I think that Jasper is the first place that I saw wild onions blooming. Having these blooming in our yard is due, at least in part, to fond memories of time spent there.

There’s a small area in the forest where these grow. They’re pretty great – really big and tall. There is nowhere in the yard where they would make sense, so I really enjoy them in the forest.

I can’t tell whether this is Smooth Oxeye or Rough Oxeye, and frankly some of the information I’ve seen seems to consider them the same.

The name emphasizes the flower, but the thing I find interesting is the berry. The first time I saw this, I thought the berries were flower buds and watched the plant for days waiting for them to open.

I glanced out the window and found these two checking out the cherry tree. The one in the background suddenly found the grass much more exciting.

I’d like the Gaillardia to make more of a blanket, but it struggles a little under the cherry tree and its efforts to spread seem to be opposed by the rabbits who snip off the blossoms.

Lots of this purple vetch growing around the lakes. The bees sure seem to like it.

I’ve seen these in the forest in previous years. They inspired me to get some Shooting Star plants for the yard. Upon closer inspection, the ones in the forest seem to be Bittersweet Nightshade – an invader from Europe and Asia.

The prickly pear is going to put on quite a presentation this year. There are probably over a hundred buds getting ready to bloom. The flowers only last a day, so it has to make it up in volume I guess.

It is interesting how some years a particular type of flower seems to be everywhere in the forest and then the next year it is something different. Last year there were lots of shooting star along the path, but this is the only one I’ve seen this year.