When walking my trails, my feet sinks in deeper with the new layer of snow and almost feels like stepping into marshy conditions. But ground is frozen and covered in that cold white stuff and not displaying any swamp milkweed in bloom waiting for butterflies.
Swamp Milkweed
The pretty pink color from the fireweed blossoms during the summer sure would brighten up a cloudy winter day. The flowers start blooming at the bottom and works it way up to the top of the stem.
Summertime Fireweed
There might not be any snow on the ground, but my pond has been frozen over for a while so there are no blue flags blooming near the water edge, at least not until next June.
Summertime Blue Flag
The bright yellow blossoms of goldenrod attracted a variety of insects to its flowers on this sunny summer day.
The Yellow of Goldenrod
This tall showy native wildflower can cover an entire area with brilliant pink flowers. I saw a few larger patches of fireweed on a recent road trip but they weren’t in a area that I could stop for a picture, but there were some scattered clumps of them by a beach. The name fireweed comes from its ability to quickly colonize areas burned by fire. The flowers bloom low and work their way up the stem and some don’t want to see the top of the plant in blossoms as it signals the end of summer and the coming of winter.
Fireweed in Summer
With slightly lower temperatures, it was more pleasurable to spend time outside so a walk looking for wildflower might be a good activity on a Sunday sunny summer day. Last summer my sister showed me the different flowers growing around her area including these Tuberous Grass-pink, an orchid native to eastern North America.
Tuberous Grass-pink
The morning rain showers left a few drops on the buttercup flower blossoms as the sun came out in the afternoon to make the yellow shine.
Sunny Buttercups
Only a few blossoms remain of the Blue Flag growing on the edge of my pond. It is a native iris that grows in wetlands having violet-blue flowers and is one plant that my deer don’t seem to eat.
Blue Flag by the Pond
Many of these lady’s slipper blossoms will not get pollinated as bumblebees have learned there is no nectar so not worth the effort to navigate the small opening and approximately only 10% will produce fruit containing thousands of tiny seeds. The plant can live up to 100 years but it takes a long time to bloom the first time and will not bloom every year if conditions are poor, so seeds may only be produced a few times during its life.
Pink Lady’s Slipper
Some areas in Wisconsin received a lot of rain from the remnants of tropical storm Cristobal, causing some flooding in areas. Water-lilies probably didn’t mind the extra rain where other flowers were drenched and are waiting for the sun to return.
White Water-lily
