I drive by this pasture at least once a week. Although the image looks rural, if you pulled back on the shot you would see that it’s actually on the corner of a busy thoroughfare right in town.  I often gauge the change of seasons by what’s happening in and around this field at various times of the year (you can view a couple of the images here and here.)

I set out last night to get a shot of the field as the owners had recently harvested its wheat crop.  As often happens though, once there I was sidetracked by something completely different – in this case a patch of purple coneflowers poking through an old barbed-wire fence.

Coneflowers are the quintessential Midwest perennial, and you see them in many home gardens. They have it all: beauty, hardiness, native habitat and they’re attractive to goldfinches, hummingbirds, bees and butterflies.

The sight of purple coneflowers in front of a field of gold is about as summer a scene as one will find in the Midwest in mid July.

Oh, and the pretty gold field stubble is still visible in the background. 🙂