Oct. 21, 2018 - Summer Flowers

Here are some flowers I photographed this summer. This Columbine was growing in the flower bed next to our home in northern Minnesota. The past couple of years, our resident Woodchuck ate these plants before they got a chance to bloom. This year we didn’t have a Woodchuck, so the Columbine was able to produce some beautiful blossoms.

ColombineDunningLakeItascaCounty20180618

I took this photo at Long Lake Regional Park in New Brighton, MN. One of the horticulture staff members at Three Rivers Park District identified it as Anise Hyssop. It’s an herb that is used in tea and cold remedies. The leaves have a mint and licorice fragrance.

HyssopAniseAgastachefoeniculumLongLakeRegionalParkNewBrighton20180712

Mountain Mint grew in our wildflower garden this year. It was in the original seed mix that we planted in 2015 but we didn’t see it blooming for the first two years. We were told it is not unusual for some wildflowers to take a couple of years to really get established.

MountainMintWildflowerGardenDunningLakeItascaCounty20180816

We also have Yellow Woodsorrel growing in our wildflower garden. The yellow flowers are cute, but I also like the leaves which have three heart-shaped leaflets joined at one point. Wikipedia says the leaflets close up at night. It also says that if the mature seed pods are disturbed, they can burst open and shoot seeds up to 13 feet away.

WoodSorrelYellowOxalisstrictaWildflowerGardenDunningLakeItascaCounty20180706

Our lake has both Yellow and White Water Lilies growing in it. This was a particularly nice looking white one.

WaterLilyWhiteDunningLakeItascaCounty20180714