When I drove up the last hill on my way to the coast this week, I found that in the last week thousands of wildflowers had bloomed along the roadsides.
As there is little traffic on that particular road, I took my time and drove slowly, looking not only for the spots of color but also for wide spots where I could pull over. Several times I had to hike back a ways to where I’d caught the glimpse. This went on for about an hour, after which I ran out of hill, and made my way down the last slope to the beach, where I saw still more new flowers since my last visit.
There was lots of cow parsnip with manroot crawling all over it, and swaths of yellow capeweed. I saw potentilla, Mules-ears and buttercups. This trifolium dubium below is called Suckling Clover and other common names I’ve never heard of. The flowers are darling, and barely a centimeter across. It’s said to be the traditional Irish shamrock. Unfortunately I didn’t read that until just now, and I didn’t get a good picture of its leaves.
Another wildflower I identified for the first time was the Shepherd’s-needle:
When I pulled into the lot where I most often park, it was empty. Maybe because schools in our area are back in-person, and parents are no longer free to bring the kids to the beach on weekdays. (That’s my car.)
Or maybe because people knew enough to stay away — the wind was up! It was so brisk and blowy, I didn’t walk in the waves but on the dry part of the beach, and found myself headed behind the dunes where I could get them between me and the worst wind.
I sat with my back against the dune and my feet in the hot sand. This was my view of the lagoon:
It was a perfect reading spot, until the wind shifted and started blowing from my side! That signaled the end of my beach stay, but I sat longer in my car on the bluffs above, to get some more reading time in before my mini-retreat would be over. It had been an unusually dry outing, but oh so satisfyingly full of flowers!
Gladsome Lights 
What wonderful variety of wildflowers you have over there, especially love those Irises. Never knew they grow wild. Here we have to cultivate carefully.
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Just beautiful ❤️
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This is absolutely glorious, Gretchen. Gorgeous flowers, a beach on a lovely day and a book. How perfect.
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A gorgeous day for a little retreat. The wildflowers are wonderful. I love coming across patches of them growing and beautifying small corners of the woods or meadows.
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About The 13 Clocks – I wonder if I read about it here for I know it was a recommendation from a blog.
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One cannot go wrong with flowers when it comes to uplifting one’s spirit. You have a lovely variety of them to look at too 🙂
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As your blog shows, too, in our temperate climates we can always find a bloom whatever the season. In springtime they jump out at us when we’re not even looking.
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Wild flowers show us the ‘heart’ of nature and their survival in harsh conditions provide us with hope.
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Oh, so beautiful. Your description of hot sand caught me. That radiating wrapping warmth is like nothing else. I can’t get that little red wild berry in your last photo out of my mind.
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Oh, I remember days like that…chilly wind and hot sand, a dune at your back and book in hand. Sometimes I miss the ocean so dreadfully. Beautiful wildflowers! I still have pictures of a dozen or so that grew up on the mountain. My intent was to I.D. them, but here I am 6 years later and I have yet to do so!
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I wish I could whisk you over here for a day and we would spend the whole time at the beach together, until your pumpkin flew you back again — but not before we saw the sunset and sat on the sand around a fire. ❤
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Wow! You should have been a botanist (and an English professor!) I would love to live by the beach. I think I can tolerate the wind if the sea is right there.
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Lovely wildflowers. When I was reading your post an old old poem came to mind. I wonder if you read it to your children way back when. It goes something like this:
All the names I know from nurse; Gardner’s Garters, Shepherd’s purse, Bachelor’s Buttons, Lady’s Smock, and the Lady Hollyhock. Fairy places, fairy things, Fairy woods where the wild bee wings. Tiny trees for tiny dames, These must all be fairy names.
I confess I had to go look up the last part because I had forgot how it ended. Isn’t it strange what our brains have in storage and something will suddenly bring a poem or a memory of some kind to our consciousness.
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Thank you for the reminder! I did read that to my children but not very often, because I didn’t know what most of the flowers were that he names. These days I know two of the five.
It would be fun to plant all the flowers in the poem in my own garden and become familiar with them first-hand.
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And a wild strawberry! So delightful.
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What a wonderful collection of flowers, and what a view of your beach. It’s been too long since I’ve been to ours, mostly because the flowers have been blooming everywhere, and it’s hard to know which direction to go. I was intrigued by your irises, especially. I think our garden irises will grow in dried conditions, but our wild ones prefer a wetter environment — they belong to a category I’ve dubbed ‘ditch diamonds.’ On impulse, I went searching for them (I was too late last year), and I found some. I wish I could have taken you around to see them in person — they would have liked you!
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Thank you for linking me to your recent post. You reminded me that at least some of our wild irises are called Blue Flags. I like your idea of going around to visit your friends who would also like me!
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WOW.. look at all those flowers….. so beautiful!!!!!! I healed just seeing them.. and the lagoon.. reminding me of the song SLEEPY LAGOON.. and loved the sword ferns….. never seen those.. We have many in our woods too in Minnesota but not those.. and Shepherd’s Needle.. glorious…. that looked like Calendula the orange lovely small flower… Do you make salves and lotions too out of the herbs…. something I wish to try with beeswax and rose petals.. or maybe lavender….. am jealous of your sun.. it is dark like a black skunk here everything weird and one color.. no sun.. but at least have green popping out.. THANK YOU FOR THIS.. and that hot sand on feet sounds like just what i need too..hot foot soak.. Do you have Sanuas out there..Finish Hot Sauna.. so good. xxx xx Merri heart warm back to you xx
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I’m so glad you treat yourself and us to taking time to look carefully and document these wildflowers and the beach scenes. ♥
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