Gleanings from August

This impressive display of purple coneflowers Chris planted at the College of St. Benedict reminds me of a crowd of people at an outdoor concert–all shapes and sizes enjoying the sunshine and gathered for a common purpose.  In the case of the coneflowers, their common purpose is Beauty!  August and sunshine and purple coneflowers!  Earlier that day while at St. John’s Arboretum, we saw flying sandhill cranes and a pudgy chipmunk who didn’t seem the least bit concerned that we were treading on his home territory.

An evening August visit to Eagle Park revealed bursts of bright sunflowers amid the prairie grasses and a pair of sandhill cranes but no eagles.

One of the most interesting flowers we saw on the banks of the Mississippi River was the Obedient Plant.  It is so named because the individual flowers on the showy spikes can be moved around the stem and will stay where you put them!

One of my favorite flowers we have at home is Joe Pye Weed.  It is also a native plant to eastern and central United States, including Minnesota.  It is close to six feet tall and has large pink-purple blossoms on dark red stems.  We planted it in a relatively sunny clearing in the woods.  And I love its common name–said to be named after a Native American healer who cured the settlers of typhus with the plant.

August brought many visitors to our yard–the doe and her spotted fawns, the wandering posse of turkeys, shy pileated woodpeckers, and the many wrens who hatched their young in the birdhouses.  Another visitor announced his presence one morning with loud screeches.  This young Cooper’s hawk was in an ash tree right outside our door.

And we are getting hints of fall–red leaves on sumac, clusters of white asters, and white berries on red stems of the gray dogwood.

Whether we are one of many in a crowd or a solitary individual, we have a purpose at any given time.  Whether we are flying through the sky or planted in a sunny spot, we are part of a larger community that needs our gifts.  As summer winds down, may you find purpose, the voice to share it with your community, and time in each day for appreciating the Beauty of Nature.