Every suburban homeowner’s most detested enemy, the dandelion is also one of our most stunningly beautiful wildflowers. Old Pa Pitt offers these photographs as an example of the rewards that await us when we learn to overcome our prejudices.

Grape hyacinths are perfect garden flowers: they pop up, show off, and multiply without asking for any special care.

Creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) in a size big enough to make into your desktop wallpaper.

A patch of violets glows as the afternoon sun hits a grassy hillside in a small city park.

In western Pennsylvania, we call it an onion snow: the last snow of the season, late enough that you can see the tops of the onions through the snow. It’s the cue for every good Pittsburgher to say, “We’ve never had weather like this before.”

Winter is a beautiful time of year, but sometimes in the cold and snow it’s good to remember summer. Here’s a small taste of midsummer in the woods and meadows around Pittsburgh.

The rough-fruited cinquefoil, Potentilla recta.

A woodland waterfall.

A red clover, Trifolium pratense.

A white clover, Trifolium repens, in an unusually strong bicolor.

A birdfoot trefoil, Lotus corniculatus.

When you come across any wildflower in Pittsburgh and nearby, Wildflowers of Western Pennsylvania is an essential resource. Dr. Bob Zuberbuhler has built a unique and comprehensive Web reference, both informative and beautiful.

One of the small delights of city life is the weeds. In the country, we take weeds for granted. But in the city, weeds are often garden escapes that flourish in unlikely places. Here are three urban weeds from half a block of the same street:

A morning glory growing from a crack in the sidewalk. This is actually a native wildflower, but often grown in gardens around here.

A patch of alyssum growing along the edge of the sidewalk.

Red snapdragons dangling from a low retaining wall.