Dahlias

Must be dahlias.




wiki
google images

Petunias

Both are petunias. They look so different because of the coloring.
The flashy red and white ones are called Red Star Petunias, I think.




wiki
google images

Clematis Mailbox

I thought this mailbox looked so pretty with the flowing plant around it.
The plant is Clematis (KLEM-uh-tiss). The blossoms look like cultivar Jackmanii.
I quickly snapped it from the car, so didn't get any closeups.

Links:
itis
Common Name: Jackman's clematis
Taxonomic Hierarchy

davesgarden
Family: Ranunculaceae (ra-nun-kew-LAY-see-ee)
Genus: Clematis (KLEM-uh-tiss)
Cultivar: Jackmanii
Synonym:Clematis x jackmanii

wiki
Hardy to USDA Zone 4a

Fresh Cut Flowers

Five dollar bouquet I bought at the grocery store.
I don't know why I don't do this more often.

Hollyhocks

wiki
google images

Shimmer Bokeh

I love the bokeh background on this photo.


It was shimmer or sunlight on water:


Sometimes shooting into the sunlight is a good thing.

Tiger Lilies

Orange Tiger Lily (Lilium lancifolium)
They photograph better in the shade. In the sun, the colors look too harsh.

Spring Tulips

Tulips.
Pretty colors.

Lark Sparrow

Photo Drive.



My first Lark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus).
I knew this one would be easy to identify. He's interesting to look at from different angles. Makes me think of candy cane stripes.

The Setting/View:


Horses grazing in the valley.



Groved flax blossoms below his feet and dotting the landscape.



New coneflowers bursting forth.


Lark Sparrow Links:

cornell
"With unusual courtship displays as well as plumage, it is like no other sparrow and is the sole member of its genus. "

"Song a melodius jumble of clear notes and trills, interspersed with harsh buzzes and churrs."

enature

Oregon Birds
Topography of Lark Sparrow
Nice diagram.



And more.
GOOD informative interesting bird info/diagrams here.

Pretty Flower

Iris, I think.

Snow On Water In June

Snow on water in June:


Not really.



This is why you don't want a cottonwood tree that produces cotton.
Kind of a mess.

Even the flowers got dusted with it.

Photo Walk - New Trail

New trail, yippy skippy.


Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa):

bugguide
enature
wiki
butterfliesandmoths

Fox:

Small Mammals of ND

Toad:

Could barely see this little guy, very camouflaged.
Toad vs Frog
Reptiles and Amphibians of North Dakota
Woodhouse's Toad (Bufo woodhousii), maybe?
enature

My first pic of
Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus):

npwrc
cornell
enature
"Voice: Rich warble similar to that of a robin but softer, sweeter, and faster."
(I thought it was a robin, before I saw it in my telephoto lens, because it sounded like a robin.)

Flowers:

ID by family
Mustard Family
Looks like a Sweet rocket (Hesperis matronalis).
google images

Lilacs

I've posted lilacs previously.
These current ones turned out so pretty. Darker, richer color.
In the shade on a cloudy day.
Just starting to bloom now.
Only one clump on this bush so could easily isolate.

Garden Statues and Tulips

I don't usually go for this kind of thing, but I thought these were cute.
Close to someone's front door.
I'd be afraid someone would steal them.
I had to do some masking work to retain the color on the duck cuz it was a lot brighter than the rest of the picture.

And along the side of the house...tulips.




I think this was the same house. Not absolutely sure.
I love tulips. One of the things that says "spring" to me.

Blazing Star

Dotted blazing star
OR
Narrow-leaved Blazing Star
(Liatris punctata)
Asteraceae (The Aster Family)

Toward The Sun

Mexican Hats

In the field I'll come across some different colored prairie coneflowers (Ratibida columnifera) once in a while. Not sure why.
Pretty though.
Pics taken the 1st and 4th of August.
The coneflowers have definitely peaked a while ago already.

Roadside Sunflowers of a Different Kind

These were about 4 feet high.
Tall/lanky, leaves thin and at bottom, blossoms branch out at top.
Didn't see anything online that looked like that.

There is also yet another roadside plant that has a similar "body" (lanky, leaves, branch out top, etc) but the blossoms look more like a dandelion than a sunflower. Could not id those either.

npwrc
Asteraceae (The Aster Family)

Googled "flower head of sunflower family" and found lots of diagrams labeling the disk flower and ray flower parts.

Sunflower Road

I tried different angles on the sunflower road view and I like these the best.

There was also this beauty further in the ditch:



And surprise, I had company.



He was the exact same color as the sunflowers.
Talk about blending in.



Then there was this sunflower which was very different and stood out from the rest along the road as we were driving by.



The petals (ray flowers) were fabulous:


Later, we saw this one lone sunflower in a field of wheat or grain of some sort. The result was a happy surprise with an unusual background effect to it. I like it.



Common sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)

usda

efloras2

davesgarden
Family: Asteraceae (ass-ter-AY-see-ee)
Genus: Helianthus (hee-lee-AN-thus)
Species: annuus (AN-yoo-us)

(At first I didn't catch that double u in annuus.)

wiki
Sunflower varieties list

Try Google Images on Autumn Beauty sunflower.
Or how about Peach Passion sunflower.

Definitions:
phototropism
An orienting response to light.

heliotropism
An orienting response to the sun.

tropism
An involuntary orienting response; positive or negative reaction to a stimulus source.