It’s time to get out of the woods and into the fields because that’s where all the sun lovers like these lupines are found. These particular plants grow alongside the road so I’m fairly sure they must have been planted by the state to help stabilize the embankment they grow on. Lupines seem to be even more beautiful when grown in large groups, and that’s probably because that’s the way they grow naturally.
Don’t forget to look up; there are some beautiful things going on up there. This is one of many black locust trees in the area that are blossoming right now.
Like the wisteria blossoms I showed in the last post black locust flowers hang in pendulous clusters and are very fragrant. Black locust wood is very hard and prized for use as fence posts, among other things. It is said that a fence made of black locust posts can last a hundred years.
In this shot I tried to get the bristles that give bristly locust its name, as well as the flowers. Bristly locust is more shrub than tree. Though it is said they can reach 8 feet the ones I know barely reach 6. Bristly purple-brown hairs cover its stems, the backs of its flowers and even its seedpods but they aren’t stiff or particularly prickly. The plant is native to the southeastern United States but has spread to nearly all of the lower 48 states. The beautiful pinkish purple flowers are very fragrant and bees love them. Certain nurseries sell them, so if you’re looking for a beautiful “plant it and forget it” native small tree that would do well on the edge of the woods and which pollinators would love, you might try one.
I don’t know who thought up the name “Jack go to bed at noon” for yellow goat’s beard but it’s accurate. They open when the sun finds them in the morning and then close up in early afternoon. These plants are from Europe but they could hardly be called invasive. I know of one colony off in a sunny meadow that really hasn’t expanded much in ten years. I’ve read that a kind of bubble gum can be made from the plant’s milky latex sap and its spring buds are said to be good in salads but I haven’t tried either.
I went to a local pond to see if the fragrant white waterlilies were blooming, and found maybe 30 of what will eventually be hundreds of them blooming. When you’re there and the breeze blows just right you can smell their wonderful fruity scent that some say smells like cantaloupe.
While I walked around the pond looking for a good place to get a shot of a waterlily blossom I got a big surprise; one of the biggest snapping turtles I’ve seen. That white clover blossom is about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch across, if that tells you anything.
At first I thought this big turtle had died of exhaustion but then I saw one of its back feet twitch and I knew it was alive. It’s best not to get too close to these creatures because what looks like a short neck is actually quite long and if one of your fingers gets caught in that beak well, you have a problem. This is the first shot I’ve ever gotten of a snapper’s big foot and claws. For a minute I felt as if I had been transported back in time a few million years.
These are gentle creatures that come on land only to lay their eggs, and they should be left alone to do so. I always just snap a couple of quick photos and leave them in peace. This one stayed in my mind though, so I went back to check on her the next day and was happy to not find her there in the hot sun. Though they glide through the water like a bird in the air on land they lose their buoyancy and feel their weight, and sometimes it seems as if they are struggling just to move. Egg laying also seem to take a lot out of them.
This is an invasive iris from Europe that is quite aggressive, and it grows wild in two or three spots along the river in Keene. It’s a beautiful thing but it spreads quickly so I can imagine the banks of the river lined with them in the not too distant future.
The dark markings on the petals are a good sign that this is “the” iris. I can’t think of a native iris that is yellow, grows in water, and is this big. They stand a good three feet tall and are very showy.
Our native wild irises are blue flags, which have shorter stalks and smaller flowers.
Sheep laurel are closely related to mountain laurel but they bloom a bit earlier. The flowers are smaller than mountain laurel and pink rather than white but as can be seen here, they have the same ten pockets that the tips of the anthers fit into. This makes them spring loaded, so when a heavy enough insect lands on them they all spring out and dust it with pollen. It seems like a lot of trouble for a flower to go through but it obviously works; there are always more laurel plants coming along.
Dragonflies are finally appearing and some like the chalk fronted corporal can hatch in the hundreds in just a small pond. This is a fairly common dragonfly that is good to practice your dragonfly photography on, because it likes to perch and wait for prey to come along. This one kept flying off this log and returning to the same spot and it didn’t mind me watching. They have pretty wing patterns and the chalky white coloring on their bodies can seem blue in certain light.
Chalk fronted corporals get their name from the “Corporal bars” behind their head. They’re not afraid to fight and won’t put up with interlopers trying to take over their spot. If you don’t like being bitten by mosquitoes then you should cheer the arrival of these and other dragonflies because they eat mosquitoes by the bag full. In fact if you’re very fortunate a swarm of chalk fronted corporals may follow you as you walk along, eating all the mosquitoes and deer flies that are swarming around you. If you’ve ever wondered why dragonflies will sometimes hover in front of you and seem to stare this is why; you attract their lunch.
Have you ever thought about what someone means when they say a plant is just an old weed? To me it means that they aren’t seeing the truth, because all things have their own beauty. They are spending more time sorting than seeing, and chances are they miss the beauty of things like blue toadflax, seen above. Just stop and look, and then really see.
