Sumac buds busting out to meet the sun after a light dusting of snow the previous evening. Today it feels like spring is here to stay.
Tag: wildflower
Milk Weed
I have noticed that each fall I end up taking a few shots of milk weed and always say to myself that next fall I need to make a dedicated effort to photograph this wonderful plant. The same happened again this year.
Wet
I think there is a reason this forest is so green.
A Fine Couple
A wonderful Blue Gentain getting cozy with an Orange Painted Brush up on a hillside in Rustlers Gulch. Crested Butte, CO.
Digitalis
Along the trail on a silent hike the digitalis were ringing strong.
Photographed in a dark yet very green forest.
Waiting for a moment.
Seems like we are always waiting for that moment. A moment that seems to have no beginning and perhaps no ending. Such is the case with trying to photograph bees just taking to flight or just landing. The results are seldom clear but like life itself what is?
A job well done
The other day I saw a yellow flash land in a nice cedar tree. Thinking it was an unusual insect I quickly went over to get a look. Alas, it was not a new insect but a Honey Bee and to say this one was covered in pollen might be an understatement. This little bee could hard fly with the load they had acquired. After a few minutes of rest they slowly lifted off and headed back to the hive. A job well done.
On a single thistle
With all the other wildflowers long gone to seed a single thistle along the side of the road reminded me of one of those photos of the lone remaining watering hole in the Serengeti attracting animals from near and far for a nice cool drink. Only this thistle attracted the remaining nectar and pollen lovers in the area including skippers galore, whites and several alpine butterflies which all gathered to get that one last sip of nectar before summer slips away.
Woodland Pinedrops: Pterospora andromedea
Earlier this summer we ran across a peculiar plant making its way up through the earth in the forest. A strange striped asparagus? No Woodland Pinedrops: Pterospora andromeda.
According to Wikipedia “Like all members of the Monotriopoidiae , Pterospora andromedea lacks chlorophyll (trace amounts have been identified, but not enough to provide energy for the plant or to color it. Plants exist for most of their life as a mass of brittle, but fleshy, roots. They live in a parasitic relationship with mycorrhizal fungi, in which plants derive all their carbon from their associated fungus, but the relationship is not yet well understood.”
This makes it similar to several of the orchids we have encountered along the trail.
Now that summer has passed and fall is in the air the plant looks like this.
Somewhat like a small tree full of small pumpkins decorating the autumn forest.
Setting Sun
There is nothing more beautiful than a great sunset. The same could be said of wildflowers. Photographed on a hike near Schofield pass CO.
nature has no boss 
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