Aug. 28, 2016 - More Flowers

Swamp Milkweed grows 3 to 4 feet tall. It has clusters of rosy pink and white flowers at the top. Notice the yellow and green pods near the top of the photo. Those are flower clusters that have already gone to seed. True to its name, it does grow well in wet places but it also thrives in drier areas. This makes it a popular ornamental plant in flower gardens. This photo was taken at Silverwood Park in St. Anthony, Minnesota.

MilkweedSwampwithseedpodsSilverwoodParkAnthony20160719

Here’s a closer look at the Swamp Milkweed flowers. They have 5 downward-pointing petals and 5 that point up. This plant is especially attractive to Monarch Butterflies. We’ve had a good crop of Swamp Milkweed at our home in northern Minnesota this year. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen any Monarch Butterflies.

MilkweedSwampDunningLakeItascaCounty20160813

Common Mullein takes 2 years to mature. During its first year, a low rosette of large, soft leaves is produced. In the second year, a tall flower stalk grows and it can reach 6 to 8 feet high. There can be a single flower cluster or, like the one in this photo, there can be several branching clusters. Most books say that the flowers open starting at the top and moving down. However, the flowers on this plant seem to be opening in a random pattern. This photo was taken at Silverwood Park.

MullienSilverwoodParkAnthony20160718

There are many different kinds of wild sunflowers. I think this is a Giant Sunflower. It can grow 4 to 10 feet tall. Commercial sunflowers were developed by breeding wild sunflowers for desirable characteristics (such as many large seeds).

SunflowerRoughSilverwoodParkAnthony20160718

Blue Vervain grows 2 to 6 feet tall and has many flower spikes on top. This one, photographed at Silverwood Park, has an especially large number of spikes. The small purple flowers start opening from the bottom of the spike and only a few are open at a time.

VervainBlueSilverwoodParkAnthony20160718

This year we found a few Hoary Vervain plants growing in our wildflower garden. They can be from 1 to 3 feet tall. The purple flowers open from the bottom up.

VervainHoaryDunningLakeItascaCounty20160813