Maiden pinks have started blooming. Though described as invasive everyone I know enjoys seeing them, so they aren’t any trouble. They like dry, hot, sandy soil in waste places where nothing else will grow anyway, so I say let them brighten the bare spots. They were once called “flashing lights” and it’s a good name for them.
This blue damselfly landed on a leaf right in front of me. “Thank you,” I thought as I took its photo. This is what I mean when I say that sometimes it can seem as if nature is throwing itself at you, and it’s a wonderful thing. Anyhow, this little damselfly might be a female eastern fork tail. And it might not; that’s the best I can come up with after a quick online comparison. I’m done spending hours, days, weeks and sometimes even months trying to put a name to something, because in the end the name is meaningless to me. It’s just a pretty blue damselfly.
Of course some names that are learned with effort aren’t easily forgotten, and that was the case with this spangled skimmer dragonfly. The “spangles” are the black and white bits at the leading edge of its wings; black is on the outside and white on the inside. These spangles shine in sunlight, which makes this dragonfly very easy to spot.
The pollen cones have opened on the red pines, white pines, and umbrella pines. These are the opened male pollen cones of the red pine seen here. If you have hay fever right now is not a good time, because the air is filled with pollen. One day I looked through a haze at the far hills that was so thick I thought it was smoke from more Canadian wildfires. I checked the air quality on my phone and it was good for this area, so it must have been pollen. That’s how I discovered that pollen doesn’t bother my lungs in the same way that smoke from fires does. It does make me sneeze though.
Where does all that pollen go? Everywhere, actually. It gets all over cars and inside the houses of people foolish enough to leave their windows open. When it rains it is washed into waterways, which is what the above photo shows. It floats on water and gathers in the shallows, so thick that great blue herons can’t see fish and frogs through it. Once we have a good heavy shower of rain it all disappears, presumably to the bottom of the pond or lake.
Not all the pollen is wasted though; some will reach the places it is needed, like these tiny pink flowers of the red pine. These flowers will become the tree’s pinecones, which will carry the trees seeds. That pollen, nuisance that it can be, means the continuation of life.
I went and saw the river of Dame’s rocket, which was always beautiful. I say “was” because I went back a week later and found that all of the plants in this photo had been dug up. The plants are not native and are very invasive, so I can understand why but still, I’ll miss them.
At a glance Dame’s rocket can fool you into thinking it is garden phlox, but phlox flowers have five petals and Dame’s rocket flowers only have four. It’s quite beautiful and fragrant but if you have it in your yard you’d better keep an eye on it, because it can spread quickly.
The alliums are blooming, from large ornamental flowerheads…
…down to small edible flowerheads like chives. Both are in the onion family and are quite pretty.
I thought I’d sneak in one plant that doesn’t like wall to wall sunshine; the blue bead lily. The leaves of this plant look like lady’s slipper leaves without the pleats and the flowers look like miniature Canada lilies. Blossoms have three petals, three sepals, and six stamens, as do all members of the lily family. Later on in July or August the electric blue berries that give this plant its name will appear. They’re beautiful and unusual, and worth keeping an eye out for.
This dragonfly is I believe, a lancet club tail. I saw it perched on a rock studying what looked like plans for a house or garage. Now wait just a minute, I thought, dragonflies are smart but they aren’t that smart. In fact what it was studying were just plant parts that had randomly fallen in a pattern that looked like a house and I’d bet that it wasn’t studying them at all, but it makes an interesting photo. When you get to know them dragonflies can keep you guessing because they are indeed more intelligent than we have been taught insects should be.
I like this one’s eyes, and I hope you do as well. I’d love to be able to see through those eyes, just once.
Summer is the annual permission slip to be lazy. To do nothing and have it count for something. To lie in the grass and count the stars. To sit on a branch and study the clouds. ~Regina Brett
Thanks for coming by.
sitting in swanzey studying the sheep laurel with friends after reading your post last week, and sharing about the spring loaded flower with them as we have a fire in the morning. One little observation leading to another, or a sketch. we appreciate your words and your sharing about nature with us. Could we ever go on a walk with you?
I’m glad you got to see the laurels and hopefully got to see how they worked.
There are people who, when stood in front of a group of people and asked to speak, immediately forget all they’ve ever known, and I am one of those. There are also people who write in a “different tongue” than what they speak with, and I am one of those.
There are even some people who, as they age, realize that they don’t actually know anything, at all and I am one of those. So, I’m afraid if I joined your group you would all be sorely disappointed. But I do appreciate you asking and I thank you for that.
honestly said! In truth it’s not what you know and say that we invite – it is how you see, and to look and observe together. my friends and their kids and I are curious and curious to appreciate. Along with the kids we enjoy space and people with whom to learn to see : )
all the enjoyment of nature’s beauty comes from seeing and smelling and hearing it. Learning comes that way, new and old, and still can enjoy, long after we’ve forgotten what we ever saw or knew or heard before.
either way, thank you for the wonderful site that invites us to see with you and see for ourselves in real time, all around us. we appreciate you
Thank you.
