7-31 Nodding Pogonia

 7-31

Nodding Pogonia, AKA Three Birds, is a rare orchid family member often found in beech stands.

Purple-stemmed Asters grace swamps and low thickets.

Scaly Chanterelle finds this year's rainfall to their liking.

John

7-30 Virgin's Bower

 7-30

Virgin's Bower is opening clusters of white flowers. Look for it draping moist thickets.

John

7-29 Pickerelweed

 7-29

Pickerelweed is common along the muddy margins of ponds and slow moving rivers.

Pink-striped Oakworms (moth larvae) are hard at work consuming oak leaves.

John

7-28 Common Wild Yarrow

 7-28

Common Wild Yarrow, a plant of fields and roadsides, can be either white or pink.

Indian Tobacco is flowering in open woods. The stem of this lobelia family member is usually branched making it easy to identify.

John

7-27 Common Burdock

 7-27

Common Burdock is opening its bristly flower heads. Burdocks are coarse weeds generally found in waste places.

Rather handsome Sumac Leaf Beetles (Blepharida rhois) are hard at work on sumacs.

John

7-26 Boneset

 7-26

Boneset, AKA Throughwort, is common in low, damp areas. Newcomb's Wildflowers lists 8 other similar bonesets.

The caterpillar of a Brown-hooded Owlet moth posed nicely for its picture. Principal food plants of this species are goldenrods and asters.

John

7-25 Dogday Harvestfly

 7-25

Dogday Harvestflies (our annual cicada) are leaving their nymphal husks hanging on trees and will be shrilling come the next hot day.

Whorled Milkwort - so named for the arrangement of its leaves - is flowering in thinly vegetated fields.

John

7-24 Early Coralroot

 7-24

Damp woods and swamps are home to Early Coralroot, a saprophytic member of the orchid clan.

Black Nightshade, which has white flowers but produces black berries, can be seen in woods and waste places.

John

7-23 Green Wood Orchid

 7-23

Wet woods are home to Green Wood Orchids.

And, while Tall Blue Lettuce does indeed have pale blue flowers its main claim to fame it its height - up to 15 feet! Look for it in moist thickets and clearings.

John

7-22 Pinesaps

 7-22

Saprophytic Pinesaps are flowering. Look for them in pine or oak woods.

Pale Touch-me-nots, a limestone loving species, is opening a few flowers.

John

7-21 Culver's Root

 7-21

Tubular spikes of tiny white flowers and whorls of 3 - 7 leaves make Culver's Root easy to identify. Look for it in woods and meadows.

And a Bee-mimic Robber Fly was doing a good job of passing for a bumblebee. Japanese beetles are one of its favorite prey species.

John

7-20 American Germander

 7-20

American Germander, AKA Wood Sage, is in flower. Look for it in moist thickets and along shores.

And Camouflaged Loopers - the caterpillar of Wavy-lined Emerald Moths - can be seen on such composites as Black-eyed Susans. These caterpillars 'dress' themselves in bits of plant material.

John

7-19 Hemp Nettle

 7-19

Hemp Nettle can be either white or purple. Look for it along roadsides and in waste places, often in moist soils.

John

Purple Hemp Nettle

White Hemp Nettle

7-18 Teasel

 7-18

The thistle-like heads and prickly stems of Teasel can be seen in fields and along roadsides.

John

7-17 Spiny-leaved Sow Thistle

 7-17

Waste places, often dry, salty road shoulders, are home to Spiny-leaved Sow Thistles.

And wet places are home to Buttonbush which has ball-like heads made up of many white tubular flowers.

John

7-16 Purple Milkwort

 7-16

Purple Milkwort favors wet meadows and river banks.

John

7-15 Orange Grass

 7-15

Orange Grass, AKA Pineweed, is in flower. This is a plant of otherwise barren soils.

Joe-Pye Weed is opening a few florets. Look for it in damp meadows and thickets.

John

7-14 Checkered Rattlesnake Plantain

 7-14

Checkered Rattlesnake Plantain, an orchid family member, is flowering. I see it in pine woods.

One of our Sunflowers was open deep in a rain drenched thicket. Newcomb's Wildflower Guide lists eleven species. The Flora of Vermont lists twelve!

John

7-13 Bull Thistle

7-13

A Bumblebee nectared on a Bull Thistle despite cool rainy conditions.

A Primrose moth nestled in an Evening Primrose flower this morning.

John 

7-12 Helleborine

 7-12

Helleborine, our only introduced orchid, is opening a few flowers. Look for it in woods and along paths and roadsides.

John

7-11 Water Horehound

 7-11

Water Horehound is common in moist or wet locations.

And Wild Sensitive Plant, which is rare in Vermont, frequents sandy soils, often the edges of roads.

John

7-10 Ragged Fringed Orchid

 7-10

Ragged Fringed Orchid is a flower of wet fields and meadows.

John

7-9 Banded Netwing Beetles

 7-9

Several Banded Netwing Beetles congregated on a Hemlock seedling.

John

7-8 Marsh Skullcap

 7-8

Marsh Skullcap is a plant of marshes and shores.

Carpetweed is common in gardens and waste places.

John

7-7 Wintergreen

 7-7

Wintergreen, AKA checkerberry, is in flower. As the name hints its dark green shiny leaves persist all winter.

Striped, AKA Spotted, Wintergreen also retains its leaves.

And Catnip, a member of the mint family, is starting to flower.

Wintergreens are woodland species. Catnip, which is not native, crops up in waste places.

John

7-6 White Wood Asters

 7-6

White Wood Asters are opening. Look for them in dry woods and clearings.

The tiny white, or blue, flowers of Marsh Bellflower can be seen in wet meadows and on shores.

And damp places are home to Spotted St. Johnswort, so called because of the minute dots on its leaves.

John