A Wildflower Afternoon At Beebe Hill

I had a day off in the middle of the week and it was very hot. I decided that I really needed to get out somewhere into the woods and take a hike - as long as it was a short hike. I chose my old favorite, Beebe Hill, just south of Albany in Columbia County. The dogs and I began hiking up an old service road with deep forests on each side but lots of sun and wildflowers along the road. I first stopped to photograph the abundant Butter-And-Eggs, Linaria vulgaris. It's an alien wildflower, but a common and lovely one:

We passed by Bartlett Pond and began ascending the hill:

The dogs were, of course, happy and excited. They ran and played and sniffed and had a grand time:

And then I encountered a patch of creamy pink trumpet flowers, a new species for me. I took several photos so that I could identify it when I got home:

I checked my Peterson's Field Guide, turning the pages slowly until I arrived at a picture of Spreading Dogbane, Apocynum androsaemifolium. It was a beautiful flower, striped on its interior with a deep rose color:

And there were, of course, lots of more common wildflowers such as this Daisy Fleabane, Erigeron annuus:

Another common and abundant wildflower was Common St. Johnswort, Hypericum perforatum:

And what hike would be complete without the beautiful and useful Jewelweed, also known as Spotted Touch-Me-Not, Impatiens capensis. There is plenty of interesting lore about this wondrous plant. Maybe I'll do a whole post on the subject some day:

And then I encountered another wildflower new to me. It looked much like the Whorled Loosestrife which I'd only discovered this year, but not quite. I figured it must be related and have since concluded that it must have been Fringed Loosestrife, Lysimachia ciliata:

And another old friend, Sundrops, Onagraceae fruticosa. This plant is pretty much like Common Evening Primrose except that it blooms by day instead of by night. Well, I hadn't planned for this to be a wildflower hike, but it sure was turning out that way:

And another old friend, Bladder Campion, Silene cucubalus. I'll post more tomorrow: