VIBURNUM LANTANA, HAWKWEED AND BUTTERCUP

VIBURNUM LANTANA BUSH IN BLOOM...

...COMPOUND FLOWERS

ORANGE HAWKWEED AND BUTTERCUP

Monday, 8:15 AM.  71 degrees at the ferry dock, 65 on the back porch. Wind NW, light-moderate. The sky is a mixture of clouds, clear sky and haze.  The humidity is 68% and the barometer is steady or down a bit, at 29.61".  It will be a warm summer day (and everyone will complain about the heat) with a strong chance of rain tonight.
  Viburnum lantana, the wayfaring tree, in the honeysuckle family, is blooming in the front yard shade garden.  A native of Eurasia, it is an important landscape shrub, as are all of the hardy Viburnums.  The flowers are very showy, the flowers at the center of the bloom  will bear red edible fruit, while the larger,  sterile white flowers along the perimeter attract pollinators.  The Viburnums are hardy, useful plants with good flowering characteristics, attractive fruit and good fall color.
   Two European weeds are very attractive roadside plants that often grow in association.  I have discussed orange hawkweed in the 6/23/14 blog; and the common yellow buttercup, Ranunculus arvensus, in the buttercup family, is blooming in roadside ditches everywhere now.