August 12th: High Summer: Buds, Butterflies, Blooms, Berries and a Thistle!

Milkweed leaves persite, although this plant shows significant insect predation. Monarch butterflies' larvae are well known to chew on these leaves, the big reason that many gardeners encourage this plant.

Yellow rules, as goldenrod comes fully into bloom.

This is a partial view of the garden.

The bindweed continues to produce blooms, here remarkably white.

The triumph of the thistle! One of my favorite pictures

Here is a slightly younger thistle bloom.

Scotch Thistle leaves clearly display theri "don't touch!" message.

Ahh, ragweed...

...with its cryptic green flowers...

...and yellow pollen. I almost envy its blithe unawareness of the misery it creates.

Queen Anne's lace is fully in bloom.

Bindweed buds promise new flowers as its blooming season continues.

The poke-weed plant spreads with exuberance...

as its white flower clusters grow forth into clusters of  green berries.

The mulberry leaves continue to proliferate, as multiformed as ever.

The horse weed is coming into maturity, as it displays its modest flowers along with buds, seed heads and spent seed platforms. Think dandelions and you will get the general idea.

Daisy fleabane or heath aster?

The hawthorn is already showing the first hint of fall yellow in its leaves.

Hawk-weed flowers shine yellow in the sun.

The goldenrod is still producing blower buds.

This garden view features evening primrose, horse-weed, and bindweed boldly claiming place amid numerous competitors.

The mugwort leaves resemble those of the horse weed.

Mugwort buds will bloom into tiny unremarkable flowers.

The calico aster's numerous ramifying branches are each tipped with a flower bud/.

The dark stems of the calico aster can be clearly seen here.

In this picture one can see the scaled flower buds, with the one on the top starting to open.

The wild morning-glory twists its way around the garden.

The calico aster's ramifying stems are developing buds at the ends.

A monarch butterfly sits quietly while I move all around it, snapping pictures like crazy.

The black raspberry's flowers are giving rise to berries showing several stages of ripening within one cluster.