Wildflower Hunting in the Hayfield

“What a lonely place it would be to have a world without a wildflower!” ―Roland R Kemler

If you have been hanging around here long or follow me on my Facebook page, you already know that I like spotting wildflowers on my walks here on the farm with my dog, Frankie. While I like to stop and get closer looks at the flowers, maybe take a picture, Frankie never wants to stop and let me get those pictures or study the flower and its leaves. My old dog, Oscar, the one I lost last October, always just sat down and waited with great patience when I stopped to take a picture of something. Frankie simply says let’s go. What’s taking you so long?

But I do manage to snap a picture now and again to share with my Facebook friends and those of you who read my blogs.

“Wildflowers are the stuff of my heart!” ~Lady Bird Johnson

It’s not a bad thing to be known for beautifying a state or a country and that’s what Lady Bird did in Texas and then others copied here in their states. Sometimes when you’re driving along an interstate, all at once you spot a patch of beautiful flowers. Whether it’s true or not that Lady Bird had any part of those flowers, I always think of her.

But the flowers I spot on my walks in the hayfields aren’t planted by anyone except Mother Nature. The seeds blow in from who knows where. Those seeds somehow get into the dirt and soon flowers are popping up amid the hay grasses. That’s where I found the orange milkweed with the Monarch caterpillars on the stem. It’s been a good year for Monarch butterflies.

These black-eyed Susan flowers on the left are a little different than the larger black-eyed Susans on the right. The flowers on the left have bunches of blooms on a bush like plant while the others were individual plants with larger blooms. Some of those blooms are still popping up in the hay fields although a lot of them ended up in the first cutting of hay. Those hay bales have some flower additives that maybe the cows will enjoy this winter.

Then we have the surprise flowers – those I’ve never noticed growing around the fields in previous years – and the mystery flowers – those I’ve seen but still can’t identify.

So, maybe it’s like this quote from Anthony T. Hincks. “Wildflowers aren’t meant to be cut & tamed. They’re meant to be loved & admired.” 

Wildflowers are meant to be enjoyed. Of course sometimes a landowner merely thinks they are weeds. We have plenty of those kind of plants that are too prevalent and thus very unwanted in the pasture fields. Take ironweed. My husband would say please, take it all. If you didn’t think about it being a nuisance plant the bloom would be lovely. A former worker in our post office used to keep a bouquet of flowers on the counter. Made going to get stamps fun. One day she had a bouquet of ironweeds and I was amazed at how beautiful they were. I had never considered cutting a bouquet of ironweeds. She gave me a new perspective on this common weed.

Isn’t that what we all need sometimes? A different perspective on a familiar thing or problem? So let’s mix a little beauty, some tough weed roots, some mystery and surprise and come out with some wildflowers. Doesn’t sound like a bad recipe for a story idea too.

What wildflowers that grow commonly around your area do you like in spite of the weed label?

Note: Check out my post on Stitches Thru Time and leave a comment there to be in a drawing to win a copy of my book, River to Redemption.