Flowers, unlike birds, don’t fly off and hide when I approach. They’re like rocks in that regard: delightfully immobile. Perhaps that’s why we get on so well.
But unlike rocks, flowers are brief. A few days, a few months, then gone until next season. These lovely lilies from atop Marys Peak blazed in the warm summer sun: now they are no more.
But they’re glorious while they last. No wonder Ben Jonson eulogized his infant son by speaking of lilies.
The Noble Nature
It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make Man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night –
It was the plant and flower of light.
In small proportions we just beauties see;
And in short measures life may perfect be.
This isn’t likely to be the type of lily that features in Ben Jonson’s memorial, but it belongs to the genus that inspired a genius. And if you visit Marys Peak on a day in July, you can sit in fields full of them, and drink sunshine and poetry while the butterflies flutter around you. They have brief lives, yes, but as the poet said, it’s not the length of time that matters.
Lilium columbianum – Columbia or Tiger Lily
Lovely! It looks like the Michigan lilies we have here in the Midwest, which are one of my favorite summer flowers. Maybe it’s a Columbia lily (Lilium columbianum)?
Don’t know about the lily, but can anyone ID the butterfly? Some kind of fritillary?
The link in #2 is broken, here’s one from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_lily
Quite lovely!
Looks to be a male Greater Fritillary – Speyeria cybele
Nice!
Gorgeous flower! I especially like the last photo – with the butterfly (see? not everything runs from you and your camera!). I second all the identifications mentioned so far.
We have one in our garden, tho we haven’t gotten it to bloom since the first year. Last year deer at the top and this year something sat on it.
That first picture is wow! And what a great thing that despite the amaxing geology yoy see the whole of the land.