Saturday, June 12, 2010

40/365 Field of wildflowers

I took a little road trip with Mom to get this photo. She passed this place one day and immediately called me to let me know I had to photograph it.

The people at this house have planted yards and yards and yards of gorgeous wildflowers in the ditch in front of their house. It's an incredible sight, because this field of flowers stretches for at least 50 yards.

The flowers themselves are delicate, with just four tissue-paper petals overlapping in two layers. I'd love to know what they are.

And another bonus for them? No mowing the ditch!

Beautiful flowers + no mowing = win-win situation.



Camera: Canon 40D, 1/160s, f/5.6 at ISO 100 at about 5:00 p.m.

2 comments:

  1. Gorgeous. Down with mowing! My gut reaction is poppies, of which there are a handful of species, and ornamental varieties therein, running loose in Indiana. We stocked the classic orange and black oriental poppy at Bennet's as ornamental seedlings, but these look different in many ways.

    From the foliage, flower form, color, etc., and your description, I would bet on Papaver rhoeas, with some ornamental variety of Papaver orientale as my runner-up.

    Papaver rhoeas is called common, field, corn or flander's poppy, and I've seen an ornamental variety called 'Shirley' sold as seed packets. Look familiar ( http://www.theseedden.com/Gallery/papaver_shirley-poppymix.jpg )?

    A patch or two of wildflowers in your yard would be great for many reasons! Bugs interested in your new veggies would have a distraction, and the wildflowers will attract birds and other insects that would keep your veggie pests in check. You'd also have more songbirds around and fresh cut flowers every once in awhile. Not to mention being a magnet for photos!

    Great find.

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  2. I guessed you might be able to figure this out, Mike! Way to go. They DID remind me of poppies, in the thinness of the petals and the general shape of the bloom. Gorgeous.

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