Posted on August 14, 2022August 14, 202208/14/2022 Ruby Grant park morning Our first Salvia azurea of the season blooming! The first of many Helianthus annuus this morning. A lone Maximilian sunflower starting to bloom. The rest don’t even have buds. Snow on the mountain was magnificent today! We went on a new part of the trail today and encountered some highly concerning Art. “It has a lot of eyes Mom” The little mosaic seats are also suspect. “Why do you humans keep doing things to me” “Ok I guess it’s ok” We also came to terms with the big Art. Possibly Amorpha, false-indigo. Soapberry! Thanks Abby for the identification. Another H. Annuus. A beautiful Grindelia bud. More sunflower (H annuus) A differential grasshopper snacking on the sunflower. We found a magnificent patch of silver leaf nightshade! We had Briar pose among the silver leaf nightshades. Possibly a Physalis? Maybe non-blooming camphorweed? Possibly Asclepias verticillata (thanks Mom!) An aster starting to bloom! Unknown flower that hasn’t bloomed yet. Possibly Cardiospermum, balloon vine? From reading, it seems to be native but disliked for clogging farm equipment. The balloon vine flower. Ruby Grant park considerately has a dog level water fountain at the parking lot!
Posted on August 13, 2022August 14, 202208/13/2022 walking around A mystery yellow composite flower along the sidewalk. Update: Mom and Abby have identified as camphorweed, probably Heterotheca subaxillaris. Camphorweeds are native. Leaves and stem of the yellow flowered plant. This picture is from yesterday (08/12/2022) but there are lots of Grindelia getting ready to bloom near the railroad tracks. A few had opened up by today. I was also pleased to find 2-3 Scarlet Pea plants along the sidewalk near the Grindelia yesterday. They were still blooming today. Downstream from the OU duck pond there is a somewhat hidden bridge and there was a native hibiscus blooming near it. A few tiny annual coreopsis were in the field near the creek. Before it got mowed this spring there were a lot more and taller. It was too hot. We gave Briar and ourselves some ice cubes upon returning. She has taken to resting her chin on her ice cubes after getting a drink from her water bowl.