Pic(k) of the Week: Orange, then green

Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

A native, wild trumpet creeper vine blooms in mid-summer, as seen from a vantage along the South Peachtree Creek Trail, on an elevated boardwalk over the wetlands of Burnt Fork Creek.

Mason Mill Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA.
21 July 2026.

Campsis radicans — commonly known as cow-itch, cow vine, devil's shoestring, foxglove vine, hellvine, hummingbird vine, trumpet creeper, trumpet vine — is a dense, vigorous, woody, deciduous, perennial vine in the trumpetvine family (Bignoniacea) that attaches itself to structures and climbs by aerial rootlets. It is native to the central and eastern United States, inhabiting woodlands and riverbanks (and growing on roadside telephone poles).

The trumpet creeper has clusters (terminal cymes) of orange to reddish-orange trumpet-shaped flowers, 3 inches long (8 cm), with a yellowish throat and 5 shallow lobes bending backward. They appear throughout the summer (June to September), and are very attractive to hummingbirds.

— North Carolina Cooperative Extension.
— Wikipedia.

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Freddie Hubbard: Open Sesame.

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Pic(k) of the Week: Clover envy

  Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

Some call it a weed.

Feh!

That's clover envy.

A red clover wildflower (Trifolium pratense), blooming in spring.

East Decatur Greenway
DeKalb County, Georgia, USA.
18 May 2019.

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• This is a close-up. The clover appears much larger in the image than it did in 'real' life. Somewhat paradoxically, photographers refer to this technique not as 'micro' but 'macro.'
• To 'isolate' the blossom from the weedy background, I employed an off-camera flash. The light diminished quickly beyond the flower, producing a dark background.
• Seven years ago, I submitted the photo to a YouTube photographer for critique. He dismissed it as too 'hot,' over-exposed by the flash. Looking at it now, I disagree...or, should I say, feh!

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Quincy Jones: Soul Bossa Nova

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Pic(k) of the Week: Echinacea garden

  Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

Native purple coneflower wildflowers (aka echinacea) blooming in a pollinator garden.

City of Avondale Estates, Georgia, USA.
7 June 2026.

Echinacea is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family. It has ten species, which are commonly called coneflowers. They are native only in eastern and central North America, where they grow in wet to dry prairies and open wooded areas

Echinacea purpurea — commonly known as purple coneflower, eastern purple coneflower, purple coneflower, purple rudbeckia — is an herbaceous perennial in the Asteraceae (daisy) family that is native to the central and eastern United States. The Genus name is Greek for meaning 'spiny one' and the species name means reddish-purple.

It may grow 3 to 4 feet tall; attractive ray petals surround a center of dark purplish brown disc flowers in summer and are long-lasting through mid-fall. The plant prefers well-drained, moist loam but is adaptable to various soil types. It is drought tolerant once established and can grow in full sun to partial shade. It is also deer, heat, humidity, and salt resistant.

— North Carolina Cooperative Extension.
— Wikipedia.

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Buster Williams: Batuki

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Pic(k) of the Week: Hydrangea on creek

  Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

A wild bigleaf hydrangea shrub (Hydrangea macrophylla), illuminated by riparian morning light.

On Glenn Creek in Melton Park
DeKalb County, Georgia, USA.
23 May 2025.

Hydrangea macrophylla — commonly known as bigleaf hydrangea — is a species of flowering plant in the family Hydrangeaceae, native to Japan, that has become naturalised in the Americas. It is is a deciduous shrub growing to 10 feet tall (3 m) with large heads of pink or blue flowers in summer and autumn. The opposite, serrated leaves can grow to 6 inches (15 cm) in length.

— Wikipedia.

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Coleman Hawkins: Body and Soul

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Pic(k) of the Week: Jerusalem artichoke...in Georgia!

  Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

A native Jerusalem artichoke blooms in an urban meadow.

East Decatur Greenway
DeKalb County (Forrest Hills), Georgia, USA.
4 June 2026.

Helianthus tuberosus — commonly known as Jerusalem artichoke, sunchoke, sunroot, wild sunflower, or earth apple — is an herbaceous perennial edible root vegetable that is a species of sunflower in the Asteraceae family. It is native to the eastern and central United States and parts of Canada.

Helianthus tuberosus grows 5 to 10 feet tall (1.5–3 m). The leaves have a rough, hairy texture. The flowers are yellow, 2-4 inches in diameter ( 5–10 cm), with 10–20 ray florets and 60 or more small disc florets. The flowers are briefly fragrant, giving off a light, vanilla-chocolate perfume.

