6-15 Venus's Looking Glass, Common St. John's-wort, Milkweed Beetle

6-15 Venus's Looking Glass - so called because of the shape of its seeds - may have either blue or violet flowers.

Common St. John's-wort - one of a dozen St. John's-wort in my field guide - has started its flowering.

A red Milkweed Beetle on an unblemished milkweed leaf made a nice color contrast. John

6-14 Common Mullein, Motherwort, Great Chickweed, Yellow Sweet Clover

6-14 Common Mullein is described as coarse, woolly and very common.

Motherwort, a tall member of the mint family, has clusters of fuzzy lilac flowers in its upper leaf axils.

Great Chickweed, AKA Star Chickweed, a plant of woods and rocky slopes, has 5 deeply cleft petals.

Yellow Sweet Clover's long tapering racemes of bright yellow flowers nod along roadsides and in waste places. John

6-13 Hairy Vetch, Galinsoga, White Sweet Clover, Mallard hen and ducklings

6-13 The bi-colored flowers of Hairy Vetch drape through grasses and weeds.

Galinsoga, AKA Quick-weed - sometimes called Gallant Soldier, is both a roadside weed and a garden pest.

White Sweet Clover is an alien invader of roadsides and waste places.

A Mallard hen with half a dozen well-developed ducklings was busily and watchfully dabbling in shallow water. John

6-12 Rabbit-foot Clover, Chicory,Horse Nettle, Red Campion, Dogbane Leaf Beetle

6-12 The grayish-pink furry flower heads of Rabbit-foot Clover will soon carpet dry fields and roadsides.

Roadsides, fields and waste places host Chicory. While generally blue, its flowers may also be white.

Sandy fields and waste places are home to Horse Nettle, a prickly plant with either white or violet flowers.

Red Campion gives a bit of color to a roadside ditch.

Beautifully irridescent Dogbane Leaf Beetles make no attempt at concealment and are quite photogenic. John

6-11 Brachiacantha ursine, Beardtongue, Sheep Laurel, Common Elder, Moneywort

6-11 Brachiacantha ursine, a tiny member of the lady bug clan, posed nicely on a milkweed.

White Beardtongue shows up occasionally in fields and the border of woods.

Sheep Laurel, AKA Lambkill, is a low shrub of pastures, woods and swamps. Its foliage is poisonous to livestock.

Common Elder's broad clusters of small white flowers will ripen into purplish-black berries often utilized for jellies and wine.

Moneywort is one of seven yellow loosestrifes listed in my field guide. It's a creeping plant found in damp places. John

6-10 Partridgeberry, Common Wood Sorrel, Hedge Bindweed, Chalk-fronted Corporal dragonfly

6-10 Delicate white or pink flowers and small white veined evergreen leaves make Partridgeberry easy to identify.

The pink veined white flowers of Common Wood Sorrel can be found in cool woods.

Hedge Bindweed - a Mourning Glory relative - is draping through thickets and weed patches.

A dragonfly known as the Chalk-fronted Corporal basked on a sun warmed rock this morning. John

6-9 Common Milkweed, Common Flax, Great Spangled Fritillary

6-9 The fragrant pinkish flowers of Common Milkweed will soon attract Monarch butterflies.

Common Flax - once grown commercially - can now been seen occasionally in waste places.

Great Spangled Fritillaries are airborne. Larval hosts for this species are violets. John

6-8 Purple-flowering Raspberry, Pale Corydalis, Black-eyed Susan, Cow-wheat, Phoebe nestlings

6-8 Purple-flowering Raspberry adds color to rocky woods and borders.

Inhospitable places - often nearly soil-less ledges - are home to Pale Corydalis.

Black-eyed Susans are taking their place in the landscape and will soon be nearly ubiquitous.

Cow-wheat - described as facultatively hemi-parasitic - is common in dry woods.

The nestling Phoebes under my barn will soon fledge and a second brood will take their place. John

6-7 Indian Hemp, Lance-leaved Coreopsis, Tall Meadow Rue

6-7 Indian Hemp - a relative of dogbane and milkweeds - is flowering in thickets and along shores.

Lance-leaved Coreopsis, AKA Tickseed, has escaped from cultivation to fields and roadsides.

Tall Meadow Rue has lifted constellations of white above sunny swamps and low meadows. John

6-6 Crown Vetch, Clammy Ground Cherry

6-6 Crown Vetch, AKA Axseed, with its pink or white clover-like flowers is planted as ground cover on steep road verges from which it usually escapes.

The dangling dark-centered flowers of Clammy Ground Cherry will eventually ripen into lantern-like pods. John

6-5 Gray Dogwood, Meadowsweet, Rough Cinquefoil

6-5 Gray Dogwood, one of 9 dogwoods listed in my field guide, dots roadsides and thickets.

Meadowsweet, a spirea, is a shrub of either moist or rocky soil.

Rough Cinquefoil, AKA Sulphur Cinquefoil, colors dry fields and roadsides. This is one of a dozen cinquefoils found in the northeast. John

6-4 Indian Cucumber Root, Thimbleweed, Alfalfa, Harebells

6-4 The dangling spider-like flowers of Indian cucumber Root hang beneath the plant's upper whorl of leaves.

Thimblewee, AKA Fall Anemone, favors rocky woods and banks.

Alfalfa, AKA Lucerne, is a common fodder species that has escaped to roadsides and waste places.

Harebells, AKA Bluebells, are coloring rocky banks, shores and meadows. John

6-3 Spatterdock, Chokeberry, Lance-leaved Violet

6-3 Spatterdock, AKA Yellow Pond Lily, holds its globular blossoms well above the water.

Chokeberry can be seen in low woods and swamps.

Lance-leaved Violets are one of 38 violet species listed in a field guide to Wildflowers of the Northeast. This is a rare inhabitant of wet meadows and shores. John

6-2 White Admiral butterfly, male White Pine cones

6-2 White Admiral butterflies are now airborne.

The male cones of White Pine are releasing clouds of yellowish pollen. John

6-1 Mountain Laurel, Spreading Dogbane

6-1 In rocky woods Mt. Laurel is hinting at the show to come.

The nodding pink flowers of Spreading Dogbane are a common sight in dry fields and thickets. John