I was very surprised to see these flowers -- they are so large as to look domesticated. However, they were growing by themselves unaided in a wild area. They are called Blue Iris. though they look purple.
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| Blue Iris |
Ancient Eqyptian kings were just as impressed by the iris, and you can find drawings of irises in a number of Eqyptian palaces. The flower is found in Greek culture too. Iris is the name of a Greek goddess. She was messenger of the gods, acting as a link between heaven and earth, and was personification of the rainbow. Purple irises were planted over the graves of women to summon the goddess to guide the dead in their journey.
I'm pretty sure this next one is Canada Hawkweed. There are many types of Hawkweed but Canada Hawkweed is listed in the
Wildflowers of Michigan book. Although this flower looks a little closed up, the leaves do look similar -- very sharp, jagged edges. And the back of the flower looks the same as what is shown in the
Wildflowers of Michigan book.
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| Canada Hawkweed |
Oddly, this plant is considered to bloom in late summer to autumn. Perhaps it's unusually early this year. There are a lot of varieties of hawkweeds, so I'm not positive this is the Canada one. Here's a
website that lists them all (no pictures, though). Hawkweeds are used as food plants by moth larvae and small beetles.
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