I headed out for a bike ride transiting through the Sawmill Ponds when I noticed a large Queen Anne's Lace having finished blooming. Queen Anne's Lace started blooming a few weeks ago and are now all over the place.
Not sure why this one caught my eye other than it was bigger than the others
I started looking at the fully opened blooms next to this finished one. There is frequently a tiny red/purple dot in the middle of the white bloom. The story is that this is a speck of blood left when Queen Anne pricked her finger working on her lace.
A "normal" looking red/purple dot in a fully open flower and a just-opening bloom
Then I noticed a few that looked different. One with many dots and another with a few dots well above the surface of the white blossoms. I don't know much about this plant, but I assume these were just abnormalities
Another plant I never pay much attention to is Dock. I never notice it until in late June it looks like a dead bunch of stalks that stand out against the green landscape. But close by the Queen Anne's Lace was a small stalk of dock just starting to turn brown. The flowers/leaves on it are very dense and different. I"ll have to remember to look for a fresher plant next year.
The mix of Queen Anne's Lace and Black-eyed susans along the pathway
The cottontail rabbits must have been busy in the spring, I counted at least nine mid-sized offspring foraging.
I wasn't getting very far on the bike ride... Next up was a tree swallow sticking its head out of a nesting box. They must be working on a second clutch.
It is not unusual to see an egret in the ponds, but this morning there were four, with nice reflections, in one spot
Some of the field thistle foliage had turned white with no thistles on it. Wild parsnip was in full bloom
As was the sow thistle, some of which had gone to seed