Well, there is your answer to your perceived problem: Children! For years on this blog I have said that if you really wanted to learn how to see study nature, get yourself a toddler. Just let them go and watch them. See how they toddle from one thing to another. Anything that catches their attention is new and wonderful, and for a few moments they become absorbed in it to the exclusion of all else. Nothing is off limits; they are open to learning about all of life. This of course is why we have to make sure we don’t let them go too far but we don’t have to hover and tell them not to touch things. When my son was small he told me bumblebees couldn’t sting. I told him I thought they could so to prove me wrong he caught one in his hand. The lesson he learned that day has stayed with him.
To really see and learn from nature you only have to walk slowly and be interested. Seeing is different from looking. Many look but few see, and that’s because they don’t slow down. How can you see a spider on the underside of a leaf at a normal walking pace? The answer is to be like a toddler, open to and interested enough in life to give yourself to it; to really, deeply want to know it.
I have said, when you see a flower imagine that you will have to stand in front of a room full of people and describe it. There will be questions and these people will want to know all there is to know about the flower, so you had better have studied your subject. You count its petals. You turn it over and look at the underside. You note how it attaches to the stem. To get an idea of how to “key in” a flower Newcomb’s wildflower guide will help. Just read that and learn all the steps it takes to really know a flower. Then apply that kind of looking to everything you see.
It really isn’t difficult. It’s really just a matter of being interested enough to devote some of your time to it. I can take 3 hours to walk a trail it would take most people half an hour to walk, and that because when I’m out there I don’t think of what I have to do later. I think about what’s happening at that moment, and I become absorbed in what is right there in front of me. Just like a toddler.
I hope this helps.
Thank you for your post. I let dames rocket romp around my yard. I can always pull it out where it’s not wanted. Also, I always wondered what the pink locust flowers were called – bristly locust. Thanks again. Jill
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You’re welcome Jill. I think I’d let Dame’s rocket romp here too!
I believe my husband’s great-grandfather, James Comley, is partially responsible for the yellow flag iris. He was a florist in Boston, and was one of a group that financed a plant-gathering expedition to the Far East over 100 years ago. The yellow flag iris was one of the plants brought back.
I dreamed of being a plant hunter as a boy and I would have loved to have been involved in that expedition. They didn’t have crystal balls then, so there was no way to tell what a plant would do when it settled in here. Had I seen this iris, I would have brought it back as well because invasive or not, its beauty can’t be denied,
Nice waterlily. Wow that’s a lot of pollen. I like all the different dragonflies. And the “permission slip to be lazy“, well that works for me thank you.
Thanks Dave. That permission slip has always worked for me.
I suppose I’ve given myself permission to take it easy when it’s too hot out for decades now, but it is kind of nice to hear it said right out loud… Just like that.
If you don’t want to use the “L” word just say you’re watching it all unfold as it should, or instead of trying to make it happen, you’re watching it happen. They all essentially mean the same thing but people will think of you as wise rather than lazy.
The fool on the hill wasn’t quite as foolish as everyone thought he was.
I did like the dragonfly’s eyes. It was an excellent photograph. You must be very patient to get so many dragonfly pictures or very lucky. I find it hard to see them let alone get good pictures of them.
I am sorry that the yellow irises are invasive as I find them very pretty and enjoy them when I see them round us here.
Dragonflies are habitual creatures and you have to learn their habits if you want to get close to them. I always go near water and just stand still and watch. Once they get used to you being there they go about their business.
The yellow irises have no pests or diseases here to keep them in check so they can just grow until they’ve choked whatever waterway they grow in. But I think they’re beautiful too.
I will try standing still for once and see what happens. 🙂
It isn’t easy.
So many wonderful flowers at this time of year. Thank you!!!
You’re welcome. I hope you’re seeing just as many where you are!
So many treasures shared in this post, as always! I love the native wild irises and wildflowers, even those considered ‘weeds’.
Thanks Cheri, me too!
Appreciating and enjoying your post, as always! I have a question for you: Do you know why so many of the white pines’ needles are turning brown and falling right now?
Thanks Susan. Yes, this is normal for white pines. If you look at them closely you’ll see that the trees shedding needles will have abundant new growth coming along. The new growth signals the tree that it’s okay to shed some of the old growth.
This reminds me of a lady I used to work for who used pine needles as mulch. I collected many trash bags full of pine needles for her each year at about this time.
I’m appreciating all the wonderful dragonfly images!
Thank you. Hopefully there will be a few more in the next post.