Recording changes in wildflower and plant populations as the seasons progress… Spreading Dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium) Spreading dogbane is small bushy plant with fairly inconspicuous white flowers, it becomes more noticeable in the fall when its leaves turn bright yellow. Plants in the dogbane and milkweed family are related. Like milkweed, this plant bleeds a sticky […]
Author Archives: jimr77
Other Roadside Features
Previous posts have focused on the plants along the roadside, but a few other interesting things deserve attention. This post features two of them. Glacial Till Alongside our gravel road there is this terrific exposure of the glacial till that covers the entire region. Glacial till is a catch-all term for the sediment left behind […]
Purple
Previous posts have covered the white, yellow and pink wildflowers we have seen in June along the roadside in Northern Minnesota. Purple is another common color for the local wildflowers, and today we’ll focus on those. Prairie Phlox (Phlox pilosa) Along our roadside Prairie Phlox is concentrated in a sandier area that gets lots of […]
State Flower and More
Yesterday while biking around the area, I managed to get a few interesting photos The best find was this clump of Showy Lady Slippers (Cypripedium reginae), the state flower of Minnesota. Previously I had only seen blooming Lady Slippers in late June, so I was surprised and pleased by this fine display on July 8. […]
Loon Update #1
Below are a few better photos of our loon family — better mainly because I was able to borrow a real camera vs. just using an iphone. Maybe I should go shopping… The image above shows the family of three loons occupying our lake this year. Baby loons, called chicks, can swim nearly immediately after […]
Pink
In addition to yellow and white, pink and purple are common colors for local wildflowers. Pink and purple are somewhat similar and could be grouped in one post, but that would be too long. So, today I’ll review the pink flowers we’ve seen in June; expect a post with the more purplish flowers soon. Smooth […]
An Odd Thing about Sunsets
Often we walk down to the lake around 9:30 to look at the sunset. At first we see something like the image below, very nice but not breathtaking. Thinking it is over, we climb back up to the house. Then, looking over our shoulders…we are compelled to run back down to see the encore. Maybe […]
Evenings on the Lake with Loons
The lake was still and slight cloud cover made for dramatic skies In this image one of the lake’s islands is in the foreground A family of loons has made the lake their home this summer Two adult loons are commonly seen (and heard) in the evenings accompanied by a baby. We didn’t get a […]
Useful Knowledge
The previous posts have information that may be interesting, but is not exactly critical stuff to know. This post attempts to correct that by providing info that is at least somewhat useful. A Highly Noxious Plant Western Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron rydbergii) Poison Ivy is recognized by groupings of three oval pointed leaves, its woody stems, […]
White
Following up on the recent post featuring yellow wildflowers, today’s entry will focus on another of the common wildflower colors, white. The pictures were all taken within the last two weeks in the MN north lake country. Canada Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) Canada Bunchberry is interesting because it is in the dogwood family, but is a […]
