture very well the lovely orange color of the flowers on the little bluestem, but let it act as a prompt to go outside and seek some... their tiny blooms -- which most people never notice at all -- are really quite special and colorful.

Ablaze with Color

The prairie is jumping with colors this time of year. Here are some new prairie faces:
blazing star, not quite blazing yet, but starting to bloom.

butterfly (moth?) on false sunflower.
purple prairie clover.

yellow coneflower.
leadplant, a fantastic perennial legume that is actually a small shrub, with a woody stem. It blooms purple with orange pollen. I cannot get it to come back in my yard, but I keep putting them in...

rattlesnake master. Not a new face, but...

I thought the pinkish color on these newly opening Queen Anne's Lace flowers was really spectacular, although the plant itself is an invasive.

Problems.

Nasturtium. (not a problem)

Mushrooms. (not a problem)

I have a problem. Several, actually. They say that's the first step to a solution. Admitting you have a problem. But my first problem -- that mosquitoes are inhabiting my yard in thirsty droves -- is prohibiting me from (comfortably) solving my other problems. The first other problem is the wild strawberries -- which I do like... but they're taking over, going crazy. That's why this picture of the blue-eyed grass flowers makes it look like they have strawberry leaves.

These little wood sorrels? Another problem. At first they look pretty, small and unassuming with tiny yellow flowers. Then they're everywhere. And my final problem (that I'm going to write about), undocumented by photos, involves more vegetable fungus. The basil is looking good. The tomatoes have been attacked, their leaves yellowing and spotty. Grrr. I have never had these problems before, but then, we don't usually have such cool, wet Junes.

Flowers on Solomon's seal (slightly blurry) and

red baneberry looking really, really red!

Coreopsis, campion and clover, oh my!

These coreopsises (which is an interesting word to make plural... coreopses?) are in full bloom, their bright yellow cheering up another grey day. They are another one of those flowers with color so pure it looks like you could just jump right in to a pool of it, and it's about my favorite color.

Rushes and sedges of many varieties are currently bearing seedheads. I can't even pretend I'm good at IDing them -- other than being able to categorize a plant as a rush, a sedge or a grass... using, of course, the old sing-song mnemonic that botany students everywhere learn: Sedges have edges, rushes are round, and grasses have asses [nodes] down low to the ground.

Note: I would love to be able to differentiate them accurately; I have a book but it isn't great. Any suggestions welcome!

Anyhow, here is a rush to represent them all.

Bladder campion (and also daisies) are lining roadsides everywhere. Despite their weediness and the fact that they aren't native, I quite like the bladder -- really an inflated, purple-veined calyx sac -- for which they are commonly named.

And this is the almost-blooming blanket flower that grows all over at school, though it is technically native to slightly more western prairie areas.

In the world of weeds (which sometimes seems to be the entire world), here are 4 that are in full bloom: orchard grass, yellow sweet clover, vetch, and red and white clovers intermingling together.