My Introduction to Wildflowers

- Me and Patrick at the Habitat Garden at Hawk Mountain 8/21/05 - The day that started it all.

About a year ago I took my boyfriend, Patrick, away for his birthday. He's a birder so I chose Hawk Mountain as one of our destinations during the long weekend away. We enjoyed a nice hike up the mountain to many beautiful overlooks, including the River of Rocks. Patrick got to see several Cooper's Hawks and an adult Bald Eagle, which was very exciting. Overall, it was a great hike and my first one ever! Once back at the bottom, we stopped at the Habitat Garden. This is where I got my first dose of Newcomb's Wildflower Guide and Peterson's Field Guide to Wildflowers. The books seemed confusing at first but interesting nonetheless. I became an instant addict. On the way back to our home in NJ, we stopped at Hoffman Park, where Patrick pointed out and identified many flowers while I tried to memorize them. I'll never forget walking around pointing and reciting, "Queen Anne's Lace, Butter and Eggs, White Clover, and Touch-Me-Not" over and over commiting them to memory. It was amazing. I don't know what I was doing before but I'd never looked at nature like this, espeicially flowers. I held onto those books and started looking up flowers everywhere I went. One day I walked around my parents' property looking up every little thing. If it had a flower on it, I was determined to identify it. It's been almost a year and I thank Patrick every day for introducing me to my new love of nature. We hike almost every weekend and some weeknights after work. We've become one of those "nature couples". While Patrick looks up at the birds, I look down at the flowers. Together, we've got it all covered.

I hope you visit often to follow my journey with wildflowers. While you're at it, you can take a peek at Patrick's blog to learn about birds and other nature related info at The Hawk Owl's Nest.