After weeks of not being able to do any walking outside of my house, I’ve been gradually extending my outdoor activity. I’m up to walking twice a day, 1/2 mile round trip each time. I’m sure I could walk farther if I live on flat land, but I don’t, and those downhills are difficult. (Much harder than uphills.)
So I’ve really been enjoying being back on my road after my hiatus, and decided that I’d do a Nature’s Garden Journal, since I missed so many weeks of my own garden. Besides, I’ve always loved wildflowers, and what grows along the edges of my road is really beautiful, so yesterday I carried my camera on my walk with me.
Before I even get to the bottom of my driveway, there’s a stand of goldenrod. In another week or so, old pastures will show the bright yellow goldenrod counterpointed beautifully with deep purple asters.
Near the goldenrod is a great collection of Joepye weed. I couldn’t stop myself from taking several shots of it in its various phases, all visible on just one day. In addition to being gorgeous, Joepye weed is beelicious — the bees just love it.
The next flower that called me to shoot it was a knapweed. I like the form of the bud (not visible in this shot), the color, and the interesting petal formation. I am also fond of this shot, with Queen Anne’s lace. Although it doesn’t show up well in this small photo, in a larger version of the same image, I am intrigued by the Queen Anne at the bottom left – the seeds show up in the photo in a way they never have to my eye in real life. I’m going to have to look at it more closely on my walk today.
Not far from the knapweed is the gorgeous nightshade. I don’t really know if this is the plant of poison-of-old, but I’m not going to taste it to find out!
Not a flower but a fruit, I was pleased to see a bunch of bitternuts on the road. This means that there will be a nice crop for turkeys to eat.
When I turned around and focused on the other side of the road, I couldn’t resist the beauty of this thistle.
I closed my walk with the strength and grace of the lovely sumac.
Your turn: In addition to being lovely to look at, most of these wildflowers have some interesting properties — medicinal, edible, or other. Me, I just enjoy looking at them. Do you make use of any of their other properties?
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