Heading South

photo above - Blue Star Memorial plaque, Oregon.

 

It's time to head South and make our way toward California.  As we drove through the state of Washington, I kept noticing wonderful sunny, yellow wildflowers that remind me of California's yellow Scotch Broom . . . only the ones in Washington are gigantic.

Unfortunately when my hubby is driving he drives with a mission in mind; "Get where we're going without delay"  so I missed many an opportunity to photo these impressive wild flowers.

Somewhere in the state of Oregon, John pulls into a rest stop where I manage to retrieve my little camera and snap a few photos. 

Photo above - Emblem of USA flag at the base of "The Blue Star Memorial Highway" plaque.  Flag is made using red, white and blue stone chips and wood.  Looks like it could use a bit of straightening up but I'm sure that both the weather and the tourist are hard on it.
 

photo above - Wildflowers at Oregon rest stop.

 

I'm lucky at this particular rest stop as there is an area lush with yellow Scotch Broom and beautiful Queen Anne's Lace.

 

 

Back in my high school days, one of my assigned science projects was to collect wildflower specimens, and press and dry them.  After they were adequately preserved, I had to take the pressings and make them into a notebook.  It took weeks of work, first to collect the many samples of flowers, along with their stems and some leaves, and then the time consuming process of pressing them between sheets of paper and under a fair amount of weight, and allow them to remain untouched until thoroughly dry.  Since a flower press was not among my possessions, I had to round up all the biggest, heaviest, books available in our home.  Thankfully we did own a set of Encyclopedia Britannica and they really carried their weight  during this school assignment.   [pun intended] :)

 

I gained a lot from that science project, it taught me the names of many of my area's wildflowers and I learned a bit about each plant.  For instance I learned that the stems and branches of these yellow flowered Scotch brooms  were indeed once used to make brooms for sweeping.

 

Photo above - Close up of the Scotch Broom flower cluster.  It is considered a noxious weed but what a pretty weed it can be when blooming.

 

Photo below - I have never before seen such a large and beautiful Queen Anne's Lace blossom.  It was huge, about the size of a dinner plate and absolutely perfect.

 

When I see all the divine flowers that are grown up in the Northern states it makes me envious.  Deep in South Florida our soil is sandy and lacking in rich compost, the humidity is high and encourages mold and mildew on plants and our southern heat discourages many plants from establishing themselves.  As for bugs, they are pleantiful and ravenous for anything with a tender green leaf or stem.