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Thursday, July 21, 2016

Dawdling Down Joe's Run

I rarely take the time to photograph mid- or late-summer flowers, but yesterday I took my time as I drove out of our hollow, to appreciate the rampant roadside beauty all along the way.

The WV Department of Transportation has not yet mowed so the growth is rife, even hanging over the road in many areas. This isn't unusual, unfortunately--we're often one of the last places they mow (or plow) for some reason. This year it's more understandable, given the massive roadwork that needs to be done to repair the damage from the floods in the areas south of us. The side benefit to the lack of care is that the flowers get to bloom and grow.

I don't know the names of some of these, like this first one. I think it is tick-seeded sunflower. Open to correction anytime!


Wild blue chicory is everywhere this time of year.


Black-eyed Susans and Queen Ann's Lace...


and above I heard screaming. I obviously had upset someone.


Yes, there he or she was, a beautiful hawk (red-tail? not sure) high in a black walnut.


Lavender bergamot, or bee balm, is coming into its own now. My cultivated variety has already bloomed and quit but the wild continues to beautify.






Mullein is not yet blooming, but close, its spiky head high above its neighbors.


And more chicory. Too, too pretty. And unpickable--pick it, and it closes right up.


Our little lake, really a big pond, is one of seven watershed control lakes to stop the local county seat from flooding. It's brought a nice variety of wildlife and waterfowl to our road.


 Yellow, white and blue line the road in places, almost overwhelmed by the green everywhere.


More bergamot, nestling as if planted by the gate.


This patch of some type of wild grass caught the sun and my eye.


Wild blue lobelia crowds along another section of road.


I have photographed this cabin in almost every season, numerous times.


And finally back up on the ridge, a patch of sweet peas and Queen Anne's Lace, with a little yellow-flowered type of clover whose name I cannot recall.


Even the heat of July can't take away the beauty of our wild roadsides. I hope you have time to dawdle along somewhere in your part of the world and enjoy what's there for you to see.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

5 comments:

  1. Roadside wildflowers are my favorite. Here in Arkansas they have all but disappeared because they mow too often. I've heard that they've proposed to not mow as often to save money & I hope they follow through. The flowers need time to go to seed so we'll have them in the future.

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  2. I hadn't considered that, Jenny, but you're right. Some years we have a couple Canada lilies that bloom along the road, but this year I have not seen them. With their nodding heads they can be easy to miss though, so perhaps I wasn't looking at the right time.

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  3. Southern Iowa / Northern Missouri back roads are an explosion of wildflowers right now. Queens Anne's Lace mixed with chicory is my favorite - blue and white. Do you ever call the bee balm, horse mint? Or is horse mint something else?

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  4. Your flower photos are beautiful. I have to share about the little cabin you photographed. I've always loved the look of it. Growing up in LeRoy and visiting my grandparents on Joe's Run, we used to visit the man who lived in that cabin. His name was Orville and I'm sure he is passed on now. My Mom often took us to visit many people that I don't really know now how they were related. I do remember that he was very, very, sweet and always had a smile on his face. I have flashes of him on Saturday nights at 'the barn' cloggin with that smile. I'm gonna have to ask my sister about him now. She's three years older than me and has a better memory.

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  5. Beverly, I knew your mother, and attended her funeral. She was the sweetest of women. I live about a half mile from Mt. Hope, and your grandmother Belvie was the biggest help to me in learning about living in the country. Dan had the slyest sense of humor! I miss them both. I remember Orville too-Orville Hartley was married to your grandfather's sister, and the cabin he lived in was the family homeplace, I believe. There was a log cabin chicken house at Dan and Belvie's that we moved to our place and rebuilt as a storage building. David, your Dad's youngest brother, told us that the logs for this little cabin actually came from right near our place, so in a sense it moved home!

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