Pokeweed is a very distinctive, succulent plant here on Cape Cod. Its 1/4″ flowers are racemes with 5 white to pinkish round waxy sepals and green centers. Its leaves are large and egg-shaped. The stems turn red with age and the berries turn a dark blue.
It is a large plant which grows from 4-10 feet and blooms from July to September in open woods and fields. I saw these Pokeweeds at Fort Hill in Eastham along the side of the trail by the Nauset Marsh.
In the first photograph you can see the buds before they bloom to the left and as they bloom on the right. In the 2nd photograph you can see the dark blue berries that hang from the plant and look like grapes.
After reading one of the comments, I realized that Pokeweeds are very toxic plants, both the berries and the stem. Stay far away!
This Northern Flicker has been hanging around the bird feeders at my home here on Cape Cod. I think he might be a juvenile in that he didn’t quite know what to do.
He hopped across my yard and kept looking up at the bird feeder. Then he flew up there and tried to get on, but he is much too big to stand on that little peg. So he went up to the top of the pole and stared at me (2nd photograph). He looked so funny. I was able to click the first photograph as he was looking around.
After he saw a Hairy Woodpecker maneuver the suet, he latched on and comes quite frequently now.
Beautiful bird, don’t you think? Love the yellow under his wings and tail!
This pretty Common St.-John’s-Wort wildflower was growing along the side of the parking lot here in Eastham on Cape Cod. It is so delicate with its many stamens.
Common St.-John’s-Wort grows to about 20″ tall with bright yellow flowers with have 5 petals that are are black-dotted on the edges. It blooms from June to August along roadsides and waste areas.
Have you ever seen a Common St.-John’s-Wort wildflower? Pretty, don’t you think?
