The red Cardinal Flowers are so pretty by the side of the pond on the Silver Spring Trail at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary . We were amazed at how many different kinds of wildflowers we saw along the trail. (Click on blog link for other photo.)
“Cardinal flower is a brilliant scarlet-colored native wildflower that grows in marshes, stream banks and low woods. Its extremely showy blossoms can be recognized at considerable distance. Few native plants have flowers of such intense color as this common herbaceous perennial. The Cardinal flower is a member of the Bluebell Family.”
The vibrant Goldenrod wildflowers are blooming all along the trails on Cape Cod. These golden wildflowers have taken over the pink Wild Roses and Sweet Pea wildflowers of earlier this summer at Fort Hill.
Have you hiked Fort Hill lately? The meadows are “golden!”
The Water-Willow wildflowers are blooming on the Cape near the swamps and ponds. They are an aquatic shrub with magenta flowers that grow in whorls. (Click on blog link to see the interesting whorls.)
The flowers are only 1/2 to 1 inch while the plants grow up to 9 feet tall. I’ve seen Water-Willows on the boardwalk on the Red Maple Swamp Trail at Fort Hill and along the banks of the Silver Spring Trail at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary is just gorgeous this year. They have done a beautiful job creating a flower garden with walking paths so that people can really enjoy the natural environment. (Click on blog link for other photos.)
There are so many different varieties of flowers that bloom at all different times of the summer.
I was just commenting to Phil that I hadn’t seen an Indian Pipe wildflower yet this summer. And then, not even 5 minutes later, there was one on the side of the John Kendrick Woods Trail. It was perfect, under the tree with a little bit of sun shining on it.
Indian Pipe, a whitish, waxy, scaly stalk with nodding bell-shaped flowers, does not contain chlorophyll, so it doesn’t photosynthesize. Its nutrients come from decaying matter. They bloom in the rich woods from July through September, so you still have time to see it.
Have you ever seen one?
Cape Cod daily articles on the wonderful Cape Cod places to hike, experience and photograph. A Cape Cod Outdoor Adventure Series.
