By Lynn R. Mitchell
It’s summer! I took my camera today as we roamed the mountains and valley, packing a lunch up to the Blue Ridge Mountains to picnic where the temps were in the 70s. Driving where the wind took us on this hot summer day, temps topped out at 90 degrees in Waynesboro but it was a slightly cooler 86 degrees west of Staunton. The wildflowers were in full bloom under cloudy skies that became sunny in the afternoon, leaving the mountains in a haze, and the beauty of it all was breath-taking. The wild red berries above, with the Appalachian Mountains in the background, are plentiful throughout the Shenandoah Valley but I’m not sure what they are called.
Queen Anne’s Lace is plentiful along roadways and in fields, a delicate grouping of tiny white blossoms that populated the ditch along this particular back road with the Appalachians in the background.
Tiny wild daisy-like blossoms.
More of those red berries.
These are the mountains I see every day of my life. Feeling blessed….
I have no idea what that prickly purplish thing was next to this Queen Anne’s Lace, but it was pretty.
To a farmer, thistles are demon plants but this one growing in the ditch along a back country road was all purple and pretty in the summer sun.
Pale blue chickory, one of the prettiest of the wildflowers at this time of year. Along with heather, they are everywhere!
Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
July 18, 2015
