Flora (with bonus Fauna!)
Apr. 21st, 2010 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soc_puppetThe world has been testing my stress capacitors recently, so I thought I'd share some pictures I took of flowers blooming in the area. Yay, pretty flowers!
Disclaimer: Most, if not all, of my wildflower (and wildlife) knowledge comes from my dad; neither of us knows everything ;) I'll do the best I can to name stuff, though!
All photos are by me, as is the inclination to capitalize plant names :P
This is Trillium (or at least one species of it). The red bit in the middle is the flower. It's one of the exceptions to the "leaves of three, leave it be" rule.
This is Dutchman's Breeches. They look an awful lot like Bleeding Hearts, IMO. Dad says they're difficult to cultivate, and he's really proud that he's managed to grow some of his own in the backyard.
When I can't remember its name, I call it the pants plant/pants flower :P
This is Jacob's Ladder. It's a favorite of mine, for no particular reason :)
Wild Geranium. I'm used to seeing them bigger, and/or with more blooms, so it might be early in the season for them. For fun, compare these to domestic geranium X3
This is Anemone. I want to say it's Canada Anemone, but I'm not positive. Yes, I know, there's a plant that has the same nigh-impossible-to-pronounce name as that tentacled polyp found in the ocean; why they did it, I have no notion.
I have no idea what sort of tree this is, though I'm sure someone can enlighten me. Dad doesn't do trees much.
Wait, that's not a flower! XD Yeah, it's raccoon tracks. Ah, raccoons; to the best of my figuring, they are in fact the ecological equivalent of tanuki, and seem to share the same mischievous spirit in folklore. Mind, they can't interbreed successfully; tanuki are canines, and I really can't say I remember what raccoons are, but dogs they aren't.
Creeping Charlie :P It's pretty enough, but it's invasive, and usually considered a weed. It spreads by shooting out runners most of the time, like vinca/periwinkle and spider plants. To demonstrate its spreading capability, that third picture? All those little blue spots are creeping charlie flowers. (Well, a few might be violets, but the vast majority is creeping charlie.) The last two pictures are a color/shape variation of creeping charlie I haven't seen much of, so I decided to photograph and include them.
Pink flowering tree! I'm reasonably sure it's a Crabapple, but not positive. Still, it is pretty :) The flowers that get more sun were more bleached than the ones that were shaded, so I took pictures of both.
Wild Mustard (invasive). It's all over the place, sigh. Some people organize groups to go around pulling this up, which leaves room for our lovely native wildflowers.
Continuing in our "this is not actually a flower" line, the first picture there is a white-tailed deer track. The second is what I think might be a muskrat den.
This bird totally surprised me. I think it's a heron of some type, but it doesn't have the blue-grey coloring of a Great Blue Heron, so I'm at a loss. On the other hand, it is about the right size, so it could be an albino great blue. It was pretty fantastic to see.
The pictures aren't great quality, because I didn't want to get too close and scare it off. I zoomed in alllll the way to get these, and there are at least eight more that didn't make the cut.
Another flower that I have no idea what it is! An adorable tiny blue one. This is the flower I learned to use zoom in conjunction with macro for ;) In the third image, the flower is pictured with my left pointer finger for size comparison.
This is a red-winged blackbird. (Yes, you say, but what is its name? Thus beginning another of those lovely "Who's on first" comedy bits.) These are fiercely territorial birds, so I definitely couldn't get too close to them for picture-taking purposes - thus, the second image is just the first cropped and resized differently. They'll attack things much bigger than themselves in order to protect their nests (or potential nesting spots). My dad says he used to bike past them a lot, and grew very grateful for his helmet X3
Another flowering tree whose type I could not name. It resembles the cherry tree in my parents' backyard more than any other I'm familiar with, though I doubt that's what it is. Still, it's nice to look at.
This is one of several very determined trees I've seen around. Toppled by forces of nature (one assumes), it continued to grow in a tree-like manner from its side. It probably helps that there's water right nearby.
Buttercups :) Their name comes from - you guessed it - the way their petals somewhat resemble butter; the slight glistening in the sun as it "melts", the yellow color, that sort of thing. Pretty little things.
And that's all I've got at the moment. I've neglected such things as bluebells, violets of various colors, vinca/periwinkle, and any number of other things. Maybe I'll get to those later.
