I found this Mystery Flower growing in the woods behind a big tree. I had a hard time getting pictures, because it was off the path and I didn’t want to step on any other plants. Plus the insects were dive-bombing me, so I had to hurry. These pictures aren’t the greatest, but they’ll have to do.
Mystery Flower, view from above
Mystery Flower, view from the side
Do you know what kind of wildflower this is? My best guess is in the comments.
I don’t often go into the woods at this time of the year. I don’t like the heat, and there are ticks everywhere. It was a beautiful day Sunday, though. And since my husband cleared a path through the brush last year, it is now possible to get into the woods with only minimal exposure to ticks. I decided to take my chances.
The Scenic Overlook in Spring
That beautiful view is composed of thousands of beautiful trees, like this one.
Beautiful Tree
Last year my father told me, as we walked through some woods in the park, that all the bushes I thought were blueberries were, in fact, huckleberries. I haven’t had a chance to fully explore my area of woods, but I found two different types of shrub that might be blueberries (or huckleberries). I found a few big bushes, like this one.
Tall Shrub With Flowers. Highbush Blueberry?
And I found low-growing shrubs, like these here.
Low-Growing Shrub. Lowbush Blueberry?
And flying around the shrubs were all sorts of insects, including little beauties like this one.
The smaller plants are coming up, too. I got some pictures of wildflowers that I’ll be sharing later this week. For now, I give you these beautiful ferns.
Ferns
I love the curve of the heads, and when you look closer, you can see that the fronds already starting to break out of some of them.
The word that popped into my mind when I looked at this was “fiddlehead.” According to Wikipedia, “fiddleheads are the furled fronds of a young fern, harvested for use as a vegetable.” Vegetable? That sounds interesting, but don’t get your forks and knives out yet. Wikipedia also notes that some ferns are carcinogenic. And those hairy fiddleheads don’t look too appetizing, do they? Still, it might be something worth looking into someday.
Anyway, spring is here and looking mighty fine!
I like to post pictures of my violets every year, and some of my favorites are the tiny ones. They expanded their range this year, which put them into contact with the full-size varieties. And that, of course, offered opportunities to compare the two sizes side-by-side.
Here is a little one with some full-sized whites.
And here is another with a full-sized blue violet.
I have not seen very many honey bees over the last few years. And every year we hear more stories about colony collapse disorder. So I worry every spring that there will be no more bees. It is always a relief to finally spot one.
Here he is, our first honey bee of the year.
Welcome, little one!
As I mentioned in last Friday’s post, there is an invasive plant that is trying to take over my violets’ turf. I have been unable to identify it, and I suppose that means it’s a good subject for a Mystery Flower.
I thought I had a nice picture of this plant from a year or two ago, but I could not find it. I did find a picture in which it appeared, though. This is what the mystery flower looks like when it’s growing in the ground and awaiting some apian companionship.
Mystery Flower, bee-friended
This is what it looks like when you’ve pulled it out, put it on the table, and let the cat sniff at it.
And here is a closeup.
I still can’t imagine what this could be except ground ivy. This article about ground ivy (a.k.a. creeping charlie) makes me almost certain, because it says the leaves can be purplish and that the plant can grow up to a couple of feet tall. Of course, if I’m right, my chances of being rid of it are small, because I also read somewhere that manual removal is rarely successful.
Do you know what this plant is?
This plant, whatever it is, spreads fast.
It’s not terribly ugly. I actually like its purplish foliage and bright blue flowers. But it’s taking over my violets’ turf. That’s not acceptable. And it spreads by runner, making it even more aggressive than the violet. Look at this piece I pulled out of the ground. It must be over two feet!
I know it’s somewhat ridiculous to selectively weed an entire lawn, but I think I can eventually rid the yard of this nemesis if I pull some out every day. My husband says it’s futile. He wants to poison the lawn, but that will kill my violets, too. And just because I refuse to poison the lawn does not mean that I don’t have any say in what grows there. I do!
So beware, plant! This means war!
Last year we vacationed in New Hampshire. There weren’t a heck of a lot of obvious destination activities in that area of the country. But, since we liked interesting minerals, and one of Livia’s favorite activities was picking up rocks, we decided to give the Ruggles Mine a go.
The mine turned out to be beautiful in its own rocky, cavey way.
Ruggles Mine
Marshall could hardly be pried away from one of the caves. It was dark, chilly and muddy, like a cave should be. Sections of the wall were mica. Mica is the major mineral find at the Ruggles Mine. In fact, the mine is located on Isinglass Mountain (“isinglass” is an alternative name for mica).
That’s my mom plucking a piece of mica from the cave wall.
When we were just about done exploring the place, I sat down on a large rock in the shade and looked around me.
Rocks
I picked up an interesting rock and showed it to my mom. She pronounced it a “rock with character.” A couple of minutes later, my husband came by with a rock to show me. He said, “I doubt this is anything really interesting…” And I said, “But it’s a rock with character!” He was pleased.
Suddenly I noticed that all around us were rocks with character. I picked up several of them and put them in my bag, knowing full well how heavy they’d feel as I hiked back up the hill to the mine entrance. Laden with buckets and bags of characterful rocks, we trudged back to the car.
When we got back to the cottage, I got out of the car and noticed a pretty rock on the ground. Surely it had a lot of character! And there was another and another. The whole darned state must have been covered in rocks with character.
And then one day after we returned to Rhode Island, I was walking through the local woodlands, and what did I see? Why, it was a rock with character! And there was another and another. There were rocks with character everywhere!
The moral of this story is (take your pick) . . .
A. Everything is more interesting when you’re in a new place.
B. We take for granted the beauty in our everyday surroundings.
C. Rocks, as a general rule, have a lot of character.
D. Something else that seems obvious to you but which has escaped me and you are free to mention it in the comments.
Some of the ways in which my life has changed since having children:
Dear Kids,
You arrived in this world as blank slates, so you’ve had to learn everything. And we’ve had to teach it to you. And since you grew out of your baby phases and started walking and talking, we’ve had to say things to you that we never thought we’d say to other human beings. Here is a selection.
And if you think any of that’s embarrassing, remind me someday to tell you the story of the morning we found you both bathing in the toilet.
Love,
Mom
Marshall says,
Skeeters have itches in their bones. They bite me on the head. That’s how I get itchy.
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