white camas, Anticlea elegans, Lenawee Co MI 7/16/11

I'm sitting here looking out at a Michigan winter as I begin this.  It's beautiful in its own way.  But my focus is wildflowers.  Be it winter, or a host of other limits, we can't always stop to see the flowers.  I hope I can enable us to have a daily moment of nature's beauty.  Mostly of wildflowers, and occasionally with other images of nature's beauty.

I've had a lifelong interest in photography and nature, focused mostly on plants and flowers.  My digital world dawned on Christmas 2010 with a Canon from my wife.  I suspect she knew I would go into a wildflower daze.  It's one that I'm delighted to share.  By doing so, my hope is to stimulate interest in wildflowers, nature and conservation.  A sharp focus on the natural world is hugely important in these times.

The images will be of plants that occur wild in the United States and the rest of North America north of Mexico.  Each entry will include the range, based mostly on information from the USDA Plants website.  Designations such as E or T in parentheses after the state indicate threatened status.  Other letters are specific to states and should be referenced in their listings.  While the flowers all grow wild, images from gardens will be included.  I'm in Michigan.  The closer a plant's home is to here, the more likely you are to see it.  With the pictures, I will include whens and wheres, and other thoughts.  I do my best to correctly identify each plant, but suggestions in that regard are welcome.  Additional comments often appear on the blog page, with various images from nature.  Finally, a big thank you to my digitally up-to-date daughter, Jennifer Landstrom, for her indispensible help with this. 

Robert W Smith