Berry Bliss

There's a rainbow of berries out there:

Red-orange native honeysuckle.

Blue-green cedar.

White red osier dogwood.

Deep purple elderberry.

And crimson Cornelian cherry dogwood.  

Emergence

I know... I have been terribly remiss this summer at posting.  No excuse other than inertia, or lack thereof.  (And a foot injury limiting my walking, but really?  I don't need to leave my yard to photograph most of this stuff.)  We missed the prairie clover and blazing star, ironweed and a whole host of yellow composites that are coloring the prairie.  We missed the grasses starting to earn their late summer dominance.  We'll get to some of that, I assume... But I noticed this trailside sight last night, and couldn't resist taking a few photos, so I figured I'd share!

It's been about a week -- maybe a few more days than that -- since the loud, insistent hum of cicadas has become the background noise for the late summer afternoons and evenings.  These, I think, are a phenological harbinger to me.  When does summer become late summer?  It's the cicadas that make it feel like summer is waning.  Well, the cicadas and the yellow, I suppose.  The prairie has so much yellow, and the light just gets a yellower quality to it that I can't quite quantify, but I feel it.  It's funny, because technically, astronomically, we're not even half way through the interval between summer solstice and the autumnal equinox.  And yet.  

Despite the heat, despite the fact that school doesn't start for a little while yet, this part of summer has such a different flavor than the earliest and middle parts.  Ah well, enough of that!  Instead, time for some interesting cicada information.  Anyone familiar with cicadas knows that while they're quite large insects, they also seem pretty clumsy and slow.  So how does such a plump tasty treat avoid being bird prey?  It turns out their mating call is also a defense!  Only make cicadas make noise; they do it to attract a mate.  Their instruments are tiny but powerful -- over 120 decibels.  This is loud enough to be painful to humans... and to birds.  The noise of a group of calling cicadas is both unpleasant to birds and also disrupts their own communications.  This makes it hard for them to pick off the delicious (I'm assuming, to a bird) insects!  

Now we've all learned something, we can get on with our day!

Queen Reigns

Queen of the prairie blooms.

I'm Back!

I've been in England nearly three weeks... A whole different experience in terms of plants, weather, etc... Like while we were gone it was in the 90s here and didn't rain at all -- so dry! -- whereas England we were lucky to go a day without rain and it never topped 70. Not complaining, it was lovely. But I returned to a whole different prairie!

A few long shots to show the main characters: here, purple coneflower and coreopsis.

Here, the compass plants tower over everything...

Many yellow composites are starting; in addition to the Susan's (pictured) there were some sunflowers and even the first yellow coneflowers.

Butterfly weed:

Culver' root:

Common milkweed:

That's only a partial list and doesn't include any of the invasives, of which there are many... But I'll leave some for tomorrow!

It Prickles

To hearken back to the last couple of posts... here's another weed that's started blooming, that I'm somewhat sad is not desirable because these thistles are quite lovely.  To look at.  They are decidedly unlovely to touch, and heaven help you if you have to pull one.   

They are also another flower that I find quite fascinating right before they bloom.  They get this green-to-purple effect that I'm just really taken with.  

Almost

I am somewhat captivated by these purple coneflowers in their almost stage... Their skinny (and fuzzy!) necks popping up out of the surrounding prairie like periscopes, their Fibonacci spirals so prominent in the perfectly round disc, their petals so sparse and spindly as to seem, at this point, like a pale pink afterthought to the flower... they keep catching my eye.  I decided to try and draw one.  (I'm out of practice.  I should sketch more.  Mid-year resolution.)  

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...