Have You Ever Heard of a Northern Catalpa Tree?

This is the beginning of the walk along the expressway just at dusk which is nice because it is shady the whole way!

Well, I have just spent the past hour trying to find the name of this flowering tree which I saw on my walk last evening, growing in the wild. It is not easy to identify something when you have no idea what it is except that it is a tree growing in NY and it has beautiful white orchid looking flowers. But finally I succeeded and now I want one! It is the Northern Catalpa. The leaves are very large and the flowers are in large clusters and look like miniature orchids -- I have a weakness for orchids...

Surprisingly, my pictures of sweet peas really came out well. They grow wild along the fence next to a very busy expressway, along which there is a pedestrian walkway which you can see above.

It always amazes me how many different kinds of wildflowers you can find along these narrow wild areas. I probably saw at least four or five other varieties. It was very windy and a getting toward sunset, so picture taking can be a bit challenging as there is not enough light to get the shutter speed fast enough!