Morning Flowers

I heard Johanna has a couple of visitors this week. So I thought I would drive to a nature trail and take some pictures of flowers to show them. Late July is a great time for flowers on the prairie.

But as I was walking to my truck, I happened to look around me and realized I was surrounded by flowers. So here is a sampling of some of the flowers that are on my own property.

The purple cone flower is always a favorite.



But I confess, I have a special place in my heart for the pale yellow cone flower.



The yellow and happy looking coreopsis is always a summer delight.



I was very close to these in the last image and they look huge, don't they? But they are actually a somewhat small flower. Here's a more realistic view.



Can you see the little bumble bee on this waning spiderwort blossom?



Here's some wild purple sage. It is actually very invasive so if you plant this be careful! It really spreads.



This is bee balm. Butterflies love this flower. See the pale yellow coneflower in the background?



Here's another image of bee balm. It is actually a fairly tall flower, though most prairie flowers are usually small and close to the ground.



The Asian daylilly is very common in Iowa. However, what is not common is that it is a plant with vividly blue blossoms. For some reason, blue is a very unusual color in wild flowers.



And see this rather less than attractive plant? It is a thistle that is dying away.



But you know what? Thistle seed is the favorite food of Iowa's state bird -- the gold finch.




Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked this little tour of some flowers around my place! Oh, Bailey says "hi!" to all of you in Vancouver. I will post some pictures of him soon!

He wants to know if dogs are allowed in such a big city????? He is, after all, a country dog!