one man's flower is another man's weed

Starting in mid May, dame's rocket blooms throughout the county. Its white, pink and violet blooms form vast seas of color. I've always loved the way it looks. It's considered an invasive species, and some states request that hikers pull up the plant, roots and all if they come upon it in the woods.

Dame's rocket is often mistaken for a similar perennial called Phlox. Phlox blooms about the same time, has the same color range but is labeled a "flower" rather than "weed". The easiest way to tell the two apart is to count the petals on the flower: dame's rocket has four, phlox five. Phlox also has five letters. Now you won't forget.

From eight or ten feet away, I can't see if the flowers have four petals or five. I have to get closer to see if it's ugly or not.

The watercolor was done as a modbook experiment, but that aspect of it is only incidental. I think the tool served my purpose adequately.