Purple Fringed Orchid

 

The Purple Loosestrife, blooming along Portage Creek, caught my eye first.  While its flowers are pretty, it's an invasive exotic that easily dominates wet habitats.  Continuing along the trail at Bicentennial Park, I noticed many other purple flowers: Red Clover, Swamp Milkweed, Chicory, Bergamot, and Blue Vervain.  All the purple blossoms primed me to see a native flower I'd never noticed before: Purple Fringed Orchid.

Purple Fringed Orchids  (Platanthera psycodes) grow in moist soil, scattered throughout the eastern US and Canada.  They are protected species in parts of their range.  (It's possible this plant was the very similar, and closely related, Platanthera grandiflora.)  I was surprised to see such a beautiful wildflower in such an ordinary place.
   

Prairie flowers

While the spring ephemerals are long dormant, the long days of summer have brought lots of flowers to Asylum Lake's restored prairie.

Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) attracted lots of honey bees to its purple blossoms.

We didn't see any butterflies on this Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) although we did see Monarchs on some Common Milkweed.

Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata)

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) inspired, according to some, Western Michigan University's school colors.