I found the Virginia Meadow-Beauty, Rhexia virginica, growing in the same spot as the Plymouth Gentian--it does look somewhat similar. The level of the lake has been down significantly, even with all the recent rain, leaving about a half dozen of these growing along the receding shoreline. Pretty, isn't it?
"How pleasurable it is just to walk with my camera"... I love this, your line from one of this week's past posts that I just read through, catching up upon our return. I too, often wonder just what I filled my time with before my journals came into my life! We have a nip in the air today and with it, a taste of autumn and although I love the coming season, I never feel ready to accept it; I try so hard to hold onto summer!
ReplyDeleteChecked my turtle eggs/nests in our front yard first thing when we pulled into our driveway- nothing yet- the ground still appears undisturbed. The field guides put the hatch at 70-80 days from being laid and that means any day now. Perhaps the cold rainy summer will prolong the incubation?
Virginia Meadow Beauty is a new one for me, too; I will keep my eyes open for it. The turtle heads are blooming along our shore line near our dock, one of the last of the real showy wildflowers of summer. Also, mushroom season has officially begun with the eruption of the "stinkhorn". I smelled it long before I found it in our woods yesterday; such a strange alien thing- I will not go into all the rude jokes that usually accompany this particular species (even its latin name is a bit off color) but it is kind of funny; I'll let you do your own research on this one! :-)
I still have not seen even one monarch butterfly yet this year, let alone a chrysalis... how odd!
~gretchen
Hi Gretchen! Nice to have you back. :-)
ReplyDeleteOh my... I just read the wiki on Phalleles. What a riot!
This afternoon I needed a jacket and tomorrow evening is predicted below 50F. I'm taking a couple of long weekends and planning a week off sometime later. I'm looking forward to lots of pictures and generally having a relaxing time around the lake.
Just today I read a few lines in a Thoreau journal where he described the instinct of hatchlings to head directly for water.
Take care,
-- John