A sampling of the great summer wildflowers now in bloom along the Upper Deckers Creek Trail. From top: black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta); Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum); wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), visited by an Eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus); yet more Joe Pye weed, because one can never get enough of this gorgeous summer giant, especially the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus); flowering spurge (Euphorbia corollata), a very showy member of an otherwise unassuming genus; Turk's-cap lily (Lilium superbum); cutleaf coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata), also known as green-headed coneflower and goldenglow; New York ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis); summer phlox (Phlox paniculata); swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), also known as rose milkweed; and hoary skullcap (Scutellaria incana).
