I haven’t done a field report for the month of June. I feel like every time I see a new flower in bloom, it’s gone pretty quickly. Blink, and you miss it. The picture of the dry, cracked ground above is yet another sign of our prolonged drought.
I’ve been paying attention to the flowers that seem to still be thriving this year. Right now, trumpet creeper, wild sweetpotato, annual fleabane, daisy fleabane, Queen Anne’s lace, and wild quinine are doing just fine. The fleabanes were a little slow to bloom this year, but they are still putting out flowers in late June.
I saw a new (to me) flower last week on the Shiloh greenway. This is downy false foxglove (Aureolaria virginica). It thrives in dry, barren ground. I guess the conditions are ideal for this plant as well.
Let me know what you’re seeing on the trails!