Meadow Walk - Early September
In which I wander snap happy, through our wildflower laden meadow.
Inspired by Diana Pappas recent post about wandering through their new meadow, I decided to do a little wandering myself and see what flowers and plants would catch my attention. Here is Diana’s post which I highly recommend.
I used the occasion to take my new TTArtisan macro lens for a spin. I picked this up for just $111 CDN during a recent Amazon Prime sale.
So with such a cheap lens in hand, I had no expectiations. Neither did I go out of my way to insure the best depth of field and did not bring a tripod. The wind was problematic, but I was determined to take an hour away from my office to immerse myself in nature. I find these breaks are very important and usually increase my productivity once I return to my desk. So here is what I saw.
This white heath aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides) is growing at the edge of our driveway. It loves dry soil and is typical of tallgrass prairie plants native to our area near Rice Lake, Ontario. Flowers from August to October.
Much maligned as the source of people’s allergies, this native plant often grows alongside ragweed, which is the real source of their stuffy noses. Only through close inspection can you see the tiny yellow flowers, Typically, they are seen from further away, often dominating the flora with their bright yellow appearance.
Gardeners often consider native fleabane a weed, but I like them. Tiny flowers, they measure about 1/2 to 3/4 of inch across. Apparently, there are about 170 species of fleabane in North America and 390 species world wide. I am guessing this is a Daisy Fleabane.
These reed grass flowers were deep red and tightly closed when I saw them last Wednesday. I believe these are non natives and I could only find one small patch near the old barn foundations so not a common plant here at all. I was struck however by the intensity of the red amongst the yellow goldenrod.
Returning today with my phone camera, I found the flower heads fully open and waving in the afternoon breeze. Caught between rain showers.
Another white aster, this could be a white heart shaped leaf aster, but I’m not sure.
The distinctive red clover is a favourite of mine and is common on a property that former residents named Cloverdale for obvious reasons. We know this because the carved the name in the concrete of the old well which was replaced before we arrived in 1986.
Another member of the aster family, the field thistles have lost their colourful purple heads and have entered the late stage of development characterized by the emergence of white feathery papus commonly referred to as fluff.
Stepping back a bit from another batch of white asters.
The bright yellow flower head of perennial sow-thistle also known as milk thistle. the plant is very competitive and seen as a nuisance plant competing with field crops in agricultural settings.
A mature seed head of the sow-thistle displays a feathery crown.
Common Cotton-grass or perhaps Tussock Cotton-grass in the early stage of mature seed head development. The tight paintbrush formation seen here will soon explode into a messy ball of fluff.
More shots of goldenrod. It is everywhere throughout the meadow.
While most of the dogwood plants in our meadow are still green, a few have turned crimson red like this one. It can be a sign of insects or drought or a combination of the two. Is that a hungry beasty just over the edge of the half consumed leaf? The black spots also suggest insect activity. With acres of dogwood pants on our property, the occasional host plant would seem to be fair game. The white-tailed deer also use the dogwood in the winter when other plants are buried in deep snow.
Similar to Queen Anne’s Lace but a slightly different shape as it isn’t flat topped.
Despite the name, the New England Aster is native to Ontario, plants having little respect for geopolitical borders. This pretty purple flower must be a welcome site for bees. It just looks inviting, doesn’t it.
Macro lenses can get very close but the depth of field is next to nothing. I was lucky to get anything in focus in the image.
A member of the buckwheat family like rhubarb, Curly Dock (rumex crispus) is a non-native wildflower which has now naturalized itself around the world. No wonder. Each plant can produce 60,000 seeds that can survive for up to 80 years.
So I guess that’s it for one trip around the meadow. two hours of focused attention with a new lens, and more than double that looking up all the species and learning more about them. Time well spent I’d say.
Returning at last to Diana Pappas’ “hand bouquet” series, here is my feeble attempt at my first hand bouquet. I carried a small bag with me and took a few cuttings on my way.
The big yellow flower in my hand is a woodland sunflower. They are abundant at the edge of our forest where they meet our meadows. The little white flower with six petals is garlic chive which grows next to our house. I’m not sure what the green elongated pineapple thing is. That’s another shot of that common reed grass by my thumb.
I obviously need more practice to achieve the perfectly wonderful minimalist presentations that Diana has created in her series from Europe and North America but I like the idea so much, I wish everyone would give it a try. Wouldn’t it be great to see hand bouquets of wildflowers from around the world?
Until next time, I’ll leave you with this little ditty, because we all belong amongst the wildflowers.
Beautiful photos John and lovely meadow. Thanks so much for sharing it with us! Happy to have also discovered Diana Pappas! I did a wildflower post in the spring. I've been meaning to do another.
Love that you did this John, and congrats on achieving a hand bouquet, I know from Diana's experience that they are not easy!