The plant's tubers are edible, similar in texture to water chestnuts, with a nutty flavor. They may be boiled, mashed, roasted like potatoes, or eaten raw. They do not contain starch like potatoes; instead contain inulin, which converts to fructose, and may be tolerated better by diabetics. The knobby tubers are harvested in the fall, approximately two weeks after the flowers fade (October-December).

Despite its common name, Jerusalem artichoke is not an artichoke and not associated with the city of Jerusalem. The 'artichoke' in its name comes from its similar taste. 'Jerusalem' is believed to be a corruption of the Italian word 'girasole,' meaning sunflower. Italian settlers in the United States likely referred to the plant as girasole because it resembled sunflowers.

— North Carolina State Cooperative Extension.
— Wikipedia.

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Freddie Hubbard: Little Sunflower

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Pic(k) of the Week: Coreopsis lanceolata

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A field of native lanceleaf coreopsis (coreopsis lanceolata), initially planted along a city street, now blooming wild every spring season.

DeKalb County, Georgia, USA.
5 May 2026.

Seen along (and planted by) the East Decatur Greenway (part of a 342-mile network of off-road trails in and around the metro Atlanta, Georgia area, built and maintained by the non-profit PATH Foundation for walkers, runners, skaters, and cyclists).

Coreopsis lanceolata — commonly known as lanceleaf coreopsis, lanceleaf tickseed, lance-leaved coreopsis, or sand coreopsis — is a North American wildflower, a species of tickseed in the Asteraceae (daisy) family, native to the south-central US. It typically grows to 2 feet tall (60 cm) in prairies, glades, fields, and roadsides, thriving in sandy and rocky soils. The plant produces yellow flower heads singly at the top of a naked flowering stalk, each head containing both ray florets and disc florets. Each flower measures 2-3 inches across (5–8 cm).

The genus name comes from the Greek words koris meaning "bug" and opsis meaning "like" in reference to the shape of the seed which resembles a bug or tick. The specific epithet means lance-shaped referring to the leaves.

— North Carolina State Cooperative Extension.
— Wikipedia.

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Lee Morgan: Häschen

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Pic(k) of the Week: Diamorpha daybreak

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Tiny crimson diamorpha wildflowers, blooming at sunrise, near the summit of Arabia Mountain monadnock *.

DeKalb County, Georgia, USA.
3 April 2026 (7:37 am EDT).

Diamorpha smallii — commonly known as diamorpha, elf orpine, or Small's stonecrop — belongs to the stonecrop family (Crassulaceae), in the Sedum species of plants: succulents possessing thick, fleshy sections which retain water, allowing them to survive in drought conditions.

Diamorpha smalli is endemic to the southeastern United States, where the densest populations appear in Georgia, particularly in Panola Mountain State Park and the Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve. Two to four inches in height, Diamorpha smallii grows in areas with granite surfaces, appearing in vernal pools (seasonal puddles of water contained by rock or dirt) and solution pits (thin patches of dirt isolated on rock outcrops), adapted to survive in harsh conditions, including high temperatures and limited soil.

Hidden most of the year, Diamorpha smallii emerge in late winter, producing dense rosettes of tiny red succulent leaves. Then, in late March, the plants produce small white flowers (~ ¼ inch). As temperatures rise, the plants lose their bright red color, taking on the appearance of little brown stems sticking up from the ground, holding on to their seeds to forestall dessication during the hottest months of the year. The seeds drop and germinate in autumn.

— Arabia Mountain Heritage Area Alliance.
— Scott Ranger's Nature Notes.
— Wikipedia.

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Dizzy Gillespie: Tin Tin Deo

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Pic(k) of the Week: Trout lily ephemeral

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Ephemeral beauty on a winter forest floor: a native wildflower, the trout lily, blooms on Arabia Mountain.

After a 13-kilometer hike on the mountain, I was less than half a kilometer from my parked car when I stumbled upon this cluster of trout lilies blooming on the side of the Mile Rock Trail. To say that I was delighted AND surprised would be an understatement.

This is a close-up. The blossom appears larger in the image than it did in 'real life.'

DeKalb County, Georgia, USA.
28 February 2026.

