Bindweed 🎕 Colusa National Wildlife Refuge 🎕 Northern California Wildflowers

During our visit to the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, we saw so many wonderful wildflowers growing along the auto tour route!

This is Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), also known as perennial morning glory, smallflowered morning glory, creeping jenny, and possession vine.

When I first started taking photos of wildflowers, I swore my camera was out to make things difficult. I couldn't get the macro setting to work and my flowers kept coming out blurry. Turns out, it wasn't my camera's fault, but the operator (me!). I've learned that I actually need to take the photo from further back and zoom in and it comes out crystal clear, rather than trying to get as close as possible and struggling with getting it to focus.

Photography, just like everything else is a learning process. You learn about yourself and more about how to use your equipment until it becomes a joy to do...

Chicory 🎕 Sutter National Wildlife Refuge 🎕 Northern California Wildflowers

It's always extra exciting to see blue flowers out in the wild because there just aren't as many of them as there are other colors. I like that this photo shows the profile of the blooms as they hang on to the stem for dear life...

We spotted this vibrant chicory on the roadside in front of the Sutter National Wildlife Refuge near Yuba City, in Northern California.


Common chicory (Cichorium intybus) is also known as blue daisy, blue dandelion, blue sailors, blue weed, bunk, coffeeweed, cornflower, hendibeh, horseweed, ragged sailors, succory, wild bachelor's buttons, and wild endive.

Welcome to Wildflower Wednesday!

When I started hiking my way across Northern California, I had no idea I'd find so many beautiful wildflowers! It didn't take long for my travel blog Vaughn the Road Again to become swamped with photos of poppies, lupine and wild sunflowers, so I decided it was time to give my wildflower photography its own home at Wildflower Wednesday.

Setting up a new website takes time, so bear with me as I get everything set up and posted. Between my full-time job writing romance novels and my birding photography over at Wings and Daydreams, I hope I haven't bit off more than I can chew!

Regardless, I've fallen in love with taking close-up photos of these pretty little blooms and this is a great place to keep them organized. You can expect new posts here every Wednesday and over on Instagram and Twitter, too.

By the way, I think it's worth mentioning that I don't filter, crop or edit my photos in any way. The camera gear I use can be found here.

Together, we can enjoy these happy blooms and learn the names of the wonderful wildflowers I find on my travel adventures to Lassen Volcanic National Park, my local wildlife refuges and everywhere else in between...

Here's to blooming wherever you can find sunshine and not just where you're planted!

Rachelle Vaughn

Let's go chasing wildflowers!

For info about my books and my life as a romance author, go to www.rachellevaughn.com.

Find my birding adventures at Wings and Daydreams.

To see where I'm exploring next, check out Vaughn the Road Again.