I spotted this flower, no idea what it is. It's wild, growing by the pond, and is not purple loosestrife nor mallow, nor iris, not waterlily, my entire inventory of pond plants I know. Anyone identify this, by any chance?
And here's a doughty family out fishing.
Right after I took this shot, the lady of the group managed to swing her rod and hook herself in the back of the shirt. Quite undaunted, she unhooked herself from her own line and went on casting.
Though it looks like an unlikely place, in fact there are some seriously large fish in this water, and some people catch for food. When HS was little I used to bring him here fishing, since I thought little boys ought to be able to say they went fishing as a little kid. Thankfully we never caught anything, since I think fishing is terrible for the poor fish, and would have been so guilty if we'd hooked any! This is one of those dilemmas of parenthood.
Before they built a little wooden bridge at the end of this spit of land, it was like a peninsula, and the only place in town I could let dogs off the leash. They used to run like maniacs up the island and back, except for one who accidentally learned to swim when she flew off the end, not realizing there was water there. Big shriek from little dog, who paddled back to shore and insisted on being rescued from this terrible fate. Never got her feet wet again. Not being a water person myself, I could see her point.
I think it's a cardinal flower. Lobelia cardinalis
ReplyDeleteThank you, that was swift!! I knew I could count on a reader here to know this.
ReplyDeleteDoughty family...I snorted when I read that. :)
ReplyDeleteWe've had some face-exploding heat here, too, but nothing so bad as what you've been dealing with. I'm looking forward to the cool autumn days!
I'm with Kitty -- it sure looks like a cardinal flower. They don't bloom up here until September! But it's a welcome splash of color when the rest of the garden is beginning to fade and wither.
ReplyDeleteWe don't get the big show of autumn color like the Northeast -- what we DO get is the big show of GREEN right now, which seems to really impress the tourists, especially those from hot dry areas.
Everything's behind up here this year due to the cold wet weather -- no raspberries yet, peonies have yet to bloom, my roses, which I'm usually deadheading by now, are still tight buds. Strange days!
I agree, every kid should have a go at fishing but I'm with you now. I feel so sorry for the poor fish.
ReplyDeletePretty flower. My spring bulbs are well and truly up. Just waiting for the flowers now.
Looks like our Indian Paintbrush, but couldn't be as Paintbrush is a prairie flower. There was a pond within walking distance to our home in Ontario, and geese used to land there in large flocks. My hubby and young kids & friends bought a goose hunting decoy, set it up with a remote control device such as you'd insert in model boats, and used to sail their goose with the flock, which never seemed to mind much. Only the humans, throwing bread to the geese, would become enraged when they found they were feeding a fake bird.There were large orange carp in the pond, the result of people abandoning goldfish which kept on growing. They'd never survive in our cold glacier fed rivers here in the west. - J in Cowtown
ReplyDeleteCardinal flower (your other commenters are right) has the most saturated red I have ever seen. Love it.
ReplyDeleteJack's family were all big on fishing and tried to assure me that the fish felt no pain from the hooks. I'm still of the opinion that they're all healthy liers! At least they did learn the lesson of live release. To be fair tho' - when times were tough and there were 11 mouths to feed I guess catching fish was a good thing.
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