The pollen starting to appear on these looks like little yellow flowers.
Echinacea (also known as Rudbeckia) is a composite flower.
At first glance, a composite flower like the daisy looks simple, with petals forming rays around a colorful disk. Upon closer inspection, however, these flowers aren’t simple at all. The flower is actually made up of many flowers–inflorescences–masquerading as a single flower. Each “petal” is a flower, as is each bump on the disk.
Crocosmia, also called Montbretia, is a summer favorite of mine I love the geometry of the flower heads. Clearly I’m not alone, it seems to be in bloom everywhere around the neighborhood.
Nothing shouts “summer is here!” like a daisy. I’ve always loved teh ruffles on the Shasta daisies, looks like they are wearing fancy white summer dresses.
Do you remember when columbine was just the name of a flower?
The Columbine Massacre was on my son’s tenth birthday. He is 33 now. There are many adults today who do not remember a time before school shootings were routine.
In our area you see a lot of blackberries. Most are the Himalayan, a hybrid that escaped captivity, is very robust and has taken over the entire state. Occasionally, in little nooks and crannies you can find the older, native blackberries. It is smaller, more vine like and produces smaller, more flavorful berries. People who value them keep secret the locations of their favorite patches.