• Friday-What'sUP July 23 - 07:09 am

One of the things I love about summer is all the color we get to enjoy, like these flower shots from Brenda Leigh. She risked getting stung, just to get us these beautiful close-ups of a bee feeding off the brightly colored flora. Looks like she was as busy as this bee, following it around to all the colorful flowers.
Brenda's last photo is the seeded out head, similar to that of a dandelion, but much bigger and tougher. It's actually hard to blow the fluff from this flower, called Goat's Beard or Yellow Salsify The seedhead stage of this plant is quite interesting and unique. I once picked a few, sprayed them with hairspray and kept them in a large urn on display. They were a neat conversation piece for sure.

Very nice with a 4th of July theme...red, white and blue including fireworks in the last photo.
Great job!

Alex,
Sharp eye for the theme. I especially like the starburst circles in the goat's beard - very nearly glowing! Lovely pictures.

Great pictures!! I love watching bumblebees!!

I don't think I would have caught that theme. Awesome!!

AWESOME job Brenda!!! Way to go!

There was a group of us that did the same thing Mary...we'd hairspray those seeded goat's beard flowers, spray paint them...glitter, etc...cool looking conversation piece indeed!

and way to pick up that theme Alex...I'd have missed it too.

My grandmother called them "Puffs" ... didn't know until today that they are really called Goat's Beard. Many years ago, she showed me how to put hair spray on them in a field before we cut them, and later we spray painted them ... they were beautiful! This was near Ishpeming, but I wouldn't know where to find them now. :-)

I once saw a goat's beard, and a rose, that had been hair sprayed. Then it was sprayed with a paint having a metalic flake. That flake enabled the whole thing to be electroplated, in this case gold. It was very fragile, but never needed polishing. Have seen this done to a very large locust, too. Seemed funny knowing the bug was still inside the "statue".

verrry nice!!

Where and when can you find Goatsbeard? All the pics are great! Thanks, Brenda.

I could tell you Helen, but that kind of information don't come sheep :)

Great pics!

The Flower by Lord Alfred Tennyson

Once in a golden hour
I cast to earth a seed.
Up there came a flower,
The people said, a weed.

To and fro they went
Thro' my garden bower,
And muttering discontent
Cursed me and my flower.

Then it grew so tall
It wore a crown of light,
But thieves from o'er the wall
Stole the seed by night.

Sow'd it far and wide
By every town and tower,
Till all the people cried,
"Splendid is the flower!"

Read my little fable:
He that runs may read.
Most can raise the flowers now,
For all have got the seed.

And some are pretty enough,
And some are poor indeed;
And now again the people
Call it but a weed.

Thanks for that, Hollidays, that's pretty! Speaking of preserving Goatsbeard, reminded me of some cattails I gathered and put in a large vase. They lasted a couple of years and then one day they 'exploded'.....what a mess!

Goat's beard are very common in meadows and open fields. They stand higher than most of the other grasses/plants.