First Daisies 2013

I took this photo on a late walk with Webster this morning. It is a very cool 60° and breezy on this overcast day. So far, no more rain has fallen and that's a good thing. My back field that has not been cut in over a month is full of wildflowers with the daisies being my favorite. I love the clovers too. I have both red and white. I've heard the white clover is best for the bees since their tongues aren't long enough to get the nectar from the red variety. It's raining again, but very softly. I was doing some hand trimming in the front and had to stop. I am determined to finish in between showers today. my iPhone photo

Wildflower/Weed Rotation at My Cottage.

My buttercup meadow a year ago on May 19, 2012.

Webster in the same location thinking, "Where did all the buttercups go this year?"

Answer: "They must not like being next to a standing army of dandelions."

Manhole cover with Lady's Slipper Design

Downtown Minneapolis. The Lady's Slipper is the state flower for Minnesota, I love it! via

Wild Violets, Cropped.

This closeup of my wild violets is my original photo cropped to show how beautiful they really are.  I did not know they were called Viola Sororia or that they're the state flower of New Jersey. How nice.

Wild Violets in my lawn.

They're back in all their glory doing their appointed job of keeping me from mowing the grass. I took this iPhone photo very late in the day after supper last night. Don't you love their pansy-like faces? HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Tiny wildflowers in the woods

If you didn't do a fall cleanup and wait too long in the spring, this is what will happen. Aren't these tiny flowers charming? via

Beautiful Wildflowers for April

This beautiful wildflower looks like columbine to me. Mother Nature certainly picked a lovely spot to plant the seeds, didn't she. No floral arranger could match this arrangement. Hello April. Today is Webster's 11th birthday. He has already had several dog biscuits with peanut butter spread on them for his special day. We had rain overnight and will have more today so the April showers are right on schedule. See you later. via
Correction....these flowers are Oxalis acetosella, submitted by a reader (Cathy in Idaho). Thanks, Cathy.

Calico Monkey Flower - Mimulus pictus

Found only in California in the southernmost Sierra Nevada foothills alongside the Tehachapi Mountains. Seeds found here.

via

Red Poppies White Clouds and Blue Sky

Three of my favorite things combine to make red, white, and blue. via

Floating Daisies

I took one of my photos from this summer and somehow darkened the background without losing the two daisies and then cloned out the few blades of grass that remained to get these floating daisies. I'm sure I could never figure out what I did again....but I like the end result.

Prairie Mallow

Sidalcea malviflora. Malvaceae Family. These 2- to 4-foot-tall perennials bear showy spikes of 2-inch-wide blooms in shades from pale pink to bright rosy purple. Also called miniature hollyhock.

photo

Clover Blossom

Here is a captured clover blossom I photographed and processed with MarbleCam. That was before all of my clover dried up from the heat. We are having some rain and I'm hoping everything will spring back so the birds and the bees can get some nectar. Luckily my area escaped all of the fierce storms and all of our rain has been soft and soaking - just what the earth is crying out for. Happy Friday. See you later.

Inside A White Morning Glory

My wild morning glories are insect magnets. All I have to do is stand in one place and watch them fly in and out. After the wasps started buzzing around I decided to go inside and have another cup of coffee. See you later.

[my iPhone photo]

White Wild Morning Glories

I'm thankful for these wild vines growing near my cottage because I'm out of sugar and can't make any nectar for the hummingbirds until I go to the store. The hummers love these deep-throated flowers and so do the bees. I have a refrigerator repairman coming tomorrow so the birds will just have to wait another day. Mother and I have been using powdered sugar in our iced coffee. I could make some nectar with that but I don't know the right proportions that would equal the recipe I use with granulated. Better not upset their scientific substitute, right? [my iPhone photo]

No Mow Cottage

I'm drawn to this image since I spent the better part of two hours late yesterday afternoon 'mowing' my front lawn with my electric weed trimmer. The grass so long after all of the rain we had I had to whack it before I can mow it. This looks like a great solution, doesn't it? via
I must say this delightful photo makes me dislike house numbering in certain areas. Thank goodness we have normal house numbers where I live thanks to the town fathers that refused to go by the system shown on this old house. One can imagine this one is located is a very rural location and not in on a street where there are 1,014 houses before you get to this one. Maybe it's 1,015 miles to town center. Who knows? I think it deserves a lower number because of its age, don't you?

Daisies are such delightful wildflowers.

They come up by themselves and require no care. I don't have enough yet to make a daisy chain. I took this photo yesterday on a walk through my field with Webster.

Wildflowers at My Cottage

BUTTERCUPS GONE WILD

MULTIFLORA (love the tiny rosebuds)

Our Lady of The Cow Parsley

Don't you love the name of this gorgeous painting by Elisabeth Sonrel, French artist 1874 - 1953? 'Our Lady of The Cow Parsley'. She is a vision of spring and summer for sure. This wildflower grows wild all over the UK. via sofi01 on Flickr

Fritillaria Watercolor: Charles Rennie Mackintosh

"Fritillaria" 1915 watercolour and pencil
Charles Rennie Mackintosh; (Scottish; 1868-1928)

The drawings of wild flowers which Mackintosh produced in 1915 are probably the most elegant and delicate of all. Fritillaria is a flower with such obvious appeal for Mackintosh that it seems odd he had not drawn it before. The chequer-work on its petals is much like many of his decorative stencils, and he acknowledges his debt by repeating the dicing in the signature box. In Southern Britain, as an indigenous plant, Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris) is a rarity of ancient damp pasture. However, it is commonly grown in gardens. source

Spreading Wild Violets

I bought a new lawn mower this year to do the front lawn. It's too tight to get my riding mower in there plus it slings the clippings up against the house and makes a big mess. My old one bit the dust last year and I went one whole season using the old 'reel' mower from the dark ages. I still use it but for big jobs and spring cleanup I prefer a power mulching mower. I got just what I needed at Sears. It has big back wheels and it's RED. Wahoo. I can't wait to fire it up but I'm going to wait a little longer until the violets that have invaded the lawn start to shrivel a little more. They look like miniature orchids up close. These are considered to be a weed by some but I happen to love them and can't bear the thought of chopping their beautiful heads off.