Killing frost is looming over the Ozarks. Already plants are preparing for winter. I am looking through my pictures remembering wild flowers I saw over the summer.
This has been a tough year so I didn’t get to go walking as much as I would like. Most of the flowers I saw were familiar ones. Some were not new, but were incomplete for my Dent County Flora.
Big Reason
I joined the Missouri Native Plant Society years ago. They take part in the citizen science listings on iNaturalist (www.inaturalist.org). Now and again I post pictures of flowers on the site.
Identification of the flowers can be difficult. Since this site has many people checking over the pictures and identifying the flowers, I find it helpful. There are those flowers the site has trouble with namely asters, goldenrods and sunflowers. I do too.
Another Reason
Since I do work on the Dent County Flora from time to time, I need to have my wild flower pictures. Although many are still on my computer, backup is important.
There have been years when my picture stash for one year has been over a gigabyte. (One year was over 3!) I don’t want that much sitting on my computer. They are copied onto flash drives.
Personal Reason
I enjoy remembering wild flowers I’ve seen and photographed over the summer. As winter cold moves in, I can look back to bask in the summer sun.
Sorting through the pictures and preparing them to post on iNaturalist, I identify the old friends and try to name the new ones. There are many I didn’t take pictures of because I have so many of them already. Now I wish I had as one or two more wouldn’t hurt.
And I find the ones that complete sets for my Flora. Over the winter these will fill out more pages and help me make out a list to search for in the spring.
There is more about the wild flowers of the Ozarks in Exploring the Ozark Hills.
