Monday, May 20, 2019

Looking Closer




Carolina Geranium/Carolina Cranesbill?
Yesterday morning I weeded till the heat drove me inside. I was stuck by how pretty the tiny (smaller than my little fingernail) weed flowers are. And I realized I wasn't sure of some of the names of these plants I've pulled up year after year.  The picture above, for example. A Google search tells me it's (probably) Carolina Geranium or Carolina Cranesbill.  But is it really?

Creeping Charlie/Ground Ivy

I'm reasonably sure about these next two . . .

Chickweed
Chickweed is abundant. And nice in salads when it's young. But by the time it flowers, it's no longer young.
Yellow Wood Sorrel/Oxalis

In the past I've tended to think of this yellow one as clover because of the shape of the leaves. Wrong! Yellow Clover has a flower that looks like (surprise) clover. This is Oxalis -- like shamrocks.


This little blue bloomer has me stumped -- I can't find it in my wild flower book, nor on Mr. Google. Maybe one of you can identify it.

Smartweed

I think this pink one is indeed Smartweed -- at least that's what a neighbor called it years ago.  



And the one below is Blue-eyed Grass -- which is actually a tiny, tiny wild iris. And it's really blue--I photographed it when the sun was on it and the color is washed out. "Never mind," I thought when I saw the picture on my laptop, "I'll go out later when the sun is off that area and get a better picture." 



But I'd forgotten that the little flowers close in the afternoon. So you'll just have to imagine a rich, clear blue.

The Blue-eyed Grass is non-invasive and rare enough that I don't pull it up. But the others, pretty flowers and all, got pulled up and set aside to enrich the chickens' diet. I know there'll be more.

It was nice to spend a morning outside, looking close and paying attention. Balm for the soul in these perilous and contentious times. 

Blue-eyed Grass

5 comments:

Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...

It's amazing how beautiful the wild weeds really are. We are in Galicia right now, and along country roads I see some truly beautiful flowers.

Barbara Rogers said...

Great weeding...and people go on wild-flower walks around here all the time. Just think how they scratch their heads and take photos, to identify and then leave them for someone else to see, and they're definitely bending over a lot, but no dirt under their fingernails!

Anvilcloud said...

It's good to look closer. You have such abundant variety.

Bobbi Tousey said...

The little blue flower ic common speedwell. It’s not native and in fact invasive. So pull it up!!

Thérèse said...

There was and perhaps still is a small sign in the wildflower corner of the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix which says "Weeds are only unloved flowers" of something close.