Trees down

We've been losing a lot of trees this year. There's been a lot of wind storms. These pine trees fell like toothpicks.

But there are some grateful creatures making use of the windfall.

Foraging in the Rain

A strange wind came out of the west this weekend bringing a cool, refreshing rain that came down nearly all day Sunday.

I took the opportunity to hike in the fresh drizzle. Along the trail I saw something jumping. Looking down expecting to see a frog or toad,  I caught sight of this tiny creature foraging in the rain.

It could leap quite high off of the ground, although it found this bit of grass and felt protectively hidden and moved no more. I snapped the photo and left it to its rainy forage.    

Yellow Swallowtail

This Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly was foraging at the edge of a lake during a rain shower this weekend.

Swallowtail's host plants are the members of the carrot family, including dill, parsley, and hemlock. The butterflies will often congregate on scat for salts and minerals.

This one, I think, is after a drink.    

Blue Vervain

This plant not only attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, it has a history.

From tears of Isis to being placed on Jesus's wounds this plant is also called the devil's bane. It was thought to be a cure all and a favorite of witches. Which is probably why Walt Whitman placed it in the realm of  God in Splendor in the Grass:

I see the place of the idea of the Deity incarnated by avatars in human forms;
I see the spots of the successions of priests on the earth—oracles, sacrificers, brahmins, sabians, lamas, monks, muftis, exhorters;
I see where druids walked the groves of Mona—I see the mistletoe and vervain;
I see the temples of the deaths of the bodies of Gods—I see the old signifiers.

Down of the Thistle

The down of the thistle is quite thick this year. Do you think it makes a prediction of the winter to come?

Whenever I see thistle going to seed I think of the poem The Night Before Christmas. And in this very hot July, the thought of a few frigged nights is quite cooling. 

Obedient Plant

Obedient Plant is blooming in fields and sunny areas of Coffee Creek Park.

There are hybrids of this plant that are grown in gardens but it is a native wildflower.

When the flowers are bent they obediently remain in the same position, making them the perfect place for insects to take refuge in, closing the petals behind them like a door.  

Wild Bergamot

Like a firecracker exploding out of a tiny box, Wild Bergamot explodes out of its little green box this time of year.

This native wildflower is a member of the mint family and a tea made of the plant will help you nurse a cold or other respiratory ailment.

This flower belongs in every garden, whether natural or cultivated and has been a favorite of poets.