Wildflowers

Carpets of wildflowers everywhere!

 Dandelions are prolific this year - this interesting patch was on the lawn in front of a house - the dandelions grew in this oval - and no place else on the lawn.  The fairies dance there at night.

 Horse pastures covered with dandelions

 I don't know the name of this - it is growing in a wildflower garden at the back entrance to Birch Bay State Park. I'm sure my readers will help with the name.

 And at the edge of the woods near Birch Bay were some Trillium - with their three leaves and three petaled flowers.

 Wild bleeding heart and to the left is the beginning spike of Horsetail Fern.  Horsetail Ferns are the oldest plant on the earth - having been around for over 275 million years.

The way the Horsetail Fern grows - with descending smaller spaces between the greenery nearer the top of the fern, led John Napier to the discovery of logarithms and the decimal about 1580.

Oregon Grape - Mahonia - blooms in masses along the roadsides and edges of forests.  The birds will feast on the dark blue/purple berries in the autumn.  It can be used for jelly also - and the roots have many medicinal uses.  It is the state flower of Oregon.