It never fails. If I walk late, and especially if it’s cloudy, I always see things that need to be photographed. That’s what happened today. Of course, nothing photographs well under such low light, but I took pictures anyway, and I’m going to share them.
The first thing I noticed was that some of the black medick was looking kinda fuzzy. What? That can’t be. As we know from last year, the flowers turn into hard black seeds, not fuzzy ones. So I looked closer, and it was actually a small rabbit-foot clover plant, the first one I’ve ever found on my property.
Then I spotted another one.
The caterpillar wasn’t the only critter around.
But these jewels are what really caught my eye.
I’d never given much thought to why the plant was called “jewelweed.” I guess I just assumed it was because of the brightly colored flowers. Several sources suggest that it’s actually either because of the way water beads up on the surface of the leaves or because of the silvery look that the leaves get when submerged. Apparently the leaves are water-repellent, which is why water beads on them, and they also have microscopic hairs that trap air, which is what causes that silvery look when leaves are submerged. But, it wasn’t beading or silveriness that made me take the picture. What interested me was how the water droplets had caught on the teeth of the leaves. I wonder if holding on to the drops that way could provide some benefit to the plant. I don’t know. In any event, it was pretty and worth photographing, even under such low light.
You took some really nice shots there!