Roadside Flower Show

Wind, water, humans and animals all contribute to the roadside flower show.  Remember when the temptation was too great when you came upon a dandelion ready to send its parachute seeds into the wind.  You had to take a deep breath and have a hearty blow, sending the seeds to new places.  Although roadside flowers are not precisely placed as you would in a garden, they become a random pattern flowering in fields, roadsides, vacant lots and even cracks in the sidewalk. Where ever they grow they have a beauty all their own.

Yellow milkwort suggests an orange clover head.  It grows in the Pine barren's wet sandy soil, and is quite colorful.

American Indians made a poultice from the roots for wounds, sores, and burns.  They used the fuzz from the female flowerhead to stop chafing in babies.  We often see the cattail in floral displays.

Queen Anne's lace has a dainty flat topped cluster of tiny white flowers.  They grow to be 12-18 inches and roadsides are plentiful with this delicate flowers.

The day-lily with its bright orange flower can easily be transplanted in your garden.  I wish they lasted all summer season for they add foliage and flower to the land- scape.

Prickly-Pear Cactus is the only widespread eastern cactus, having a flower often with a reddish center.  The tuffs of bristles will never let you forget the prickly-pear if touched by fingers or toes.

A little touch of blue from the sky must have given these flowers their color.  I was tempted to pick some, but I refrained because to disturb them would not have been the best thing to do.

This was a sight to behold.  The field was an array of golden yellow.  It was certainly a picture perfect sight.  The Black-eyed Susan is a native American wild flower, although sometimes it is called yellow daisy and it happens to be the state flower of Maryland.

The American Indians made a medicinal tea from the roots of the daisy to treat worms and colds, and as a wash for sores and snakebites.  Juice from the root was used to treat earache.  Let's forget about the snakebites, but perhaps there is something to be said for these early American remedies. 

These Indian Pipes made a short visit to my garden.  They like shady areas, and the flower is white or pink but turns blackish later.  They don't grow very tall and the few in my garden were about 6-7 inches tall.  I have been searching for more, but have yet to find any.

These star like flowers were clustered together like little stars.  Most of the flowers had five petals except the lonely little one in the foreground.  Wonderful, we have seen some orange, yellow, white, blue and brown roadside flowers.  My next venture will be to find the pinks, reds and purples.