Coneflowers

They are everywhere in midsummer, sturdy, almost weedy flowers with the delicately draping skirts and bristly centers. They have been cultivated in other colors but these are what you see most often. Those glowing centers are enchanting in the backlit "golden hour" of the morning or late afternoon but honestly, I have a hard time embracing the clash of magenta petals paired with rusty-orange centers. Yes, those same colors appear together in dramatic sunsets and striated canyon walls in the West. So I will trust that Mother Nature knows what she is doing and learn to love the common coneflower.