The Great Lawn is an acre of turf located between the Community Building and the Woodland Trails. Lawns are not noted for biological diversity, except that this one contains a rain garden some 40 ft in diameter designed, it’s my guess, as a catchment for rainstorm runoff from the extensive parking lots 100 ft to the South.
The rain garden was home this week for golden daisies which, even from a distance, showed brilliant red centers. They thus differ from the completely yellow Lance-leaved Coreopsis that once dominated our meadows and are now making a comeback.
These daisies are the Plains Coreopsis, aptly named C. tinctoria for its brilliant red center. They are not native to South Jersey but are dominant throughout states to our west. They share with our local Coreopsis, dentate petals, slender stems and lance-like leaves.
This Pearl Crescent butterfly is nectaring on one.
A female Halloween Pennant, recognizable by the unique gold venation on its wings, displays with abandon.