Aug. 24, 2008 - Dunning Lake
Baby animals are always adorable. A White-tailed deer has been bringing her twin fawns to our yard in northern Minnesota. They sort of meander through the area, eat a few things, and then move on. We have very few ornamental plants in our yard. Except for a couple of Lilac bushes, our “yard” consists mainly of native plants. Therefore, we don’t have to worry about what the deer eat. They do seem to like eating the fireweed and we miss seeing that. But, for the most part, we can just enjoy watching these cute little fawns as they grow up over the summer.
We have an area in our yard that we don’t mow. It’s becoming our wildflower garden. We’re pleased that so many flowers grow naturally if you just let them. Right now we have lots of Black-eyed Susans and this grasshopper seems to enjoy sitting on one of them.
One of my favorite wildflowers is this cute little one called Deptford Pink. And I do mean little; the flower is only one-half inch in diameter. It grows on a thin stalk which can be 12-18” tall. If you go looking for them in the late afternoon, you won’t see the flowers because they close up for the night. Although this particular species is pink in color, that isn’t the reason for its name. The family of flowers to which it belongs is called the Pink family. As you can see from the photo, the edges of the flower have notches that make it look like it was trimmed by pinking shears. That’s where the name comes from.
One time when we were driving around on the old mining roads near our home, we came upon a spot where Tawny Day Lilies were growing. We transplanted a couple of them to our wildflower garden. We forgot about them until the flowers bloomed this year. The Tawny Day Lily is a wild relative of the common Day Lilies that you see in many gardens.
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