WILDFLOWERS AT HOME ( part 7 )

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BUNCH BERRY

In June the bunch berry leaves make their appearance and soon the large white blossom follows.  This plant loves shade and grows in the woods south of the barn and all the way toward Tom’s Creek.  It sports a cluster of bright red berries later in the season which can be eaten but I have never tried them.  

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YELLOW POND LILY

This lily adds beauty to our pond and gives the dragonflies a place to rest.  When we had our pond built in 1988 we introduced some lily pads, along with some unwanted pond weeds.  The lily pads have been here ever since, and love the inner pond, especially when it holds enough water to support them.

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BLUE EYED GRASS

Another of my favorite wild flowers, blue eyed grass blooms in early June and grows along the edge of the driveway in full sunlight.  It has just one stem, not much for leaves.  The tiny flower emerges from what looks like a single blade of grass.  It is short lived and closes up on cloudy days and at night time.  My brother, Vern, introduced me to this flower when I was a kid.

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PURPLE IRIS

Purple iris love wet feet.  They can be found along the pond bank and also along Tom’s Creek.  The flowers themselves are short lived.  They are welcomed by bees and butterflies and are very beautiful.  Darker purple, white and yellow iris on the dike are domestic and came from bulbs that Tom planted from his Aunt Lydia.

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OX-EYE DAISY

This daisy is a very common flower, often adorning whole fields along with Indian paintbrush.  It grows in full sunlight on the pond dike and along the driveway.  The flower center has a not so pleasant sour smell to it.  This is the flower of my childhood in which we pulled off each petal, one at a time, chanting, “He loves me, he loves me not”, and how it ended up was the correct answer.

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DOUBLE PETAL DAISY

This little daisy type flowers grow in clusters and was spotted on the dike in full sun near the bulkhead.  Its petals are distinct because they come out in sets of two, with ten petals total.  They begin to appear in mid-June.

This was the only flower I could not identify.  Perhaps you can.  They fascinated me with their five sets of double petals, so I’ve called them double petal daisies.

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WILD ROSES

On a sunny river bank,

Grows a patch of wild roses.

Their beauty sings a tune while

Their sweetness fills our noses.

Pink with yellow centers,

Bugs and bumble bees alit,

While the water keeps on flowing

And the roses follow it.

The river and the roses

They’re together, ne’er apart.

Always there in every season

In my mind or in my heart.