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About the Dimpled Trout Lily

Erythronium umbilicatum — commonly known as the dimpled trout lily — is a species of perennial flowering plant in the lily family (Liliaceae), native to the southeastern United States, primarily in the piedmont and southern Appalachian areas. It is a spring ephemeral [i.e., short-lived] and its preferred habitat is forests.

Erythronium umbilicatum has green, mottled leaves that are up to 8 inches long (20 cm). The scape [i.e., long, leafless flowering stem] is up to 8 inches long (20 cm), bearing a single, nodding, lily-like flower on a 5 to 8-inch stalk (12-20 cm) with 6 petals, yellow on the inside and streaked brownish-purple on the outside, that recurve backward. The conspicuous stamens are brownish-purple in color. The flower blooms in late winter/early spring before the surrounding trees leaf out and cast shade.

— North Carolina Cooperative Extension.
— Wikipedia.

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Clifford Brown: Sandu
Album: Study in Brown (Label: EmArcy, 1955)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Winter speedwell

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In deep winter, a tiny birdseye speedwell (Veronica persica) blooms during a 'false' (22 °C!) spring.

East Decatur Greenway
City of Decatur, Georgia, USA.
9 January 2026.

This is a close-up. The blossom — maybe 0.4 inches wide (1 cm) — appears much larger in the image than it did in 'real' life.

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Walter Piston:
The Incredible Flutist (Tango of the Merchant's Daughters)
Album:
Piston: Symphony No. 6, The Incredible Flutist, 3 New England Sketches
(Label: RCA Victor Red Seal, 1991)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Winter catkin

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Yellow catkins hang,

Crimson buds portend,

Winter shrub un-slumber'd.

Male flowers of a hazel alder tree (Alnus serrulata).

Arabia Lake in Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve
DeKalb County, Georgia, USA.
8 February 2023.

A catkin is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster (a spike), with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated (anemophilous) but sometimes insect-pollinated. It contains many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged closely along a central stem that is often drooping. Catkin-bearing plants include many trees or shrubs such as birch, willow, aspen, hickory, sweet chestnut, and sweetfern. In many of these plants, only the male flowers form catkins, and the female flowers are single (hazel, oak), a cone (alder), or other types (mulberry). While the blooming months for catkins may vary due to factors such as climate change and latitude, the following are some general timeframes: hazel catkins bloom from January to March, alder catkins from February to March, silver birch catkins from March to May, oak catkins from April to May, and white willow catkins from April to May.

— Wikipedia.

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Phineas Newborn Jr.: Celia (composition by Bud Powell)
Album: Here Is Phineas (Label: Atlantic (1956)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Blue Mistflower in Georgia autumn

Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

Native blue mistflowers, blooming adjacent to a wild-garden pond.

Trailhead Community Park of the East Decatur Greenway, in Decatur, Georgia, USA, on 3 October 2025.

Conoclinium coelestinum — commonly known as blue mistflower, mistflower wild ageratum, or blue boneset — is an herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to eastern and central North America, growing in moist soils, wood edges, sandy woodlands, wet meadows, and stream banks.

The plant grows to a height of 1 to 2½ feet (30 to 76 cm) with round, light green stems; the opposite-growing leaves are ovate to triangular in shape, with blunt teeth; it flowers from late summer until frost. Flat-topped clusters, or panicles, of blue, purple, or lavender flowerheads, measuring 1 to 3 inches (3 to 8 cm), are located at the end of the stems. Each flowerhead consists of about 40 to 50 disk florets with tiny tubular corollas that have 5 spreading lobes.

— North Carolina Cooperative Extension.
— Wikipedia.

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Tommy Flanagan: Delarna
Album: Sea Changes (Label: Evidence Music, 1997)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Jewelweed corolla

Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

Close-up blossom: just one in a riot of orange jewelweed wildflowers blooming on a woodland trail.

Mason Mill Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 21 August 2025.

Impatiens capensis — commonly known as jewelweed, orange jewelweed, touch-me-not — is an annual plant in the Balsaminaceae family, native to North America, growing in moist soil including forests, streambanks, and bogs.

Jewelweed is a herbaceous plant that grows 3 to 5 feet tall (0.9–1.5 m), branching extensively. The leaves are ovate, with shallow, rounded teeth on the margins. The plant blooms from late spring to early fall. The flowers are orange (sometimes yellow), ¾ to 1¼ inches long (2 to 3 cm), with a three-lobed corolla[collection of petals in a flower, sometimes in the form of a tube.]

