Sweet Yellow Clover

Sweet Yellow Clover
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

I don't believe this has been spotted at the farm, but this photo is from these parts, so it may be found on the farm eventually. A graceful spiky field flower which blooms around May and doesn't look much like its lowly white and red clover cousins.

Black Locust Tree Bloom

Black Locust Tree Bloom
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

Roger and I were looking at this tree's flowers trying to figure out what sort of tree it was. If we had followed the branch back to the tree, we would have seen the thorns on the trunk to suggest a locust tree. I believe this is a black locust, which I did not know bloomed such wonderful flowers.

Many of these trees surround the field at the farm. The flowers bloom in May.

Blackberry Bloom

Blackberry Bloom
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

The blackberry flowers out in May and that means that the fruit can't be too far away...

The farm is swimming in blackberry bushes (and their thorns).

What's the railroad to me?
I never go to see
Where it ends.
It fills a few hollows,
And makes banks for the swallows,
It sets the sand a-blowing,
And the blackberries a-growing...

~Henry David Thoreau

Dwarf Orange Dandelion (Two-flowered Cynthia)

Dwarf Orange Dandelion (Two-flowered Cynthia)
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

I had trouble finding one of these with the petals open, I guess they open in the morning. But I could tell it was a bright orange splash of color in the field even from the folded flowers.

If I'm not mistaken, this is the Dwarf Orange Dandelion, also called the Two-flowered Cynthia. Blooms in May.

Lyre-leaved Sage

Lyre-leaved Sage
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

After doing a bit of research, I'm prepared to call this one a Lyre-leaved Sage. Blooming profusely in the field in mid-May.

Daisy

Daisy
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

I'm pretty sure this is a daisy, I just don't know what type. Ox-eye? Western? Other?

Anyone know?

Blooming beautifully in the farm field in mid-May.

Redbud

Red Bud
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

There's at least one redbud tree down in the creek near the bridge, but there's probably others. The redbud (which tends more towards the purplish-pink, if you ask me) is interesting in the way its flowers bloom right off the trunk (as seen in this photo) as well as on the branches.

Honey Locust Tree

Honey Locust Thorns
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

Be careful if you go to climb a honey locust tree. These thorns are hard as nails and as sharp. (I'm told they used to be actually used as nails once upon a time!)

Trillium

Trillium Soon
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

The Trillium is one of the early blooming wildflowers in this area. As the name suggests, the flower often has three petals (different colors, depending on the species) and three leaves, as seen in this picture.

Usually, in these parts, I believe you'd expect to see mostly white or maroon flowers. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Clover

Clover
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

Sweet, sweet clover.

Ubiqitous, usually three-leafed (but keep an eye out for that special four-leaf clover!) and easily found, clover comes in many varieties, but the type pictured is perhaps the most common one found on the farm (although there's also red clover, with a slightly larger flower that is purplish-red in color).

Wendell Berry has this to say about clover...

In the dark of the moon, in flying
snow, in the dead of winter,
war spreading, families dying, the
world in danger,

I walk the rocky hillside, sowing
clover.

Yarrow

Yarrow
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

This plant is frequently found in grasslands and open forests and has been seen blooming in the farm field beginning in late April. It has beautiful, fern-like leaves and a broad cluster of white flowers.