Goldeneye and Paintbrush

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Goldeneye Phlox and Indian Paintbrush are two brightly colored wildflowers gracing our woodland meadows and open fields in the Spring:

Many people are not aware that Indian Paintbrush with their bright red-orange flowers are root hemiparasites. A hemiparasite is a plant that can do its own photosynthesis, but relies on host plants for water and other nutrients. Indian Paintbrush send out their own roots until the root touches the root of another plant, generally a grass. The indian Paintbrush roots then grow tendrils into the host plant's roots.

These photos were taken on a walk along the Geology and Water Loop trails at Phil Hardberger Park on Friday, April 8 2016.

Click on the first photo in a post to open the photos in slideshow view.

Prickly Pear Closeup

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Cacti are one of Mother Nature's most successful forms of living sculpture. It helps to get up close to see the detail:

These photos were taken on a walk along the Geology and Water Loop trails at Phil Hardberger Park on Friday, April 8 2016.

Click on the first photo in a post to open the photos in slideshow view.

Nice To See At Least One Busy Bee

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Unfortunately, it has gotten to the place where it stands out enough to catch one's eye seeing a single bee busily gathering nectar from a cluster of flowers. This bee apparently found the cluster of False Gromwell, also known as Soft-hair Marbleseed, flowers particularly attractive and stayed around long enough for me to get a series of photos:

If there is any consolation in seeing one hard working bee, it is the knowledge that European Honey Bees don't live alone. If there is one bee, somewhere nearby there is an entire colony.

These photos were taken on a walk along the Geology and Water Loop trails at Phil Hardberger Park on Friday, April 8 2016.

Click on the first photo in a post to open the photos in slideshow view.