Turkey Tracks: June 11, 2020
Maine’s Parade of Summer Wildflowers Begins
It was a beautiful sunny day Tuesday. While running errands I just had to stop to take some pictures of the more flamboyant wildflowers I was passing. There are, also, smaller plants that can cover a field with yellow blossoms and quieter plants that prefer a smaller footprint. And then there are the grasses, waving in the wind in unison to create a living canvas of movement.
Dame’s Rocket has always intrigued me. I’ve gotten seeds and tried to get it to grow in the ditches next to my property, but so far it has not liked that spot.
The flower form is delicate and comes in a range of pinks. It feels a bit like a phlox form.
The lupine is in full bloom now—and displays so many different colors and variegated forms. Lupine is everywhere in the ditches alongside the roads. I in no way captured all the variety of colors and variegated versions of different plants. The colors here vary from purples to pinks to pure white and to versions that have purple and white, and so forth.
The meadows now have growth that is long enough to mow. It will be a good year for mowing as for the most part, it has been cool and dry.
Louisa Enright's Blog 
Sad to see the defoliated? or not yet blooming? tree near all the lushness around it. I just read that Dame’s Rocket is an invasive plant in Maine! Who knew? I did think it was phlox at first, but learned the difference.
It is still, however, very colorful. I learn something through your blog all the time! Thanks.
Lupine comes from “away” too. It is not native. That’s kind of a lost descriptor with everyone traveling so much now I think. Didn’t know about Dame’s Rocket being invasive, but I don’t see it here (mid-coast, Camden) except along the roadsides. The one that does cause trouble as it takes over wetlands and displaces plants like cat tails is purple loosestrife. It’s pretty too, though. Then there is that Japanese knot something or other that is…terrible to get rid of. And the tall Valerian that blooms white and is fragrant. I fight that one in my garden all the time.