Fencerows and Wildflowers

This is a continuation of my recent photo shoot along some of the country roads near Vicksburg. My first story featured a visit with some delightful Jerusalem Donkeys that were grazing near the frontage road along I-20, between Vicksburg and Jackson. If you would like to read that post, you can click on the link.

After I left the donkeys, my attention was drawn to the colorful fencerows which were covered by tangled masses of Trumpet Vines and all kinds of wild berry vines. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them, if you would like to get a closer look ...

The colorful red and gold leaves reminded me that Fall is just around the corner.

I enjoy photographing trumpet vines, and always find something new and interesting about them.

I love the way the sun filtered through the petals of the large trumpet in the center of this picture ...

The sunlight was filtering through the leaves on this row of trees, too, and I did a double take as I passed by them.

There was no traffic coming, so I backed up and captured them quickly with my camera.

I pulled off the road to photograph the next fencerow. I'm not sure what the name of this plant is, but I think it's pretty.

I love the way the little tendrils curl around the stem ...

Just down the road a bit, I noticed this big guy enjoying a quiet moment in the midday shade.

I tried to get him to look at the camera, but he didn't even flinch, and rudely put me on ignore.

One of the things I love most about my photo shoots is that I almost always learn something new about the subjects I capture in my pictures, and my "fencerow" shoot was no exception.

This time I learned what these large green pods are ...

When I showed my pictures to my husband, he said he thought they were Maypops, so I checked Google images and, sure enough, I found pictures that confirmed he was right — they were, indeed, Maypop seed pods.

I was glad I had picked a couple and brought them home with me so I could see what was inside them.

And here is what I found when I cut them open:

Seeds inside the green pod ...

Seeds inside the dried pod ...

According to Wikipedia, Maypop (also known as Purple Passionflower, Wild Apricot Vine, and Wild Passion Vine) is a fast growing perennial vine with climbing or trailing stems. The Maypop has large, intricate flowers and is a common wildflower in the southern United States, found mostly in thickets, near riverbanks, and near unmowed pastures, roadsides, and railroads. It is the Tennessee State Wildflower.

The flowers are large and showy, and normally bloom in July. Here is a picture I found on the Internet of a Maypop bloom:

[Photographer: Norman G. Flaigg]

I wish I had known about Maypop vines in July — I would have loved capturing pictures of some of those gorgeous blooms.

I hope you enjoyed taking this little adventure with me. Perhaps you can get out this holiday weekend and explore the changing season for yourself. There is definitely a change in the air here in Mississippi ... and it's a good one!

Fence Row Trumpets

Last week, I did a photo shoot featuring scenes from a few Country Roads around Vicksburg (you can click on the link, if you would like to read that post).Today, I'd like to share some pictures I captured during that shoot of Trumpet Vines growing along one of the fence rows.

One of the prettiest and most colorful fence row vines, Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans) is also known as Trumpet Creeper and by a not-so-pretty name, Cow Itch Vine (because it produces a skin irritant that may cause redness, burning, and itching in susceptible individuals). Its bright orange (or yellow) trumpet-shaped flowers attract hummingbirds from miles around, but the plant is quite invasive and will grow to heights of 40 feet, covering everything in its path.

Its flowers are truly glorious, and I enjoyed seeing them up close through my lens and capturing them with my camera (you can click on the photos, if you'd like to see them closer).

While researching Trumpet Vines for this post, everything I read about them mentioned that they attract hummingbirds, but I did not see one hummingbird while I was photographing these vines. I can just imagine how exciting that would be, though — to capture hummingbirds swarming amongst those gorgeous flowers ... oh, be still my heart!

Are they not exquisite!

If you are traveling down a country road this Fall, and see trumpet vines growing on a fence row, I hope you will stop and take the time to see them up close for yourself. Who knows — you may even get to see some hummingbirds, too!

P.S. — If you are a regular visitor to Pat's Back Porch Musings, and can't find her, you can click on this link to visit her new TypePad blog: Back Porch Musings. The old blog disappeared for some reason, but Pat has created a new Back Porch Musings, and I'm sure it will be as lovely as the original. Hope you will join her there!

Song of the Trumpet Vine

I had to run an errand yesterday morning, and decided to take my cameras with me and capture some pictures for a post I'm going to publish later this week. Sometimes, I find lagniappe that is even better than what I originally set out to capture, and that is what happened yesterday.

I was photographing a church across the street from this building, when I noticed the Trumpet Vine growing on the rickety old fence.

I guess you either love Trumpet Vine or hate it, and I fall into the "love it" category. I enjoyed seeing it through my camera lens, especially close up. You can click on the images to enlarge them, if you would like to see it even closer.

Here is a preview of a picture that is going to be featured in the post I originally planned to get pictures for ... Can you guess what the subject is going to be?