• Friday-What'sUP July 15 - 08:54 am

Shame on me for not knowing the name of these flowers spotted by Terry Johnson. I don't feel too bad though, since our photographer didn't have them named in the Pasty Gallery either! Whatever they're called, they sure add some nice color to the green surroundings here in the Keweenaw. Terry's second shot is quite interesting--the flowers seem to be guarded by a circle of towering trees. I'm sure someone out in Pastyland will know the names of these colorful blooms and will perhaps tell us a thing or two about them. Don't you just love the color of summer?

Mesmerizing!

The flowers in the first pic, would those be Garden Phlox?

The flowers on the top are wild phlox. Not all field flowers in the UP are wild though. Often you see old-fashioned hollyhocks remaining from someone's turn-of-the-century garden after the house is long gone in the UP. Beautiful!!

Very pretty!!

The second photo is of the bladder campion that is sometimes called maiden's tears. It's a colorful time of year UP here.

inflorescence!

The unidentified flower in the 2nd picture is bladder campion, Silene vulgaris or Silene cucubalus. It's a close up but you can see the "spit bug" clump of spit on the stem. It helps give you an idea of how small it is.

This came from Maggie Dupuis in an e-mail to me, she being my botanist, fellow fish feeder and wife(not necessarily in that order!)

Notroll, Can your botanist identify the 1st picture? A close look at it shows only 4 petals per flower where the phlox has five. It might be the infamous dame's rocket. What does your fellow fish feeder think?

Love that "our gang" of Yoopers includes some experts in different fields.......thanks for all the info.....the flowers are so beautiful in the fields. The drive home from the Copper Country was certainly worth the price of gas.......such beauty.......came through Marquette and have a new appreciation for the geology, of that area,too.

Ken,it looks like dame's rocket to me,also. Whatever it is,phlox or rocket,it is pretty.

At the bottom of the 2nd picture, I think I see a "bubble nest"
that spiders make.

P.S. Wendy, if you see this, email me. I have pictures of the
concert.

I agree with Ken on the first picture being Dame's Rocket. He's right about phlox having five petals, whereas Dame's Rocket has four.

This is my first post since I discovered this site a couple of years ago. I've visited the UP only twice (so far!) and I've just fallen in love, although I haven't been able to make it all the way to Copper Country yet. Next trip, if I'm lucky. Many thanks to all of you who have shared your amazing photos with the rest of us!

Ken S.,
I looked up Dames Rocket on the Wikipedia site and found this page, you are absolutely correct about the number of petals and confusion with phlox.
http://www.answers.com/topic/dame-s-rocket
The site also has some interesting notes on when and how it arrived here.
And to the White Bear, welcome to the tribe.

Richard,
Thanks for the Wikipedia link. Very interesting. In 2004 there seemed to be an exceptionally large crop of rockets and there was a lot of press about it being invasive and that it should be eradicated. I think it is beautiful and if it's been around for several centuries, as stated in Wikipedia, I would think whatever damage it is going to cause has already occurred.

Susan, I hope you can make it UP to CC. It is worth the time and effort.