I never know what will catch my eye when my camera is in my hand. On Monday, for example, I spotted these tiny, colorful flowers while hunting for dragonflies at Occoquan Regional Park. The blue one is a type of blue-eyed grass (g. Sisyrinchium), but I can’t identify the pretty pink one.
I am not a gardener, so I never learned to differentiate between flowers and weeds—they are all flowers to me. I find the names of plant species to be confusing at times. Blue-eyed grass, for example, is not actually a grass, but a perennial related to the iris, and it comes in multiple colors. Yikes!
The good news is that my lack of knowledge about plants does not keep me from enjoying fully the beauty of these tiny flowers. To borrow a line from Shakespeare, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.”
If you recognize the pink flower and can identify it, please let me know what it is. Ten years ago I could not identify a single dragonfly, but over time I have learned a lot about them. There is hope, therefore, that I will similarly expand my knowledge of flowers as I encounter and photograph them.
UPDATE: Thanks to Steve Gingold, I now know that the pink flower is a Deptford Pink (Dianthus armeria), a plant species native to Europe that is naturalized in much of North America. Be sure to check out Steve’s blog for lots of wonderful nature images and a wealth of information about plants, insects, and other aspects of nature, especially in Western New England, where he lives.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
😁, nicely done. I appreciate how hard it is to keep them in focus… frustrating is the word that comes to mind.
I get them confused at times, but I think this is Deptford Pink. The other similar is Maiden Pink.
I agree with Steve — Deptford pink, or grass pink. Check out Dianthus armeria.
Thanks for the assist–I just did a little update to the text of the posting to let other readers know that my “mystery” is now solved.
Mike: I’ve not seen that pink flower before, but I think it might be “Deptford Pink” (Dianthus armeria). I opened my flower guide up to the very page on which this flower appears.
I sort of agree with you about weeds vs flowers. I consider a weed to be something that is growing in a place where you do not want it. For example…when my raspberry bushes start to send up shoots in the pathways between the rows, I consider them to be weeds and mow them down.
Thanks for all your photos!
Judy Howland (Northfield ’61)
Thanks, Judith. I have guides for dragonflies, damselflies, and birds. Maybe it’s to get a flower guide too. I remember reading a quote one time that said, ” A weed is simply and unloved flower.”
There is an app called Picture This that is great for plant and flower identification. As with any app, it’s not 100 percent perfect, but it most often is, and when it’s not it usually gets you researching in the right direction. I use it a lot!
I will have to check out that app–I can use all the help that I can. Thanks for the tip.
They look so fragile 🙂 Nice photos Michael.
Pretty blooms. 💜
Lovely photos!