Blue flowers and red filaments

 

Blueweed

 

The Viper's Bugloss (Echium vulgare) produces a lot of rich nectar, a blue pollen, and attracts pollinators.  It looks great, but, should be avoided.

Echium vulgare

  

The prickly hairs can be skin irritants. The plant contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids; these can cause liver damage to livestock and humans. The alkaloid is also in the honey.  The honey should not eaten regularly or for long terms.

Sweet Joe Pye

With the decline of small field farmers, this hay field is no longer mowed.  It has overgrown with . . . 

 

Eutrochium purpureum

 

. . . Sweet Joe-Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum).  

 

Up close with Joe:

 

Flower head

Each flower head has many florets.  The nectar rich flowers are enjoyed by bees, bumble bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.  The scent of sweet vanilla is wonderful.

 

 

 

Orange tiger lily

 

Called the "common tiger lily" or "orange day lily", this cluster of rain-dropped Hemerocallis Fulva is a sight to see.

  

Ox eye spiral

 

Don't get dizzy

The Leucanthemum vulgare is considered in some places to be an invasive species.  That does not prevent one from taking a closer look at the spiraling floret of the ox eye daisy.

 

Close up buttercup

That is yellow!

Commonly known as St. Anthony's turnip, the butter cup (Ranunculus bulbosus) has bright yellow flowers.  The flower petals are glossy and curved; they reflect light towards the center of the flower.  The "turnip" name comes from the bulbous root of this flower.

Children use the flower in a game to determine if someone likes butter.  One child picks the yellow flower and asks another "Do you like butter?". They then hold the yellow flower up close under the others chin, see the yellow reflection from the yellow flower on the skin, and exclaim that "Yes, you like butter.".

Skipper on clover

 

Sipping on clover, over and over

 

A skipper butterfly pauses on a clover flower for a refreshing sip of nectar. 

This'll blue

 

Ready to blow away

 

A common thistle ( Cirsium vulgare ) seed pod has exploded, ready to send its seed on the next wind.

 

 

Caterpillar and flower

 

That must have been a long crawl to get to a flower so tall.

 

 

What is that?

 

The flower - maybe an echinacea?  The caterpillar - maybe a skipper butterfly?

 

 

Feeding on flowers

If you can identify the flower and /or the caterpillar, post a comment.  This unexpected find was seen in a field of flowers in southern Quebec, near the middle of the Vermont border with Quebec.

 

 

Azure on a flower

 

Summer azure on a flower

Although it looks big in the photo, this summer azure (Celastrina neglecta) butterfly is very small; it has a wingspan of about one inch. 

 

 

Common tiger lily

Common tiger lily, No. 1

Common tiger lily, No. 2

Although these are called "Common Tiger lilies" or "Orange Day lilies", they are quite spectacular.  The morning dew droplets add to their beauty.  These Hemerocallis Fulva grow where they want, as they are wild.