I think the prettiest time in the Midwest is late summer when the prairie flowers are most intense, and the light is lower in the sky which is often filled with clouds. Soon enough the intense color of autumn will be here, but for now the longer show of late summer will be on display.
Ironweed and Gray-headed coneflowers
Not far away is the restored prairie at Mayslake Forest Preserve that Chance and I frequently visit. (I posted about our first visit there two years ago —and here.) A few weeks ago, a volunteer was crawling among these plants collecting seeds. She said how much the prairie has diversified over the last couple decades as the county has worked on it. In that prior post I had images of the spectacular Rose Mallow that blooms here in August. Recently, ducks and this Great Egret seemed to enjoy the blooming flowers on shore.
Rose Mallow and Great Egret, Mayslake Forest Preserve
Last weekend we visited Newport State Park in Door County, Wisconsin. One trail leads to the shore of Europe Lake that many kayakers were enjoying.
In the grass Salsify globes were ready to send their seeds into the wind.
Salsify
And woodpeckers were busy in the trees.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Last summer, I posted about the new Daniel Popper exhibit at Morton Arboretum — Human + Nature. He’s recently added three more sculptures to the five that went up last year. He says this one reflects on the sounds there.
Ephemera by Daniel Popper
His smallest new piece is right by the entrance, and the one hundred gingko leaves commemorate the 100 year celebration of the arboretum. If you have time this weekend, you can stop by to see Human + Nature and enjoy the Wine and Art Walk where our friend Pat will be exhibiting some of her fabric art. As I write this, right over my shoulder are some of her flowers that can take me right back into a walk in the summer prairie.
Gingko