WILDFLOWERS AT HOME ( part 8 )

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COMMON YARROW

Feathery leaves, slightly hairy stems, and little clusters of white flowers top off the yarrow plant.  Yarrow flowers appear in mid to late June and can be found all around the pond in full sunlight.  They are present at the same time as the ox-eye daisy flower.

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WHORLED LOOSESTRIFE

These tiny flowers have five petals.  This loosestrife can have more than four leaves per each section.  It is found in June and throughout the summer and likes full sun.  It can be found along the driveway near the May apples and around the pond on the dike.  

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ASHLEAF GOLD BANNER

This flower grows on the dike and begins blooming in June.  It lasts all summer and is scattered along the dike growing in full sunlight.  It has a creeping appearance, somewhat vine like, with bright yellow flowers close to the ground.

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YELLOW TREFOIL or HOP CLOVER, WHITE CLOVER

Here are two kinds of clover that grow along the driveway, on the dike, and in the yard (white clover).  Clover is prevalent and lasts throughout the summer.  Bees like them!  Pink clover is also common.  As a child, I often picked the pink and white clover for rabbit food when I had pet rabbits.

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SLENDER YELLOW WOOD SORREL

Yellow wood sorrel is very common in our yard and garden.  It lasts all summer and is a small spreading plant.  My father said when young his family would eat the sorrel as a green quite often, and he liked it.

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WILD BLUEBERRY BLOSSOMS

Blossoms on blueberry plants appear in May and by the second week of July the berries are ripe and ready to be picked.  They can be found in the woods and around the pond, but those in the woods, with lots of shade, don’t produce many berries if any at all.  In spring the blossoms sometimes freeze and this ruins the crop as well.  

I like to take a cup and walk around the outer dike of the pond and pick enough to make a fresh meal of blueberry pancakes.  In 2013, I did this very thing on the 11^th of July.

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WHITE LILY PAD

In late June or early July the white flowered lily pads make their show.  They are both in the outer and inner pond.  I like the way they open up during the day and close up in the evenings.  If picked and placed in a bowl vase, they will do the same thing indoors and will last for several days.

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PARTRIDGE BERRY

Blossoms of the partridge berry appear in late June or early July.  These were found growing in my moss garden.  They later have small bright red berries, about the size of wintergreen berries.  The berries can be eaten but they have little flavor to them.  You can also find them on the south 20 acres across Tom’s Creek.  They love shade.

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SMART WEED

This flower/weed appears in July on the dike, and in the fruit loop.  It looks like pink beads adorning a thin stem.  

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ELDERBERRY BLOSSOMS

One big patch of elderberry plants adorns the inner pond dike near the asparagus, raspberry patch.  The birds often harvest the berries in a very short time as soon as they ripen to a very deep purple color.  

My mother once made elderberry jam when I was very young.  I remember seeing the cooked elderberries wrapped in cheesecloth draining over a large kettle filled with purple juice.

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THOUGHTS ON HEAVEN

It’s a better world than this one.

A life without sadness or tears,

A chance to be forever with God

In a place without any fears.

I ponder so much about heaven

After death as a place filled with hope,

Or is it just a dreamed up plan

And a way for us all to cope?

To suffer the death of a loved one

Is the hardest thing we can do

We long for their touch

And miss them so much

                               Without heaven what would we do