Nightshades are an interesting family of plants. Many of them are poisonous with lethality that goes mostly like this - mmm, yummy woah, trippy eww, I don't feel so good omg, I wish I was dead ugh, (clunk) Even the non-deadly ones have deleterious effects for some people. Those would be potatoes, tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers... Continue Reading →
Elusive Wildflowers – Part 10 – Garden Loosestrife
Another one that's not elusive in the sense that it's rare, but that I've never encountered it before. This post combines my love of wildflowers and my yard macro thing from the last post. I spotted these guys in an overgrown garden that's being reclaimed by weeds. Sigh. Laziness. That's why I can't have anything... Continue Reading →
Elusive Wildflowers – Part 9
So, two new things for you today. First being this gorgeous wild bleeding heart I found in my yard today. Never before have I seen or photographed the wild variety and so when I saw it today, I got right out there. I didn't use the E-30 though. Nope. New camera making its debut on... Continue Reading →
Elusive Wildflowers Part 8 – Cardinal flower
Wahoo! Another beauty photographed. Never have I shot these before, but while out doing some river work (my favorite, the Piscataquog, and I'll post about that soon) I found some near a pond's runoff streams. This flower has become quite rare in some areas due to people picking and digging it up a lot. I... Continue Reading →
Elusive Wildflowers Part 7 – Horned Bladderwort
Another one that isn't so much elusive, as limited in photographic potential. It's limited in a few ways. First it lives in bogs and fens which are relatively rare habitats made rarer by man's manic need to fill in wetlands and build subdivisions on them. If you live in Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee or Illinois the... Continue Reading →
Elusive Wildflowers Part 6 – Wood Lily
Serendipity. Isn't that a great word? Almost as good as propinquity. But I digress. I say serendipity because a couple days ago I was thinking about wildflowers and how much I'd like to discover some wood lily in my travels. My parents had one growing in the front yard when I was a kid, and... Continue Reading →
Elusive Wildflowers Part 5 – Grass Pinks
Elusive in the sense that they require a specific and rare habitat, not that I don't have them nearby or that they are scarce in that location. I'm lucky. I live near a kettle bog (two actually, but one has more trail, luckily the closer one). A kettle bog, named for the shape of the... Continue Reading →
Elusive Wildflowers Part 4 – Indian Cucumber Root
This little wonder hides in plain sight. For years I've been marching past stands of them, ignoring them as just part of the undergrowth. This year though I looked closer and wondered what they were. Then the other day I noticed they made the most delicately strange little flowers under those leaves. I wasn't prepared... Continue Reading →
Elusive Wildflowers Part 3 – Wild Columbine
Do you remember me stalking a plant that wasn't blooming and me not knowing what it was? Well today was my lucky day and I finally found it blooming. It's columbine! Yay!! Another one I'd never shot before. I don't remember even seeing it outside of books. Sa-weet. The light was really spectacular, but... Continue Reading →
Elusive Wildflowers Part 1.3 – Hepatica in bloom redux
"It looked like I had another chance at the twenty dollars." - Philip Marlowe, The Little Sister There's never a bad time for Raymond Chandler now is there? When I went to see if another flower was blooming, I found that the hepatica still were and this line from my favorite Chandler came into my... Continue Reading →