So far, I've failed at my attempt to keep up with the post-per-week commitment I thought I'd made...with pictures, though, I've done a bit better. Here are several photos of blooming meadow plants over the past month and a half, and a few of the visitors they've attracted. This is important to me, as it's interesting to keep up with how our small piece of land changes through the seasons, and we're nearly at the year mark (July).
We had lots of Green Milkweed, Asclepias viridis, and it's one of my favorites. It's on to seed now, and making it's large, characteristic seed pods:
And attracting a crowd of little occupants, some of whom didn't appreciate having their picture taken:
I was really, really excited to find Baptisia alba blooming; I'd found loads of plants in seed before but hadn't seen it blooming in person. We have about four patches of this lovely legume coming up across the meadow:
Loads of Drummond's wild onion, Allium drummondii, all over, with scores of visitors every day. They've gone to seed now, but I'm already looking forward to them next year:
In our native seed mix, which only partially made an appearance due to the fact that we didn't till or prep in any way other than mowing, we had some interesting Phlox, most of all this one:
And scores upon scores of Fleabane, Erigeron philadelphicus, which really brought on the butterflies. Here it is with an Oak Hairstreak, Satyrium favonium, butterfly visiting:
And again with a Painted Lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui:
Hairy Vetch, Vicia villosa, attracted tons of butterflies, especially large Swallowtails. It's a nuisance non-native plant introduced as a productive covercrop, but it's certainly beautiful when blooming in large masses:
This caterpillar caught my eye while I was croutching down to photograph a butterfly nearby--I'm a big fan of cool camouflage strategies, and this was a great one:
We had lots and lots of Variegated Fritillary butterflies, Euptoieta claudia:
And we're still seeing Eastern Commas, Polygonia comma:
I think this one is a Southern Dogface, Colias cesonia, but welcome corrections from those who know--I'm relatively new at Butterfly ID:
Now, we're enjoying masses of wild Rose Gentian, Sabatia campestris:
But MOST exciting of all was the discovery of Lady's Tresses Orchids,Spiranthes cernua, naturalized throughout the meadow, with new patches discovered in several places over the last two weeks:
Very, very nice! I've taken about 300 photographs, but all having been via the camera in my phone, they're a bit lacking--this is the best I have managed.
Well, at least I'm a bit caught up, but there's certainly more. We have several completed projects and weddings that I need to get up, too, so there's plenty more to come.
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