Wordless Wednesday…looking forward

Friday flowers…orange

Friday flowers…prickly

Although this might not be what you think of when you think of flowers, thistles are flowering plants.  Providing nectar for some insects and butterflies, they also furnish food for one of my favorite birds, the goldfinch. I love the purple topknot that looks like a funky little hat.

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.

Diversity

Sometimes flowers stick to their own kind and sometimes they party hearty with their neighbors.  This is an example of the latter, combining a number of the flowers I’ve been featuring into a photo that can’t even begin to convey the beauty of what I saw.

Silent Sunday…passionate about purple