Tahoe wildflowers. I've posted a number of entries describing my hike back in July on the Tahoe Rim Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. I saw plenty more wildflowers than I've mentioned so far which I'll sift through in the weeks ahead. For example as I walked towards Carson Pass on the PCT I came across this beautiful high mountain meadow dotted with hundreds of Irises.

 Working on the allotment at the weekend the local robin quickly appeared and surveyed the scene from the seedheads of the Globe Artichokes. Looking for some tasty morsels no doubt.

 Rosehips are a sure sign that we are entering autumn...

 Can't say I've ever grown them but Cosmos are a half-hardy annual that adds a dash of bright colour to sunny late summer borders.
 The wild species are of the Americas but a great many cultivars and hybrids have been developed by plant breeders in many different hues. I saw these recently at the Cambridge Botanical Gardens.

 Very few plants flower under the shade of trees and shrubs in late summer/early autumn. On the whole shade tolerant plants are woodlanders that bloom in spring before the leaves darken the canopy.
 Even so there is colour to be found (I mean besides the colour green). Our native Arum maculatum and its relative Arum italicum both put up a spike of orange/red berries at this time of year.
 I saw these in a shady border at the South London Botanical Institute last week; not sure which Arum they are as the leaves have faded by now. Of course not all berries are edible. Succulent as they look Arums are a poisonous plant. 

 Tahoe trails part 10. I saw plenty of lakes during my 10 day hike in the Lake Tahoe area. I camped by Showers Lake for 3 nights and Dardenelles Lake for 3 nights. I passed by Round Lake and walked over to Scott's Lake. I hiked out to Lake Aloha in the Desolation Wilderness via the Lower and Upper Echo Lakes.
 One lake I saw very little of was Lake Tahoe although it is one of the largest and deepest in the States. I arrived by bus in the town of South Lake Tahoe on the 19th. of July and left from there on the 28th. but the lake itself was some way away from the South Y Transit Center. My hike into the Meiss Roadless Area took me away from the lake - about 15 miles away at the furthest point. The Meiss Meadows and the surrounding mountains form a watershed that drains into Lake Tahoe.
 From time to time I saw a glimpse of Lake Tahoe in the distance. On the first and last two nights I camped near Echo Summit in a spot which offered a splendid vista, as seen above at sunset on the 27th. July. On the horizon is the far rim of the Tahoe basin, a good 20 or 30 miles away. Below that a sliver of blue is just about visible which is the lake glinting in the twilight.
 On July 28th. I rose early and hiked back the way I came down the Old Meyers Grade thereby returning to the world of malls, motor vehicles and humanity. 

 The tall stems of Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) and their vivid inflorescence grow alongside water in late summer. Bees are still hungry but the majority of of flowering plants have peaked and waned by now. Purple Loosestrife provides a valuable source of pollen and nectar for honey bees and long and short tongued bumblebees, butterflies too.