Disclaimer: Most, if not all, of my wildflower (and wildlife) knowledge comes from my dad; neither of us knows everything ;) I'll do the best I can to name stuff, though!
All photos are by me, as is the inclination to capitalize plant names :P
This is Trillium (or at least one species of it). The red bit in the middle is the flower. It's one of the exceptions to the "leaves of three, leave it be" rule.
This is Dutchman's Breeches. They look an awful lot like Bleeding Hearts, IMO. Dad says they're difficult to cultivate, and he's really proud that he's managed to grow some of his own in the backyard.
When I can't remember its name, I call it the pants plant/pants flower :P
This is Jacob's Ladder. It's a favorite of mine, for no particular reason :)
Wild Geranium. I'm used to seeing them bigger, and/or with more blooms, so it might be early in the season for them. For fun, compare these to domestic geranium X3
This is Anemone. I want to say it's Canada Anemone, but I'm not positive. Yes, I know, there's a plant that has the same nigh-impossible-to-pronounce name as that tentacled polyp found in the ocean; why they did it, I have no notion.
I have no idea what sort of tree this is, though I'm sure someone can enlighten me. Dad doesn't do trees much.
Wait, that's not a flower! XD Yeah, it's raccoon tracks. Ah, raccoons; to the best of my figuring, they are in fact the ecological equivalent of tanuki, and seem to share the same mischievous spirit in folklore. Mind, they can't interbreed successfully; tanuki are canines, and I really can't say I remember what raccoons are, but dogs they aren't.
Creeping Charlie :P It's pretty enough, but it's invasive, and usually considered a weed. It spreads by shooting out runners most of the time, like vinca/periwinkle and spider plants. To demonstrate its spreading capability, that third picture? All those little blue spots are creeping charlie flowers. (Well, a few might be violets, but the vast majority is creeping charlie.) The last two pictures are a color/shape variation of creeping charlie I haven't seen much of, so I decided to photograph and include them.
Pink flowering tree! I'm reasonably sure it's a Crabapple, but not positive. Still, it is pretty :) The flowers that get more sun were more bleached than the ones that were shaded, so I took pictures of both.
Wild Mustard (invasive). It's all over the place, sigh. Some people organize groups to go around pulling this up, which leaves room for our lovely native wildflowers.
Continuing in our "this is not actually a flower" line, the first picture there is a white-tailed deer track. The second is what I think might be a muskrat den.
This bird totally surprised me. I think it's a heron of some type, but it doesn't have the blue-grey coloring of a Great Blue Heron, so I'm at a loss. On the other hand, it is about the right size, so it could be an albino great blue. It was pretty fantastic to see.
The pictures aren't great quality, because I didn't want to get too close and scare it off. I zoomed in alllll the way to get these, and there are at least eight more that didn't make the cut.
Another flower that I have no idea what it is! An adorable tiny blue one. This is the flower I learned to use zoom in conjunction with macro for ;) In the third image, the flower is pictured with my left pointer finger for size comparison.
This is a red-winged blackbird. (Yes, you say, but what is its name? Thus beginning another of those lovely "Who's on first" comedy bits.) These are fiercely territorial birds, so I definitely couldn't get too close to them for picture-taking purposes - thus, the second image is just the first cropped and resized differently. They'll attack things much bigger than themselves in order to protect their nests (or potential nesting spots). My dad says he used to bike past them a lot, and grew very grateful for his helmet X3
Another flowering tree whose type I could not name. It resembles the cherry tree in my parents' backyard more than any other I'm familiar with, though I doubt that's what it is. Still, it's nice to look at.
This is one of several very determined trees I've seen around. Toppled by forces of nature (one assumes), it continued to grow in a tree-like manner from its side. It probably helps that there's water right nearby.
Buttercups :) Their name comes from - you guessed it - the way their petals somewhat resemble butter; the slight glistening in the sun as it "melts", the yellow color, that sort of thing. Pretty little things.
And that's all I've got at the moment. I've neglected such things as bluebells, violets of various colors, vinca/periwinkle, and any number of other things. Maybe I'll get to those later.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-21 04:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-21 04:54 pm (UTC)Flowers are very soothing to look at, I think :) Even if they do make my nose stuff right up.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-21 10:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-22 11:48 pm (UTC)