Northern Blue Flag Iris versicolor has a deep blue to purple flower. It is also called Harlequin Blueflag.
It grows on lake shores, swamps, pond edges, and wet meadows.
Blue Flag irises occur throughout the USA, in several varieties. Some plants are located on the south shore of the pond, and are blooming now.
The blackbird was foraging among the short grasses near the pond. A female, recently arrived after migrating, landed on a branch of swamp willow. The male saw her and started displaying his handsome epaulets. He walked toward her with his feathers fluffed out and tail partly spread. As he proceeded, he lifted the leading edge of each wing so that the red shoulder patches were puffed up, appearing bigger. She flew to another small tree; he followed among the willow sprouts, displaying his male beauty to impress her.
(Red-winged Blackbird males have colorful upperwing coverts of red bordered with yellow on the bend of each wing. He will use the colorful display to threaten other birds, defend his territory, or attract a mate.)
Iris versicolor, the Northern Blue Flag, is blooming near the pond. It does not mind having its 'feet' wet and often grows in a few inches of water.
The blue to purple flowers stand out from the grasses and reeds around it, but the sword-like leaves blend into all that green!
This plant attracts both butterflies and hummingbirds, and may be known as Blue Flag Iris, Harlequin Blue Flag, Northern Iris, and Wild Iris.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/why-dont-birds-get-cold-feet/
https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/why-birds-feet-dont-freeze
Boneset Eupatorium perfoliatum has a stout hairy stem, and the plant's leaves occur along it opposite to one another. In autumn, the flowers go to seed, and leaves turn a rich red-brown color.
The leaves are described as 'perfoliate' because each joins the opposite leaf around the stem so it appears the stem grows through one large leaf. All parts of this plant are toxic and bitter. Birds rarely eat the seeds, but are attracted to the flowers for the many insects there.
Planthoppers are masters of disguise. A green Acanalonid Planthopper, hiding on a stem, can look like part of the plant -- a seed pod, leaf, bract, or stipule.
This one is only 3/8 inch long. It was perched on a stem at the leaf sheath, probably sucking sap from the grass. Planthoppers, true to their name, can leap many times the length of their bodies. And they are very agile insects that can move easily forwards, backwards, or sideways.
Growing from 2 to 6 feet high on angular winged stems, Sneezeweed Helenium autumnale is blooming on all sides of the pond.
The flowers are showy, golden yellow with a domed center. These late-summer plants will feed butterflies and unfold their blooms until winter comes.
The common name 'Sneezeweed' came about because the pollen, when inhaled, causes sneezing. In the past, the powdered flower heads were used in medicine to cause violent sneezing as treatment.
To complement all the blue and purple flowers around the pond this week, the Goldenrod has unfurled its blooms. Solidago species, commonly called Goldenrods, are in a genus of more than 100 species of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae.
Goldenrods are often blamed for allergies, but they have sticky pollen and rely on insects to move most of it. The wind borne pollen of ragweeds and pigweeds are to blame for 'hay fever' in late summer.
These plants are habitat for a large number of insect species. Blooming in late summer, they are a critical nectar source for many bees, butterflies, and moths to fortify themselves before freezing weather comes.
The tall, stately plants topped by brilliant purple flowers -- blooming now by the pond -- are Common Ironweed Vernonia fasciculata. Each 5- or 6-foot tall plant has a purple-green stem, dark green toothed leaves along the stem, and clusters of flowers at the top. Clusters are made up of many flower heads, each about 3/4” across. After the flowers open and mature, each becomes a fruit that is composed of a dry seed with a tuft of coppery brown hair.
This is a host plant for the 'American Painted Lady' butterfly and also has value to native bees.
Ironweed got its common name because of several qualities: tough straight stems like iron rods, fading purple flowers become rusty-tinged, and seeds are colored like rust.
Ironweed is one of about 500 species of perennial plants constituting the genus Vernonia of the family Asteraceae; it's species are distributed throughout the world.
A mid-height plant with tall columns of flowers, Great Blue Lobelia Lobelia siphilitica stands out from the green grasses and foliage in several places around the pond.
This Lobelia started blooming in late July. Its native wildflowers will continue showing clear blue blooms through the autumn as the individual flowers open starting at the bottom of each column.
It attracts butterflies, and provides a color contrast to the gold and yellows of other late summer blooms.
It is time to harvest some wildflower seeds, in order to expand the native plant population in the riparian buffer surrounding our pond. There are more than 30 documented native species in this buffer. Close to the water is a ring of wetland; outside of that is a ring of moist to dry areas. So the pond provides a comfortable home for a wide variety of plants. We hope to reduce the 'weeds' and encourage the flowering native plants to flourish.
For example, a few coneflowers bloom here. Purple Coneflower Echinacea purpurea now has some blooms 'going to seed' as the petals dry out. When I remove the seeds, intending to spread them around the pond for new plants, we can see why this plant is called 'cone flower'.
Blooming now -- small lilac-purple flowers at the very edge of the pond. Some native plants around the pond, like these, are not noticeable until you get close. Monkey Flower Mimulus ringens. The name comes from the Latin diminutive of mimus meaning "a mimic" or little monkey. The flowers are like tiny snapdragons, less than one inch long. Bumblebees are important native pollinators for this species. Monkey Flower is a native plant, naturalized along the pond's margin.
 |
