Category Archives: cape cod wildflowers

Documenting a September walk in my Cape Cod nature journal

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It’s hard to believe it’s already two thirds of the way through September but here we are. The air is cooler, the birds are gathering to migrate, and the flowers are giving up their blooms.

We went for a walk around Hathaway’s Pond this morning to see what we could see. I took along my lightweight travel bag, a big old plastic bag I’ve used for years, and a pair of garden shears. My goal was to clip some plants and leaves along the way to bring back to my studio to draw and paint, having just completed five days of John Muir Laws‘s Wild Wonder Nature Journal Conference. Although I’ve kept a nature journal for many years, I admit I’d been slacking so this was the incentive I needed to get back to it.

The water level at the pond was exceptionally low and I found many wildflowers around the edge. Most are common, some are even invasive, but I clipped them anyway, to look up, draw and paint. I’m far from a botanist so I’m always learning new plants. I looked everything up but I may be wrong so feel free to correct me.

Here’s what I brought back after an hour or so of wandering

I put everything that needed water in a jar of water and the other things back in the bag until I was ready to work with them. I drew in ink and then added watercolor.

Pondside plants, Mary Richmond’s nature journal, Cape Cod
Woodland plants, Mary Richmond’s nature journal, Cape Cod
Random finds on the woodland floor, Mary Richmond’s nature journal, Cape Cod

I spent most of the day on this project–collecting, sorting, looking things up, sketching, painting. I often don’t have that sort of time but when I do it always enriches me. It’s good to slow down, take note, appreciate the small things we see around us but tend to take for granted.

Early Summer Field Flowers

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Our calendars say summer is still a few days away but according to the meteorologists the meteorological summer began on June 1 and it sure has been feeling and looking like summer here on Cape Cod already.

I’ve been out in fields and meadows a lot lately so thought I’d share some of my field flower  photos.

Yarrow is always easy to spot. Some of it is yellow and some is pink but so far all I’ve seen is the white variety.

Indigo is just coming into bloom and is very common in our fields and along roadsides.

If you look at it closely you can see it is related to the peas.

You might also see sweet pea–but it is not a wildflower, just an escapee…

Several kinds of clover are in bloom, including the common white clover we have in our yards

And there is also the pretty pink or red clover as well as the fuzzy rabbit foot clover…

And of course everyone’s favorite–including the Monarch butterfly’s–the milkweed…

I’ll post more over the week but these are all in bloom right now and easy to find.

Wildflowers everywhere!

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Everywhere I turn the wildflowers are blooming- way too many of them to name here but if you go outside pretty much anywhere on Cape Cod this week you will find many flowers in bloom. Lady’s slippers are blooming in pine woodlands, and yellow and blue flags, lupines, early vetches, red clovers and Jack-in-the-pulpits are blooming too.

Jack-in-the-pulpits are much more common than many people think. They like to be near soggy spots and are often intermixed with ferns and other lush pond side plants which helps them be overlooked. Watch for the triple leaf crown that stands like an umbrella above the actual flower.

Yellow and blue flag irises also like to have their feet in soggy places and are best looked for in freshwater wetlands like this one.

I don’t know which I enjoy more, the yellow or the blue–they are both gorgeous.

And one of my very favorites is the wild geranium. They are a delicate flower but tend to grow in big bunches that aren’t delicate at all. As far as I can tell wild geranium is one of those plants that is called locally common. It isn’t everywhere but where you do find it, you’ll usually find a lot of it.

Along with the flowers are arriving the butterflies so while we have this spot of sunny weather I hope you get a chance to get outside and enjoy the flowers, the birds and the butterflies.