I am amazed by the staying power of the Scarlet Milkweed near my front porch. Each individual flower doesn't last more than a week, but when one fades away, another is right behind it to takes its place. The Ants just love these flowers. There must be some sweet nectar inside. I caught one Ant diving head first into a flower.
At the end of my driveway, I found a plant that I had never seen before. I thought that the little pods would open into flowers and planned on checking back in a day or two. When I looked a little closer, I saw that there were some flowers emerging. I had assumed that the whole pod would open into a flower, but it appears that only a tiny flower pokes out of the top. Fluffy seeds form in the pod, similar to the seed of a Dandelion.
Nearby, I found another little purple flower. I think that Florida has a lot of tiny purple flowers. I also think that I need a better wildflower field guide.
In the back yard, yet another purple flower was still in bloom. I have photographed this one before, but I still don't have a name for it. I even showed it to one of our District Biologists. She thought that it may be a non-native that was planted to attract butterflies. I haven't seen any butterflies on it yet, but one Bee was loving every single blossom.
Thought of the Day #5
Blogging has done wonders for my organizational skills. In addition to the journaling of information that I mentioned on another day, I have catalogued my photos extremely well. For starters, I made sure that the time and date on my camera were set correctly. I also now have a folder on my computer for every single day of the past year. Its amazing how often that comes in handy.
4 comments:
What flower guide do you use? Is there one that you would recommend for the occasional reference vs. your everday use? Is there a company, author, or publisher that is known for there supperior quality as a reference?
How do you find out what plants are native and which ones are considered invasive for ones area?
Jen
I have Florida Wild Flowers and Roadside Plants. It is probably great for the casual user and many of the commonly found plants are in it. I have found it lacking for more extensive use. The most important aspect in selecting a good field guide of any type is to be sure that it covers your geographical region. A book on Florida Wildflowers is going to be more useful to me than a book on US Wildflowers. When choosing a new field guide, I usually ask my collegues what books they use and also consult the Amazon.com reviews. I never get all the books by one author or series because no one person or company is the best at all groups of living things.
For native vs exotic plants, I usually use the FL Exotic Pest Plant Council's webpage. It is likely that other states have a similar organization or extension office that handles such matters.
I think your third and fourth photos would make awesome 1000+ piece puzzles!
Jen
Its amazing and interesting!
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