Friday flowers…shy

Friday flowers…finally wildflowers

My Monday walk this week took me through a lot of mud in search of wildflowers.  There were thousands of them (wildflowers, not mud, although there was a lot of that, too) waiting for the sunshine to warm the earth a bit more before bursting briefly into bloom.  I tramped through the mud in search of anything else, when suddenly I discovered this patch of wildflowers in full bloom.  I’ll be going back as soon as possible to check on the progress of the other flowers.  Despite the lack of flowers, it was a soul-soothing two hours.

I have no idea what these flowers are and I haven’t had any luck finding them online.  If any of you know what they are (Judy?), please share!  Trying to identify by online photos isn’t easy!

Friday flowers…yellow

Friday flowers…curves

I have no idea what this is (input invited), but I love the delicate little waxy flowers and the graceful curves of the stem.  And doesn’t this quote from Shakespeare make you want to lie down on the bank he describes?

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine. 
~William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream 

A flower blossoms for its own joy. 
~Oscar Wilde

Friday flowers…royal beauty

During the walk where I found all the flowers featured in my recent blog posts, I also found one plant with beautiful red flowers. I’ve never seen one before and there was only this one (and maybe one other in another spot), so I was curious whether it was rare.

Not only is it rare, it’s royal. The US Wildflower site says:

Silene regia – Royal Catchfly. Royal Catchfly – Silene regia is a plant of rocky prairies, glades, and open woods with attractive scarlet red flowers. It appears similar to Fire Pink – Silene virginica – but Silene regia has a much smaller distribution – 12 states, and in 6 of those states it is protected due to its rarity, having Rare, Endangered, or Threatened status. It is possible that it has no longer survived in Knox County, the only county in Tennessee where it was found.

There’s no mention as to whether it really catches flies, but it certainly caught my eye.