For Love of Art

My photographic art of wildflowers on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia...

© 2007 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Permissions for commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Ironweed and Skippers

Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis) blooms July-September in moist woods, marshes and along streams in the Blue Ridge region.

The Skippers are a group of insects in the order Lepidoptera, classified in the superfamily Hesperioidea, which includes only one family, the Hesperiidae.

© 2007 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

Natures Garden

This stand of wildflowers sits right in front of a line of trees on a cliff on the Appalachian Trail…

© 2007 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Permissions for commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis)

This wildflower grows 2 to 7 feet tall and blooms July-September in moist woods, marshes, and along streams in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

© 2007 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Permissions for commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis)

This lovely little wildflower can be found in white-deep pink and grows 1 to 3 feet tall along roadsides and fields in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia…it blooms July-October.

© 2007 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Permissions for commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

A Bouquet of One—Cardinal Flower

The Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) grows1 to 6 feet tall and blooms July-September along stream-sides, marshes, and low woods in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

© 2007 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Permissions for commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Wild Quinine (Parthenium integrifolium)

This beautiful wildflower blooms from June-August in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and grows 1 to 4 feet tall on roadsides, open woods, and fields.

© 2007 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Permissions for commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Blue Ridge Summer Wildflowers

Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)



A European introduction to the Blue Ridge Mountains that grows 2-6 ft. tall and can be found in pastures, fields, and along roadsides…It’s a beautiful plant!

© 2007 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.


Bachelor’s Button (Centaurea cyanus)



This is not the cultivar that you may have in your garden but the wildflower that it was derived from. It grows 1-3 ft. tall in fields and along roadsides in the Blue Ridge Mountains…It can be found in blue to purple, pink or white.

© 2007 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.


Flowering Spurge (Euhorbia corollata)



Blooms June-October in the Blue Ridge Mountains and grows 1-3 ft. tall along roadsides, fields, and open woods. In the same family of plants as the poinsettia.

© 2007 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.


Tickseed (Coreopsis verticillata)



Blooms in June and July, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, growing 1-3 ft. tall and can be found along roadsides, fields, and open woods.

© 2007 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.


Three-leaved Rosinweed (Silphium trifoliatum)



This wildflower grows 4-10 ft. tall and blooms July-September in the open woods and fields in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

© 2007 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.


Low Bindweed (Convolvulus spithamacus)



A look at the profile of the Low Bindweed which grows from 3” to 1 ½ ft. tall along roadsides and fields in the Blue Ridge.

© 2007 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Permissions for commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Wild Pink (Silene carolliniana)

This beauty grows 2-8 inches tall on open rocky banks and open wood borders in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia early to mid-spring.

© 2007, D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Columbine close-up

A close-up of one of our native columbine here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia…

© 2007, D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Fly on the Weed

There’s a fly on my butterfly weed…Best viewed large…

© 2007, D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberose)

Varies in color from yellow to red but is most common bright orange…grows 1-2 ½ ft. throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains…

© 2007, D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Eloquence in May

The beautiful and eloquent columbine grows in the fields and meadows and blooms its delightful swag in May in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia…

© 2007, D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Post…

A torn posted sign, an old Jeep, and a field full of buttercups…taken on a back road in Bedford County, Virginia in early May.

This is a compilation of 3 subsequent exposures done in HDR. (High Dynamic Range)

© 2007, D L Ennis, All rights reserved.


NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Daisies

An Impressionistic look at wildflower daisies through use of the Orton technique.

© 2007, D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Spring Trail

A hike on a Blue Ridge Mountain trail among the April wildflowers… HDR and a bit of Orton.

© 2007, D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

Mountain Laurel

The Mountain Laurel, Kalmia latifolia, is in full bloom throughout the Appalachians May through July. This beautiful evergreen shrub, in the Heath family (Ericaceae), has broad, glossy leaves and a fibrous crooked trunk. Growing in thickets, they were once described by North Carolina poet Fred Chappell as "laurel hells," and are found on rocky slopes, balds, and in deciduous forests. In the Carolinas, Laurel will grow taller, forming small trees, while in more northern climates, they grow as shorter shrubs.

Laurels are long-lived: as many as 100 tree rings have been reported on larger specimens. They are also relatively tolerant of fire and come back even when the stems are cut to the ground.

The bell-shaped flowers grow in clusters, range from white to pink with deep rose stars inside.

Known to my grandparents as Mountain Ivy, Mountain Laurel is also known as IvyBush, Calico Bush, Spoonwood, Sheep Laurel, and Lambkill. Although all parts of the plant are poisonous, the native Cherokee used and infusion of its leaves for a liniment. The trunks were used by Native American and the early mountain settlers to carve tool handles, spoons and other utensils. The burls were used to carve tobacco pipes.

The Mountain Laurel is the state flower of both Connecticut and Pennsylvania. It will always remind me of my grandparents, who every year made a pilgrimage along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina to see these beautiful blooms. Today, I'm lucky enough that I only have to walk up the hill from my house to be blessed with the lovely sight of them.

Sources: The Native Plant Information Network of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center; USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers.

Photos by and property of Wesley J. Satterwhite.