The wildflowers are still coming! It’s amazing to see that it has been five years since I established these flowers. To be able to keep the natural habitats for animals and insects and for all to enjoy this beautiful land. (To read how I established the flowers; click here)

Here we are again at summer! Flowers came in bloom along with lots of wildlife, butterflies, and the birds are filling up on natural seeds! Up the hill is a connected meadow full of flowers as well. This first picture is the hillside in early June filled with part shade flowers that bloom in the late spring/early summer.

Deer, coyotes , skunks, wild turkeys, and Sandhill Cranes cruise through the open space grazing along the way.

In the meadow different variety of flowers grow naturally. The trails lead us through a maze of color and tall grasses to find pops of nature’s treasures!

Fall colors in all around! Not too long ago we were looking at bright colored birds, flowers, and butterflies! Well fall has come around again. We found a hardy caterpillar so we brought it in to hang on to the last bit of summer and watch one of the most beautiful transformations just as summer turns into fall the caterpillar turns into a butterfly!

Bright sunshine fills this month. Living in the moment grasping at the last bit of the summer color before the Maple trees burst with the reds and orange of fall.

Some of the yellow Coreopsis flowers have dwindled through July. The white Queen’s Anne’s Lace, Brown-eyed Susan’s, and the Black-eyed Susan’s are bursting soaking up the summer sunshine! A hobby our daughter enjoys is birdwatching and taking photographs of the birds she sees in our backyard. Some of her photos are included in this month’s post.

The butterflies continued into July.

Welcome back! It’s been a great start to summer once again, this time bringing the butterflies and birds to our flowers!

The change from summer into autumn. The next series of pictures of our Maple trees are taken over a few weeks within October. As summer gradually, yet just over a course of days, fades into fall. We take time to cherish the summer sun and bask in the warm fall colors of bright oranges, yellows, and greens. That is until our first frost of the 2021 season!

Grouping of flowers blooming late into summer.

With the bright colors of summer flowers the butterflies are loving the sweet, sweet nectar of the wild Milkweed which is the perfect habitat to continue their life cycle.

Of course along with the warm weather of summer it also brings the beloved warm summer rain storms. This was a large rain that came in fast and for this the storm drain system is doing it’s job of providing a space for the water to slowly run through. The space has a few pooling areas for large rain to collect, as not to damage yards or even houses. So far we’ve only experienced this a few times and the water lasts less than an hour in the drainage areas.

It is important to keep the drainage system clear of debris to allow the rocks and pools to be able to work correctly when there happens to be a large amount of water. The rock piles slow the moving water before entering a drainage pipe underground, which flows into a neighboring pond.

Thanks to this drainage system the rain water does not wash away or harm the natural open space area.