Wildflowers in My Neighborhood
August 13, 2023
A couple of weeks ago I walked down a street in my neighborhood that I don’t frequent very often. I was delighted to see that one side of the road was jam packed with wildflowers. Here are photographs of some of them.
1 Many of our ponds have names. This little one does not. The plants with purple flowers are pickerel weed. The yellow aquatic flowers are bladderwort.
2 Yellow coneflowers, purple coneflowers, Queen Anne’s lace, with lurking yellow mystery flowers, daisy fleabane, and bee balm: everyone gets along.
3 Purple coneflowers may be able to take a little shade, but I gave them a little more in processing this photograph.
4 Sometimes Canada thistle takes over, but this plant just fit in sweetly with the others.
5 Grass sprinkled its way around this patch of bee balm.
6 Standing a bit apart from most of the plants, another kind of grass was noticeably in flower.
7 Here’s more bee balm, keeping company with Queen Anne’s lace, ironweed, the mystery flower, and cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum).
8 The cup plant was the tallest in this wildflower garden.
9 The mystery plant looks a lot like the cup plant to me, but my live-in botanist assures me that it is not the same plant, though it, too, is a composite.
10 Steve Gingold identified this bee mimic as an Eristalis transversa, or transverse-banded drone fly. I think Steve’s fly is male and mine is female.
11 A friend says these yellow coneflowers are dancing.
12 Here they are prancing among the mystery flowers . . .
13 . . . and here they are keeping to themselves.
Romancing Reality 
Beautiful photographs.
I particularly like the reflections and quiet of the first shot.
🌿🌱✨📷✨🌱🌿
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August 13, 2023 at 7:52 AM
Thanks, P.C. I do love photographing reflections. The quiet was a bonus.
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August 16, 2023 at 8:18 PM
What a display of floral colors, all the more surprising now that so many parts of the country have been suffering heat waves and drought.
You’ve done more anthropomorphizing in this post than is your wont: flowers keeping to themselves, dancing, getting along, fitting in sweetly with others. Does anything in particular account for those human takes on these flowers?
It’s always good to see bee mimics, of which there are so many, and of which most people are unaware (as I was for most of my life).
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August 13, 2023 at 9:33 AM
And another thing most people seem unaware of is pickerel weed, which has such pretty flowers.
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August 13, 2023 at 9:35 AM
We have been feeling almost guilty here in northeast Ohio—when we aren’t flat out enjoying the beautiful weather, which has been hovering close to 80 all summer. I see what you mean about anthropomorphizing; guess it just snuck out. I know that I have been mistaking bee mimics for bees. I didn’t even know that this one was not a bee until I downloaded and was able to look closer. Thanks for writing, Steve.
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August 16, 2023 at 8:18 PM
Beautiful set of wildflower images, Linda. My favorite flower of the wildflowers is Queen Anne’s lace, partly because of its beauty and partly because it reminds me of someone from a while back.
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August 13, 2023 at 11:16 AM
Thank you, Ken. Not long ago I heard a neighbor refer to Queen Anne’s lace as a noxious weed. I took it personally; I like that flower, and seed head, too.
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August 16, 2023 at 8:17 PM
Love these; they made me smile. I lost my dog Leo a week or so ago (had
to have him put down) and some friends brought me a bouquet of
wildflowers and left them on my porch. Very sweet and touching.
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August 13, 2023 at 12:03 PM
I’m happy that these flowers made you smile, Mary Ellyn. It’s hard to lose a companion, human or (other) animal. I’m sorry you lost Leo; he was a good friend to you.
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August 16, 2023 at 8:16 PM
Fantastic series of photos today. Thank you so very much.
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August 14, 2023 at 9:55 AM
Thanks, Tom. You (and others) may have noticed in this post that I didn’t write my usual “I don’t photograph flowers.” I think I am giving in: I photograph flowers.
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August 16, 2023 at 8:16 PM
Linda, what a delight! You’ve done well by them, I think they’re all lucky to have had your eyes on them. I’m so glad you’re giving in. 😉 Your e-unerring eye for composition made the coneflowers & friends dance across space in #2. I like the darkened background in #3 very much. I love the flowering grass – it must have been a still day! The tall, narrow rectangle of #7 works so well and I love the bright white background in #8. Whether dancing, prancing or keeping to themselves, your coneflowers look their best. And your text is perfect – skipping along lightly with the flowers, adding a little something here and there. Wonderful.
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August 20, 2023 at 9:03 PM