This week brought lavender flowers, green fruit and an overabundance of frogs.

I found American bellflower (Campanula americana) blooming along the Duck Hollow trail with some plants reaching six feet tall. My close-up, above, shows how the pistils avoid being fertilized by their own pollen.

Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) always has a bad hair day. At Schenley Park a long-legged insect stopped by for a sip (top right of flower).

In July the unripe fruits of white fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus) are green. This fall they’ll turn dark blue.

At Panther Hollow Lake and the Westinghouse Memorial pond, pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata) is blooming …

… and there’s a serious overabundance of bullfrogs. Here are just a few examples.

Herons don’t nest at Schenley Park but may visit for some easy prey. Where’s a great blue heron when you need one?

(photos by Kate St. John)