Front Yard Stuff

It has been so hot for several days that when I got home from work I didn't feel like walking anywhere.  That is, for about 10 minutes.  Then my addiction took over.  I just had to grab my camera and wander around to see what nature had to offer.  I figured I might find enough to interest me in my front yard, take a few photos of flowers and bugs, then get back in the shade of the house.  I started with a nice patch of Spanish Clover (above) that has brown up rapidly since I mowed the lawn a week ago.  Then I moved on to some Cinquefoil (below) but found no bugs.  It was still too hot.

I don't usually photograph cultivated flowers, but these lilies we planted a couple of summers ago were too beautiful to resist.  I don't know what kind they are, but they are hardy.  A little watering, and they've looked very fresh for over a week.

Then the Mountain Spiraea.  I see Douglas's Spiraea every day out at Oakland Camp and other places along Spanish Creek, but the Mountain Spiraea is more often cultivated for landscaping purposes.  It is very hardy.  With no special care at all, it blooms almost the entire summer.  As some of the flower clusters wilt and turn brown, other fresh ones keep on appearing, so there's some pink all the way into September.

Then a cultivated variety of Yarrow.  These must be the ones that reminded my friend Paul of ground fireworks.  I often photograph the wild yarrow in the woods, which is mostly white with little yellow disk flowers.  It is one of the great "bug magnets" and photographed many spiders, beetles, and skippers on it.  My domesticated version doesn't seem to attract bugs. Hmmmmm....

This lone Daisy in the shade of our birch tree seems pretty fresh while the ones in the sun are already wilting and going to seed.  No bugs on them today.  Too hot, I suppose.  Last summer I photographed a large variety of bugs on this same patch of Daisies.  Maybe my mowing over w eek ago scared them off.  The daisies came back really fast while the grass has only grown about an inch since then.

The last thing I photographed in my yard was this Plantain.  I had planned to retreat to the house quickly due to the heat, but, as I said, my addiction kicked in.  I ended up walking up the hill into Boyle Ravine and photographing some wild flowers.  Next post.