Of the fields.

I was very surprised today to see a small stand of large hop clover (Trifolium campestre) still growing in Vinoland.  A native of Europe, this cool-season clover should be just about at an end for 2012. With it's distinctive hop flower-like blooms already beginning to turn brown as they go to seed, the days on which an industrious ladybird can clamber over this clover's cheery-looking flowers are well and truly numbered.  Never mind, this beneficial legume will hopefully be back next year to continue to work it's nitrogen-fixing magic on Vinoland's soil.