Amish and plants

Today we decided to drive through a part of Wisconsin with a concentration of Amish farms. We had done this before, but we always seemed to be there on Sunday when none of their shops were open. So today we determined we would do better.

Not so much. We saw lots of Amish: men and boys plowing behind horses,  teenagers driving horse-drawn wagons through small towns or straw-hatted fathers and little boys in carriages pulled up steep hills by straining horses, women hanging out laundry to dry. But we saw no shops of any great interest -- mostly places where they sold furniture or kitchen cabinets or eggs or candy. We stopped at one place that had several small shops arranged as a sort of village. There was an ice cream shop, crafts, a children's store, candy and baked goods and so on. But a sign outside one of the shops explained that although the buildings had been made by "our Amish friends," that was as far as the Amish part went. Except for a few bags of candy, it was obvious that everything on sale was commercially produced and much of it foreign to Amish values as well as Amish handiwork.

We were disappointed about not finding shops with things like quilts and woven goods. On the other hand, it was a beautiful day for a drive on winding roads through hilly country and farmland. We drove over Wildcat Mountain again -- always an adventure. I would not want to do that in winter! Very sharp turns and steep inclines would not be fun on ice.

Along the way I was taking note of wildflowers. Most of what I saw are things that are blooming here, but there were lots of wild columbine plants. I had been looking for them on Berry Road a few days ago and saw none. When we got back home, I went out and found some blooming between our house and Jerry's farm. They must have popped out in the last day or two.

Here are some of the wildflowers and other blooming shrubs around at the moment.

There are lots of wild geraniums in the ditches along Berry Road, by Jerry's field across from the house and in the edges of the woods. 

The palmate leaves are almost as interesting as the flowers.

Wild phlox. For some reason, purple flowers make me think autumn.

Wild columbine, looking a bit like Memorial Day fireworks

Lots of elderberry bushes.

Birds love the berries and do their part to spread the bushes around.

Wild honeysuckle

This particular honeysuckle is a shrub, not a vine, and we have it in white-and-yellow and in a sort of pinkish version. Tom says they are invasive, but I am not sure it they are invasive in the technical sense (not native to the area) or just invasive in that they will take over an area and drive other plants out. I like them because they remind me of the honeysuckle vines we had in Texas when I was growing up. The blooms on the shrubs, however, are tiny in comparison to the vines. I have seen red honeysuckle vines for sale in local greenhouses and am tempted to get some started on a trellis somewhere. Even if they were to be invasive, there is no real danger. I am always making plans for plants this time of year but never do anything.