On a neighborhood walk a few weeks ago we were surprised to see these maple helicoptors/samaras in shades of red. We've only ever seen green ones before. Nature often surprises and delights.
One very grey day in May we went to a park for a walk and found this glade, with trees just beginning to leaf out, and with a rich, green ground cover. It was everywhere in the park, dense and thick.
From a phone photo Google identified it as Lesser Celandine, an invasive plant. It provided such a beautiful carpet to the glade but I was surprised that the MetroPark would give way to a plant that could take over the park.
I was looking for more information online and came upon the metropark's phone number so called to ask if we'd identified the plant correctly. We had. The naturalist said it had come down the waterways from northern Ohio and that eliminating it would be risky: it would pollute the local waters. He said they work to keep it contained to the park.
A dandelion clock. I love these but not the flowers. My daughter admires their tenacity: we sometimes see them with their bright yellow heads on snowless winter days. Tenacious, indeed!
On Memorial Day a nearby cemetery opened one of the mausoleums for visitors. I admired the architecture.
The white arch and the columns and molding are all painted. The rest are mosaics. There were also Tiffany glass windows but my photos didn't do them justice.
In our yard we have several honeysuckle vines. I enjoy its sweet fragrance as it wafts through our open windows. I wish you could smell it. It's one of my favorite flowers. (But I am NOT a fan of the wild, invasive honeysuckle shrubs!)
Last fall my daughter persuaded me to buy a little end-of-the-season lavender plant. I told her there was nowhere to plant it where it would get enough sun but I bought it anyway. She put it in the ground to keep it over the winter and this week I transferred it to a large pot, making it moveable when necessary.
It's doing very well so far and has 19 stems on it. Enough for a
lavender basket! Lavender is another of my favorite flowers, not so
much for its appearance but for its fragrance.
It is a blessing that these two flowers I love so much do not cause a rash on my hands.
I hope you're having a good weekend.
--Nancy.
It's doing very well so far and has 19 stems on it. Enough for a
lavender basket! Lavender is another of my favorite flowers, not so
much for its appearance but for its fragrance. 
Very lovely serene and peaceful post, You're so observant. Too bad about the celandine, I can't imagine success in the long run, of containing it.
ReplyDeleteIt was a very peaceful park, LIzzy, but the last time we went, they were doing some road maintenance with large, loud machines that we could hear even when deep into the park. Still a beautiful park, just not a quiet park. Yeh, I don't know what will happen with the celandine. I was a little concerned that we might bring seeds home on our shoes! I hope we didn't!
DeleteLike a personal walk in the forest but without the lovely fragrance of the woods. Not the aching joints. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Anonymous. I hadn't thought of it like a walk in the forest but since you mention it, I guess it is a little like that. The woods had a fresh, moist smell. We've had a rainy spring and because this part of the park is more glen-like, the rain seems to have settled into the soil there; some of the paths were a little on the muddy side. I began with aching joints and they came home with me.
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