I wish that I could paint a beautiful picture or perhaps give an account of what I have seen in the most precise words possible so that I could convey the exquistely delicate beauty that I just saw on Arabia Mountain...
Pineweed was growing all over the mountain and when it blooms, there are tiny starlike yellow flowers at the very top, can you see them in the closeup? So pretty and you might think that this plant is stiff like a pinetree but it's not, it is soft and it blows gently in the warm August air...
Another flower that was in great abundance was one that we we enjoyed on our last visit and the bees and the butterflies were enjoying it too...the Milkwort or Polygala Curtissii. I like to call it Polygala when I remember it, but when I can't, I call them, the little purple clover -like flowers that the bees love!
A butterfly with wings like stained glass, can anyone identify it for me? Here you see pretty purple Milkwort (Polygala) with the bright green leaves of the Yellow Daisy, which should bloom by September. With all the rain we have had, the Yellow Daisy plants are great in number!
Now, I have told you about the Pineweed and the Polygala and the bright green of the Yellow Daisy plants, but the star of the show on the mountain for August, has to be....drum roll please.... the MEADOWBEAUTY! There, you might think that it could not be possible to have such a perfect name for a flower but I promise you, it's true that is its name and it is a beauty.
From a distance, the flowers look white but on closer inspection, they are a very pale pink or lavender and when they grow together with the purple milkwort, it makes for quite a pairing. The color! I just know Monet would have wanted to have painted it! (Notice the star- like green plants growing here too, they will be the Yellow Daisies, the future star for September and October!)
I loved the little seed-pods that were beginning to form on the Meadowberry...they were truly lovely, and I told Richard that they were just as pretty as the flower. Imagine the joy I felt when I saw that Henry David Thoreau HIMSELF had described these seed-pods as "perfect little cream pitchers of graceful form."!
Yes! I agree! Can you see the little cream pitchers in the photo below?
This last little flower is one that I saw last year but could not identify...it is a bell shaped flower and it is blue at the base and becomes lighter, almost white...can you see it? So tiny and delicate, you must look closely for it...it is a summer bluet also called Venus' Pride, not to be confused with the spring bluet, which is a single flower (NOT bell shaped) and is a deep bluish purple...
Leaving you with a photo showing you the milkwort (Polygala) with Panola Mountain on the horizon. Let's go there next time, shall we? Hope you are enjoying a beautiful August wherever you are in the world!
Summer bluet, Houstonia pururea
Meadowbeauty, Rhexia mariana
Milkwort, Polygala curtissi
Pineweed, Hypericum gentianodes
Also... Blazing star, evening primrose, St Andrew's Cross, coreopsis, Asiatic dayflower and plant with plastic like leaves that I can't identify!-- Just a few of these but I wanted to note them here.
(Plastic like leaves could be rabbit ears plant in the summer.)
I enjoy wildflowers.
ReplyDeleteMe too, I love them! :-)
Delete(I love your flower photo that you have beside your name!)
That must be an incredible sight. Your photos are great! Thank you for such an enjoyable post.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Denise! It is a spot that we love and cherish!
DeleteThanks for your comment!
I love wildflowers too, Kay. Since I can't get myself over to your mountain anytime soon, I thank you very much for bringing it to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kay, you are always welcome to climb "our" mountain with us!
DeleteKay- All those wildflowers are just gorgeous. We don't have as many around here. Beautiful! xo Diana
ReplyDeleteThanks, Diana! Once you see wildflowers growing, you seem them everywhere! It's funny, they are there all the time, but often, they can be very small and you can overlook them!
DeletePeople tell me we don't see many here either! ;-)
Of course, if you live on a lake, you have other kinds of beauty! xx
Your post just made my morning, Kay, which means it made my day :-)
ReplyDeleteSuch beauty, and Richard (I assume it was he who took the pictures?) managed to capture it so well!
But I know what you mean about wishing to convey the full beauty in words and pictures - it is never entirely possible, I think, unless one is actually THERE, but you are doing a very good job!
Oh good, Meike, I love it when you walk up the mountain with us!
DeleteRichard took almost all these photos, except for the 4th photo, the one before the butterfly one, I took that one!
The sun was very bright that day on Arabia so even with Richard taking the photos, it's hard to make you see how truly beautiful it all looked! Thanks for saying I am doing a very good job, you are too sweet! xx
Beautiful flowers. I've been loving the wild flowers this year and have been taking lots of photos too. There are so many around - I thinnk I must have been walking around with my eyes closed before! I'm pretty sure your butterfly is a fritillary which might help you narrow it down to a few possibles. x
ReplyDeleteOh yes, Julie, your wildflowers have been spectacular!
DeleteAnd you are so right, once you spot the wildflowers, it is as if you wonder where have they been hiding from you and they have been there the whole time!
Having said that, we have had more this year than last year due to our heavy rainfall!
