Month: June 2023

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Scarlet Beebalm

Clarksburg, West Virginia, USA, 29 June 2023

Scarlet Beebalm (Monarda didyma), 29 June 2023

The beebalm has begun to bloom, so there should soon be happy wild bees and wasps and butterflies, and maybe some hummingbirds, cruising the back yard.

Scarlet Beebalm (Monarda didyma), 29 June 2023

These are among my favorite summer flowers, probably because they’re so bright and cheery, and require zero attention (as long as the deer and rabbits leave them alone). I love the way the scarlet color seems to bleed like spilled paint out of the bloom onto the bracts on the stem below.

Scarlet Beebalm (Monarda didyma), 22 June 2023

There’s more information about Monarda didyma from the U.S. Forest Service (here and here) and from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (here).

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Carolina Horsenettle

Clarksburg, West Virginia, USA, 21 June 2023

Carolina Horsenettle (Solanum carolinense)

I don’t remember when I first noticed this in our yard. I didn’t plant it, it just appeared on its own. I think most people think of it as a “weed” (which I take to mean “a plant that is growing where I don’t want it to grow”), but I find it amusing in small amounts because I like the flowers. We’ll see how I feel about it if this little patch grows large.

Horsenettle is not a nettle and has nothing to do with horses. It’s a member of the nightshade family, like potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and the dreaded “deadly nightshade” (Atropa belladonna). It produces a tiny dark berry, which you should avoid eating; and its stems are covered with tiny, sharp spines, which you should avoid touching. In the picture above, the long, flat leaves rising behind the flowers are garden Dutch irises (Iris x hollandica).

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Found Along the West Fork

Clarksburg, West Virginia, USA, 1 June 2023

While floating on the West Fork River on a Thursday evening …

Northern Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa), Clarksburg, West Virginia, USA, 1 June 2023

The tree was lovely from a distance, so I decided to get a closer look.

Northern Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa), Clarksburg, West Virginia, USA, 1 June 2023