• Monday-What'sUP August 22 - 08:58 pm

So many times we hurry on our way and don't even notice the beauty that we're passing by. Not so for Liz Siivola, who had her camera along with her on a recent bike ride in the Calumet area. She first spotted some brilliantly white Water Lilies in a local pond. After that, she said she began searching the trails for some more to photograph, finding Musk Mallow, Tiger Lilies (which seem to be blooming everywhere) and Queen Anne's Lace. Liz said that one reminded her of when she was a child, living on the farm, as they would pick them, put the stems in food coloring and watch the flower change color. I remember doing that with daisies, too. Thanks for reminding us of another "nature" project that we can do with our children or grandchildren, Liz!

Such beautiful flowers!! I'm sad to see the end of my flowers coming. Hard to believe it's the end of August already. Soon the mums will be blooming like crazy!!

I love just wandering through the woods looking for shots like these..nice

Forgot to say that I never heard of putting food coloring in the water to change the color of the flowers. Will have to try that one!! Thanks for the tip!

Beautiful flower pictures! Liz, I remember putting flowers (and celery, too) in food coloring as a young child, too. It's a good example of capillary action as the stems absorb the colored water. :-)

Those are actually daylilies, also called ditch lilies and tawny daylilies. Tiger lilies have slender petals and point downwards. I will concede that 'tiger lily' may be a regional name. Beautiful photos!

The Queen Anne's Lace works really well with the food coloring..and if you want to dry them to use them later, lay them "head down" on something flat...and they will dry nicely. I found some wildflowers I tried dying several different colors earlier this summer...only the blue dye worked...interesting stuff!

Great photos!

I've always said that Queen Anne's Lace blooms twice. Once in the summer, and again in the winter when the dried flower heads capture a crown of snow.

The proper name for the "tiger lily" pictured is the Tawny Daylily, which were early imports from England to 17th-century American gardens but escaped into the wild, hence the reason why they seem to be all over the place.

We had several of these plants in our backyard at Red Jacket that we tranferred to our flowerbeds (along with some iris) along the side of the house. When we visited last month, I could see where they are still growing happily.

I'm with Bob on this one; it's amazing to wander through the forests of the north with a camera in hand to see what you might find.......

Mary, I also was reminded of that 'nature project' by your noting it above. When I was in high school, we'd go on 'wild flower gathering field trips' in science class and some of the kids would put the stems of some flowers (daisies for one) into their ink bottles and watch them change color. We had ink bottles because we were required to use 'fountain pins' to perfect our writing skills. ;>

a-hem......fountain "pens"

Thank You for the beautiful flowers!

Don't know how extensive they are, but around here there is a lot of roadside chickory. Another nuisance plant that has rather a pretty flower. You see quite a few Marsh Mallows in Door Co. along the low areas in spring at roadside also. I'm enjoying todays photos. This is beauty anywhere if one really looks.

I like the smell of the white lily in the picture not just for the beauty but because of the fragrance that is so beautiful. The yellow ones are not so good.The flowers look great but the smell adds to their beauty.

Stew

Water lilies smell is one of nature's best. Funny how Mother nature puts the stinky yellow flower next to it in the lakes.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

I'm "young" enough to remember the fountain pen too. I always got the ink on my hands. They're beautiful flowers featured today.I always liked the Queen Anne's lace.

I used a fountain pen, at least in elementary and junior high schools, too, but we didn't have ink bottles at school, just at home.

Thank you for the flower pictures. I always love to see flowers! :-)

We used pen points (nibs) which we inserted into a slot at the base of tapered holders about 6 inches long. Each desk had a hole at the upper right in which was a glass inkwell. No fountain pens. Date: Early 1930's. Pen nibs are rare. Antique shops may charge as much as 50 cents for one.

I have a garden full of day lilies and iris also ... so pretty. Our "fountain pens" were "cartridge pens" ... the ink was contained in a plastic replaceable cartridge. If you had a bottle of ink at home, you could refill the cartridge, but it was a messy process. The pens were a privilege for those with good cursive in fourth grade. :)

The purple flowers in the photo of the Queen Anne's Lace are
knapweed, a very invasive plant. The local conservation
district has work sessions each year to pull and destroy this
plant.