Today is about five and one half months since my last update. I know this slog (slow, irregular blog) would be intermittent at best, but I didn’t think I would pause this long a time between posts. There is a reason, of course: I have been out photographing at the Peacock Prairie on the The James Woodworth Prairie at least once-a-week, if not more, starting in April, and still ongoing now a the end of October.

What a growing season 2010 has been for northeastern Illinois. First record rain for both spring and summer. Record heat for the summer, the warmest summer since weather records were started 180 years ago. Record dryness and warmth for the fall of 2010. The results have been summarized as: summer was hellish, and fall was summerlike.

The results have been record growth and record bloom. This morning, October 26, a hybrid bearded iris bloomed in my home garden. The prairie, and everywhere else, has seen amazing amounts of rebloom, plants trying to get in two blooming cycles in one growing season.

The photo to the right is of Aster novae-angliae NEW ENGLAND ASTER as one of these blooms started to open and was caught by a cool night, the ray-flowers curling in response to the cold.