ok, thanks Tee. The site is really a pretty cool place located in a vast series of large acreage farming operations .kind of in the middle of nowhere. i've known of the ditch from when I worked for a seed company in the 1980s. I try ro visit there at least once enery August and more if possible. The corn and beans are pretty well up in the fields that surround the ditch offering something of an illusion of privacy that fuels a naturalists dream. My favorite resident and the prime reason I always return there is capture the glory of a healthy colony of Red Lobelia that has thrived there as long as I'v visited there. Additionally, the ditch supports a healthy population of the bottlebrush flower and swamp milkweed (super BF attractants) along with the ubiquitous clover, and a strong stand of regular milkweed and arrowheads. The only mar of this little hidden afternoon delight wildflower mecca is that there's lot of cocklebur, especially where water would run if there was water to run consistently in any damp season. It seems the cocklebur is slowly but irresistibly expanding it's domain. Butterflies are abundant The Monarch and Black Swallowtail are joined by Yellow Sulphurs, white cabbages, White Spotted Skipper, American Coppers, Buckeyes, some fuzzy moths, Painted Lady, and Red Admiral, and lots of bees.