The seed pods have five valves which coil back rapidly to eject the seeds in a process called explosive dehiscence, triggered by a light touch, hence the name 'touch-me-not.' Dew or rain beads on the leaves forming sparkling droplets that give rise to the common name of 'jewelweed.' "

— North Carolina Cooperative Extension.
— Wikipedia.

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Charles Mingus: Orange Was the Color of Her Dress then Blue Silk
Album: Revenge! The Legendary Paris Concerts (Label: Revenge. Released: 1996; recorded 1964)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Black-Eyed Susans on the PATH

Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

Native black-eyed Susan wildflowers bloom in a pollinator garden.

South Peachtree Creek Trail in Mason Mill Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 18 July 2025.

Rudbeckia hirta — commonly known as black-eyed Susan and yellow coneflower — is a flowering plant in the aster family (Asteraceae), native to eastern and central North America.

The plant grows to 3½ feet tall (1 m), blooming from late summer into early autumn. The flowers have daisy-like yellow heads, up to 4 inches in diameter (10 cm), with yellow ray florets circling a conspicuous brown or black dome-shaped cone, containing many small disc florets. The species epithet means 'hairy' and refers to short, stiff hairs on the leaves and stems. The genus name honors Olof Rudbeck, a 17th-century Swedish botanist.

— Wikipedia.

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Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine: Cheek to Cheek
Album: Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine Sing the Best of Irving Berlin (Mercury, 1958)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Dwarf crested iris

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A native dwarf crested iris (Iris cristata) wildflower, blooming creekside.

Trailhead Community Park of the East Decatur Greenway in the City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 7 May 2025.

Iris cristata (also known as dwarf crested iris and crested iris) is a species in the genus Iris, and is part of the subgenus of Limniris (bearded iris). It is a rhizomatous perennial plant, endemic to the eastern United States. Purple blossoms arise on a stalk above the 4 to 8 inch tall leaves. There are 3 unmarked petals; the yellow, fluted crest is on each of three sepals. It is usually found in colonies of several to many plants, growing in chalky soil, in oak woodlands, on rocky hillsides, in ravines, and along streams.

— Wildflowers of the United States
— Wikipedia

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McCoy Tyner: Love Surrounds Us
Album: Uptown Downtown (Milestone, 1989)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Clarkston poppies

Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

Brilliant red poppies (Papaver rhoeas) bloom in an urban wildflower meadow planted along a CSX railroad track.

Stone Mountain Trail: City of Clarkston, Georgia, USA. 13 May 2025.

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Hank Mobley: This I Dig Of You
Album: Soul Station (Blue Note, 1960)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Vernal celandine poppy

A native yellow wildflower —celandine poppy— blooms in an early-spring woodland.

Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA.
2 April 2025.

Stylophorum diphyllum —commonly called the celandine poppy or wood poppy— is an herbaceous plant in the poppy family (Papaveraceae), native to the eastern United States and Ontario in Canada. Its typical natural habitat is moist forests over calcareous rock, particularly in ravines.

In spring, the deep yellow flowers of the celandine poppy appear as a brilliant display on the forest floor. The flowers have 4 yellow petals, two soon falling sepals, many yellow orange stamens, and a single knobby stigma. They appear singly or in umbels of two to four flowers from early spring to early summer. The flowers issue from between a pair of leaves at the top of the flowering stems. They produce pollen but no nectar.

After fertilization, a bristly blue-green pod hangs below the leaves. Seeds with white elaiosomes ripen in midsummer and the pod opens by four flaps.

— Wikipedia

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Maurice Ravel: Mother Goose Suite (The Fairy Garden)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Tearthumb autumnal

Dense thickets of tiny arrowleaf tearthumb wildflowers, blooming in early autumn.

Seen along the banks of Postal Pond in Decatur Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 28 September 2024.

Persicaria sagittata — commonly known as American tearthumb, arrowleaf tearthumb, or arrowvine— is a plant, in the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae), native to the eastern half of North America (as well as eastern Asia!). It grows in moist areas along lake shores, stream banks, etc.

Persicaria sagittata is an annual herb growing up to 7½-feet tall (200 cm), with prickles along the stem. Leaves are up to 4 inches long (10 cm), heart-shaped or arrowhead-shaped (unusual for the genus). Flowers are white to pink, borne in spherical to elongated clusters up to 0.6-inches long (15 mm).

