blue, photo by Curt Saunier
View Curt’s photo bigger and see more in his Flowers slideshow.
Snowdrops and a Bee
Snowdrops and a Bee, photo by Trish P.
Trish took this Saturday on the Leelanau Peninsula. View the photo bigger, see more of the same in Trish’s In the Garden slideshow, and follow her at trishy_p on Instagram!
More flowers and more from the garden on Michigan in Pictures.
Ode to Spring … and Michigan Spring Wallpaper!
Ode to Spring, photo by Sue Fraser
Suddenly there’s no more snowing,
Balmy breezes blithely blowing,
Lilacs bloom, the lawn needs mowing–
Oh, what glee!
-Robert G. Shubinski (full poem)
Spring isn’t quite this far advanced, but if you want to add to the amount of spring in your life,take a walk through the spring wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures – lots of great pics in here!
You can see this photo background bigtacular and see lots more in Sue’s Fantastic Flowers slideshow.
Michigan Tough: Daffodil Edition
Hopefully the daffodils are tougher than I am, photo by Bill Dolak
Bill took this shot yesterday at Celery Flats Park in Portage where it got down into the teens the night before.
View the photo background bigilicious and see more in his Portage, Michigan slideshow.
More spring wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.
A flower a day for February: Lily
Lily, photo by Joel Dinda
Joel’s Flower a Day for February project began with a flower a day for January of 2006 2013 and then (because February usually isn’t warm enough to grow lilies) moved to February for 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
View the photo background bigilicious. See more Flower a Day posts & also check out Joel’s A Flower a Day for February (x10) slideshow.
January 5th with Joel
Lilies, photo by Joel Dinda
This morning I got a note from one of Michigan in Pictures’s longtime contributors, Joel Dinda letting me know that I had coincidentally featured his photos twice on previous January 5ths. The other two were Rotten Apples: 2014 Detroit Lions Playoff Edition detailing the Lions’ loss to Dallas after the pass interference call that was and then wasn’t and a look at the Ruins of the the Old Cheboygan Point Lighthouse in 2013.
The third time is the charm they say, so here’s one that Joel shared way back in January of 2006 (taken summer of 2005) as part of his “Flower a Day” series. I think he started doing them in January and then realized somewhere along the way that as bad as Michigan winter in January can be, Februarys are worse!!
View Joel’s photo background big, see more in his in his Flower a Day for February (x9) slideshow, and check out photos from Joel dating back a decade on Michigan in Pictures!
Looking Through to Another Time
looking through to another time, photo by Anna Newhouse
View Anna’s photo background bigtacular and see more in her My 365 Photo Challenge slideshow.
More spring wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.
Sunflower Saturday
Sunflowers, photo by Sharon
Sharon caught these beautiful sunflowers at the Petoskey Farmer’s Market. View the photo background bigilicious and see more in her Michigan slideshow.
More summer wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.
Flower Friday: Yellow Lady’s Slippers
Yikes! I got the link for the Michigan Wildflowers database wrong!
Yellow Lady’s Slippers, photo by Rick Lanting
While I was gathering info for today’s post I came across a really cool resource! MichiganWildflowers.com michwildflowers.com is an online photo database of Michigan’s wildflowers curated by Charles and Diane Peirce that lists 545 Michigan wildflowers and lets you (very quickly) click among them. With multiple photos for each wildflower, it’s pretty darn useful.
The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center says that the Yellow Lady’s-slipper Orchid (Cypripedium parviflorum):
…is easily distinguished from others by its large yellow lip, or slipper. It grows up to 2 feet tall and has large, strongly veined leaves 6–8 inches long and half as wide. It has a flower, sometimes 2, at the end of the stem, cream-colored to golden-yellow. Flowers have 3 sepals, greenish-yellow to brownish-purple, the upper sepal larger, usually erect, and hanging over the blossom.
Rick took this photo last weekend at Mill Creek State Park using the Hipstamatic app. View it bigger and see more in his Michigan wildflowers slideshow.
Dwarf Lake Iris: Michigan’s State Wildflower
Dwarf Lake Iris, photo by Mark Swanson
The Michigan DNR relates that Michigan’s state wildflower, the Dwarf Lake Iris (Iris lacustris): grows nowhere else but in the Great Lakes region, and most within Michigan’s boundaries:
In Michigan, Dwarf Lake Iris is especially concentrated along certain stretches of the northern Great Lakes shoreline, where it may occur for miles, interrupted only by habitat destruction, degradation, or unsuitable habitat such as rocky points or marshy bays.
Dwarf Lake Iris usually occurs close to the Great Lakes shores on sand or in thin soil over limestone rich gravel or bedrock. It tolerates full sun to near complete shade, but flowers mostly in semi open habitats. These areas can be very long and narrow strips bordering the high water line, or large flat expanses located behind the open dunes of the Great Lakes shoreline. Many iris locations are on old beach ridges of former shores of the Great Lakes. Fluctuating water levels of the Great Lakes play a vital role in opening up new habitat for Dwarf Lake Iris. During high water years, trees and shrubs along the shoreline may be flooded out. This flooding may open up patches within the forest where the Dwarf Lake Iris may spread. It is usually found growing under White Cedar, although White Spruce, Balsam Fir, and Aspen are also frequently present.
…”Lacustris” translates literally to mean “of lakes” and refers to where this beautiful iris grows. Dwarf Lake Iris was first found on Mackinac Island in 1810 by Thomas Nuttall, a renowned naturalist and explorer. Nuttall reached Mackinac Island after travelling from Detroit by canoe with French Canadian voyagers and the surveyor for the Michigan Territory. At least 1/3 of the species that Nuttall reported from the Great Lakes were new to science.
Read on for much more.
Mark took this along the hiking trail in Riverview Park in St. Joseph. View it bigger and see more in his Michigan – Color slideshow.
More Michigan flowers on Michigan in Pictures.
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