Gossamer Tapestry

Reflections on conservation, butterflies, and ecology in the nation's heartland

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Late Spring Flora




A trip to the Fen yesterday rewarded me with images of flowers from late spring.


Bodacious bumblebee buzzes blooming betony



Small white ladyslipper - an endangered species


Wild hyacinth (Camassia scilloides).
Pablo recently posted a nice shot of a relative of this from Missouri


The blue wood phlox hardly bloomed at all this year. I blame the cold spring.

Golden Alexandars are everywhere this year


Jacob's ladder. One of my favorite spring wildflowers.


I can't do an entire Fen post without insects.
Baltimore Checkerspot caterpillars devouring foxglove penstemon.


Caterpillar Closeup. It's another Baltimore Checkerspot.

Labels: , ,

8 Comments:

At 17:23, Blogger Texas Travelers said...

Great, Great post.
Loved the first image.
The Ladyslipper and the Checkerspot were my favorites.

Fantastic photos.

Alaska Sunday is posted.
Come visit,
Troy and Martha

 
At 05:49, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Blue phlox was filling the roadsides in my part of Missouri in recent weeks. I thought it was because of the cool, wet spring.

 
At 07:11, Blogger cedrorum said...

Great shots. I love that vibrant "new" green of spring.

 
At 07:35, Blogger Homer said...

I love flower pictures.

I don't think you've ever mentioned what mammal species are present in the fen...

 
At 09:16, Blogger Dave Coulter said...

Good shooting! Seems like just in the past 7-10 days things have really popped.

 
At 10:50, Blogger Ur-spo said...

speaking of mammal pictures, do twolegged furless types still migrate to the water hole?

 
At 11:02, Blogger robin andrea said...

Absolutely lush and beautiful there. The green really is vibrant. Great to see what's growing in the Fen.

 
At 20:33, Blogger Doug Taron said...

Troy and Martha- Thanks. I'll stop by.

Pablo- It may be a timing thing. We had extremely cold weather during the brief period of time when the phlox put on a big growth sprut and sets buds.

cedrorum and Robin- As with many things here, this is a bit late this year. Early May (or right about now, this year( is the time of tyear that I always think of as being aggressively green.

Homer- Thanks. There are mammals at the fen, but nothing especially noteworthy. Plus, they're mostly nocturnal and hard to photograph. I'll try to do something on them sometime soon.

Dave- It's true. Everything came along all in one big rush.

UrSpo- It's been a long time since I've see anyone swimming at the waterhole.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home