Bright White Water Lily

Spiny And Beautiful

Two Ready – The Rest Green

Pink Water Lily In Contrast To It’s Green Pads

Striking Water Lily Glistening Above The Pond

Vibrant Iris Glowing In The Sun

Majestic Purple Reign

Stunning Bush Bloom In Spring Sun

We have enjoyed a warm spring with beautiful sunny days. Plants are blooming early and pushing amazing blooms out. This bush produced stunning blooms.  Enjoy!

Delicate, Beautiful, Spring Wildflower

While enjoying a beautiful spring walk, I came across this delicate wildflower.

Seeds Expended All Dried Up In The Winter Air

The former bloom became a seed head and expended all of its seed to the atmosphere around it. Over winter it has dried. Its structure is a thing of beauty and wonder.

The Cocklebur Is Nature’s Velcro

The Cocklebur’s are dry and ready to attach to anything that brushes up against them. This seed pod disintegrates as you try and detach from it – assuring a great seed spread.

Seeds About To Go Airborne

Hundreds of seeds about to go airborne.

Bright Bold Yellow Daisy Blooms On In The Fall Weather

This is a bold Yellow Daisy that survived the first frosts in IL. It’s bright yellow pigment stood out from the brown and dried up foliage it grew in.

Spray Of Milkweed Seeds About To Launch

I happen to catch a large area of milkweed plants whose seed pods were dried enough to launch their contents. The large silky spray of seeds were just ready to leave this pod. The photo was taken on a windy fall day – it was quite challenging to stop action on this subject while it was within lens center!

Millions Of Seeds Poised To Launch

These wind dispersed seeds are many in number but the quantity that actually germinate and become adult plants will be few. In God’s design for this, the plant knows to make many seeds so that it’s species will continue to have offspring.

Good Day Heavenly Blue Morning Glory – A Beautiful Bloom

A “Heavenly Blue Morning Glory” along my path had a single bloom shaded from the sun. It was about 4.5 inches across. It’s rich blue color rivals the sky’s richest blue.

Close Up Of A 13 Year Cicada [Great Southern Brood] Resting

This is an example of an Illinois 13-year Cicada. They are only above ground every 13 years. They spend most of their life cycle under ground as a larvae and then rise to the surface to mate and die. This brood is noisy but not as large a release as the Northern Illinois Brood releasing again in 2024.

Virginia Ctenucha Moth On A Milkweed Bloom

A Virginia Ctenucha Moth was discovered on a Milkweed bloom. Many thanks to the “Bug Man” for identifying this critter. If you have interest in learning more about this winged fellow – you can read about him here.

Busy Bee With A Pollen Coating

This bee was very busy collecting nectar and pollen from a cone flower. The bee’s body is covered in pollen from other blooms it has visited. The shot was taken using a 300mm lens – I didn’t want to disturb it nor suffer the consequences :).

Bees carry an electrostatic charge and attract the pollen to their body. At some point, the bee will stop and pack the pollen into their scopa – an area behind the rear legs with hairs that can hold the pollen. It collects the pollen to feed larva at their nest. In the process, they cross pollinate other flowers dependent on getting pollen from bees to fertilize their reproductive parts. God’s creation is so remarkable.

Bold and Beautiful Hydrangea Bloom in Purple Tones

This bold and beautiful Hydrangea bloom stood out from its surrounding green foliage. It has purple tones come from being in alkaline soil. Their beauty is weighed with the fact that they contain cyanogenic glycosides or more commonly referred to as the poison cyanide and would be harmful to anyone or animal who consumed any part of the plant or flower.