Philadelphia Fleabane

Black-eyed Susan

A common wildflower that can be found through out much of North America is the black-eyed Susan. The black-eyed Susan is a relative of the sunflower and is a common and hardy flower. It is often found the first year that a new prairie is planted. One reason that it is so hardy is that the leaves have long, stout hairs that help to keep dust from clogging up the stomata, the pours through which the plants breathes.

Black-eyed Susan bloom all summer and even continue to bloom into the fall, June-October. I took these pics in Crex Meadows on July 11th, 2009.

Today's Flowers: Water Lily

This weekend we are finally starting to see a little bit of spring weather here in Minnesota. Yesterday the temp got above 50 degrees and it is supposed to be even higher today. Tomorrow we are even flirting with 60 degrees. This may not seem very warm to people in warmer climates but considering that just a few days ago, last Wednesday, our high temp was only in the single digits.

Most of the lakes and ponds are still big blocks of ice so we still have a long way to go before we will be able to see wild waterlilies, like this one that I photographed last July at the Maplewood Nature Center, but once spring starts the time will fly.

Today's Flowers

For Today's Flowers for this week, as well as last week, we were asked to post some pictures to do with Christmas. I looked around my collection and I just could not find any thing that fit. I rarely take pictures of anything that is not a part of nature and unfortunately there is not a lot of nature involved in Christmas, I looked for a reindeer but I could not find one.
So I decided to post flowers instead. It's funny but when I started posting on Today's lowers I did not really think that I had many flower pics to choose from but as I went back and looked I found that I had taken more flower pics then I realized.

I still do not have any idea what these are, if the past few weeks are any indication I am sure that I will get plenty of ID assistance, but I took these pics at Dodge Nature Center back on June 9th, 2008.

Today's Flowers

OK, so I do not know much about types of flowers but I am hoping that participating in Today's Flowers will help me to learn. So my plan is to post flower pics that I took and instead of identifying the flower and digging up a lot of info, like I do with birds and bugs, I am hoping that people from the meme might respond in the comment section and tell me what type of flower and maybe even a little bit about it. That way I and anyone else reading my blog might get a little more knowledgeable about flowers and plant life.
I took this picture back in August at the Carpenter Nature Center. I took the picture because of the Monarch but the flower really helps to make this a special pic. It is so colorful and beautiful.