Some Plant Life
July 31, 2022
Here some photographs of plants—and one animal—taken in the last few weeks, all in Oberlin.
1 These hens and chicks are growing in the Courtyard Garden. Until I saw these, I didn’t know that hens and chicks came in any colors besides a rather uninteresting green.
2 Spiders must have visited these hens and chicks some time before the garden was watered.
3 The flowers of hens and chicks are small. Blowing up a photograph of them lets you see them better.
4 Hens and chicks are sedums. So are the Courtyard Garden plant at the left in the photograph (with its yellow flowers) and the plant at the right (with its purple flowers). In the middle is a flowering Ice Plant.
5 Nearby Heiser Pond is home to many white water lilies.
6 The water lilies in the Courtyard Garden are pink.
7 Here’s a closer look at one of them.
8 A friend tells me this is a Blue Dasher dragonfly. I was grateful that he stopped dashing around the Courtyard Garden pool long enough for me to take his portrait.
9 Is there any wonder that this Courtyard Garden denison is called a Buttonbush?
10 I learned just last night that Marsh Mallows were planted on purpose in our neighborhood. They are so abundant that I thought they were wildflowers. These insects seem to find them good to eat.
11 The Marsh Mallows have many close associates around Heiser Pond. These are Swamp Milkweed.
12 I know these Cardinal flowers were planted on purpose because I talked with the man who planted them a few days ago.
13 This Courtyard Garden resident is a Cholla cactus, a member of the Opuntia genus, as is the Prickly Pear.
14 Next to a downtown Oberlin parking lot, I found Pepperwort.
15 And next to the Pepperwort I found a dried mystery plant.
Romancing Reality 