— Wikipedia.

Or, as a commenter on Flickr put it:

I find that most wildflowers are really tiny compared to what we normally think of as 'flowers', but no less interesting and beautiful.

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• Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of images posted on Saturdays.
• Photo 40 of 52, for year 2024. See a larger, hi-res version on Flickr: here.
• Commercial reproduction requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.


• Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II.
• Lens: Meike MK 25mm f/1.8
• Settings: 25 mm; 1/80 sec; ISO 200; ƒ/5.6


• For more from YFGF:
  • Follow on Flickr: Cizauskas.
  • Follow on Instagram: @tcizauskas.
  • Follow on Threads: @tcizauskas.
  • Follow on Facebook: YoursForGoodFermentables.

Pic(k) of the Week: Tick clover, pondside

A small wildflower with a big name: panicled leaf tick trefoil.

Seen blooming on a bank of Postal Pond in Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 12 September 2024.

Is the trefoil a late-summer blossom or an early-autumn-er? You decide.

Hylodesmum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, sometimes called ticktrefoils or tick-trefoils. It is sometimes treated as part of Desmodium. It includes sixteen species native to eastern North America, sub-Saharan Africa, and southeast Asia.

Hylodesmum nudiflorum — previously known as Desmodium nudiflorum and commonly known as naked-flowered tick trefoil, panicled leaf tick trefoil, stemless tick trefoil, or naked-stemmed tick clover— is a species of perenial flowering plant in the legume family (Fabaceae), native to eastern North America. Hylodesmum nudiflorum is typically found in mature, open hardwood woodlands in moist, sandy, gravelly, or loamy soil with high organic content. It is a nitrogen-fixing species through symbiosis with soil-borne bacteria.

Hylodesmum nudiflorum's delicate pinkish blooms, ⅓-inch (0.8 cm), are sweetly fragrant, occurring mid to late summer, borne on leafless stems. Reminiscent of pea-like blooms, the flowers have a rounded upper petal and three narrower lower petals, longer than the upper.

— North Carolina Cooperative Extension.
— Wildflowers of the United States.
— Wikipedia.

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Pink Martini: "Sympathique"

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• Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of images posted on Saturdays.
• Photo 39 of 52, for year 2024. See a larger, hi-res version on Flickr: here.
• Commercial reproduction requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.


• Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II.
• Lens: Olympus M.40-150mm F4.0-5.6 R
• Settings: 150 mm; 1/500sec; ISO 800; ƒ/5.6


• For more from YFGF:
  • Follow on Flickr: Cizauskas.
  • Follow on Instagram: @tcizauskas.
  • Follow on Threads: @tcizauskas.
  • Follow on Facebook: YoursForGoodFermentables.

Pic(k) of the Week: Sputnik in the marsh

Like nature's Sputnik,
A buttonbush blooms
Spike'd white
Standing on marshy ground.

Cephalanthus occidentalis —commonly known as buttonbush, common buttonbush, button-willow, buck brush, and honey-bells— is a species of flowering plant in the bedstraw family (Rubiaceae). Native to eastern and southern North America, it is a common shrub of many wetland habitats, including swamps, floodplains, mangroves, and moist forest understory.

Cephalanthus occidentalis is a deciduous shrub or small tree that averages 3 to 10 feet in height (1 to 3 m). Its flowers bloom in late spring and summer, arranged in a dense spherical inflorescence [cluster of flowers], ¾ to 1⅓ inches in diameter (2 to 3.5 cm), on a short peduncle [stalk supporting the inflorescence].

— Wikipedia.

Photo taken in Constitution Lakes Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 12 July 2024.

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Pic(k) of the Week: Pollinator coneflowers

Pink coneflowers bloom in a native plant pollinator garden. A sign of the South!

East Decatur Greenway: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 1 June 2024.

Echinacea purpurea — commonly known as the eastern purple coneflower, purple coneflower, hedgehog coneflower, or echinacea— is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to parts of eastern North America. Its habitats include dry open woods, prairies, and barrens.

Many pollinators are attracted to E. purpurea flowers, such as bumblebees, sweat bees, honey bees, the sunflower leafcutter bee, and the mining bee, Andrena helianthiformis. Butterflies that visit include monarchs, swallowtail butterflies, and sulfur butterflies. Birds, particularly finches, eat and disperse the seeds through their droppings.

— Wikipedia.

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