Ah, a fritllary, I love the sound of that word...no matter what it is, I love it even if I never know the exact name!! xx
We have some wildflowers up here in the summer, but we are always quite dry and the climate is harsh. In the summer it can be about 100 during the day and about 50 at night, and (did I say dry) dry. So you have to look diligently for wildflowers among the among the brown (or golden) grasses.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, Dennis, our summer last year was one of the worst droughts we have ever known...this year, it is the most rainfall I think recorded in many years! It makes quite a difference to the AMOUNT of wildflowers that we have seen this year which is one of the reasons we were so amazed on Arabia Mountain!
Delete"Among The Golden Grasses"...you should be a poet!!
Beautiful, and that butterfly is exquisite.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tracey, I was so pleased that Richard got that shot...Georgia butterflies are FAST!
DeleteThat'a one thing missing from my life, the time and access to places with a variety of wildflowers. We have swamps, with lots of green, but not so many meadows with wildflowers. Yours are worth visiting, even if i can't come over there in person, so i appreciate the guided tour!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mimi!
DeleteIt's funny, all the flowers that you see are growing in very shallow, sandy soil that has collected on solid ROCK on Arabia Mountain. (As you know, not really a mountain but a monadnock!) That is one reason that people just can't believe me when I tell them how many wildflowers I see on Arabia Mountain! But my blog-readers know!! :-)
All the flowers are just beautiful. It is wonderful how nature just keeps on giving of it's beauty. You are blessed to have such a wonderful place to enjoy it all.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Richard and I just love it so much and we just hope that others who visit it will appreciate the harsh but fragile environment.
DeleteThanks Kay, for this trip to the North Georgia mountains. I love all the wildflowers. Isn't nature beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHey Sylvia!
DeleteIt does look like the mountains in North Georgia but Arabia Mountain is right here, in Dekalb County, just past the line from Rockdale County! You should come up & climb it and then, go to Stone Mountain, it's not too far away!
Glad you liked the wildflowers too.
Hi Kay ~ I followed a link from Audrey's blog and wanted to leave a note to say hello. I loved seeing your photos - I'm a big fan of wildflowers! We have our share of them in Arizona, but mostly in the springtime. Thanks for sharing, and I'm super impressed that you know the names of all of these beauties!
ReplyDeleteHello Deb,
DeleteThanks so much for your comment. You have a lovely blog and I am one of your followers!
I am happy that you love wildflowers too! And I had to laugh that you are super impressed by my knowledge of wildflowers, I took a long time researching those names, you just don't know! ;-)
I might not know things, but doggone it, I got this dang internet and I have found that I am pretty good at research!
Hi Kay! One day. One day, I tell you....we will climb Arabia together and talk about the flowers together and take pictures together and then blog about them together!!!! Ooooohhhh, it would be so much fun!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYes! Come on down, we could walk up Arabia Mountain and then, climb Stone Mountain! Our blogs would be full of photos of trees, flowers, butterflies, clouds and sunsets! Sounds good!
DeleteLike the butterfly photo and pretty flowers. Thanks for your lovely comment on my post.
ReplyDeleteHey Paul! I thank YOU for YOUR lovely comment!
DeleteSo glad you are so well and happy! :-)
Very well presented!
ReplyDeleteAnd your comment is very much appreciated!
DeleteI have always loved wildflowers since I was a very little girl and my grandfather took me into the woods riding on his wheelbarrow to see them. And I love seeing your wildflowers which are different from the ones I know here on the southern shores of Lake Erie...We do have (but I don't see them often) a bluet, Houstonia caerulea, which grows in little clusters with pale blue tiny flowers in the spring or early summer and is also called "Quaker Ladies", but I love the delicate look of the flowers you've photographed and the wonderful butterfly! What a treasure you have on Arabia Mountain.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love all sorts of seed pods and have a great little book about them - Pods: Wildflowers and Weeds in their Final Beauty by Jane Embertson.
I love the idea of the Quaker Ladies!! (I love common names but I also love the botanical names too!)
DeleteArabia Mountain IS a treasure and is something that I feel so protective towards. It is not MINE, I do not own it but if love of something can make it yours, then I have some measure of possession of it!
I LOVE the sound of that book, it must be a little treasure of your own!
Thank you so much for writing about these flowers. I have never heard of any of them, but I feel almost as if I was there with you on Arabia Mountain. Nature can create such wonderful things for us to see. I love your current header, by the way
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Jenny!
DeleteThe amazing thing about Arabia Mountain, it was quarried so heavily and the area was abused for so long (it was a dumping ground for many years) that it is just incredible how nature has reclaimed itself there.
And my current header was at my Dad's house, his crepe myrtles were so colorful, they were breathtaking! Hope you are having a good summer! :-)
Lovely scenes!
ReplyDeleteThanks, we love it!
DeleteBeeeeutiful! Looks like a wonderful hike and a quite enjoyable day. Thank you for visiting and leaving such kind words...and yes, I've always been immature!
ReplyDelete**blows kisses**
Deb
Thanks, Deborah! You are sweet to visit me and leave this comment, hope you and your handsome husband have a wonderful weekend! **KIsses right back at you**
Delete