There are still plenty of wildflowers blooming. In fact, they come and go so quickly that I can barely keep up with them, but here are a few that I was lucky enough to find. Autumn Olive (iElaeagnus umbellate) is still blooming. This shrub’s fragrance is amazing even as you ride by in a car if you have the windows open. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a shrub attract as many insects as this one does. Autumn olive is originally from Asia and is considered an invasive species. The fruit is edible.
It looks like it will be a good year for most berries. Both blackberry (pictured above) and raspberry canes are loaded with blossoms.
Blue Toadflax (Nuttallanthus canadensis ) has just started blooming. These small sky blue and white flowers bloom on wiry stems, starting at the bottom and working their way up. The native plants prefer dry, sandy soil and are often seen on roadsides, which is where these were. The more common and well known butter and eggs plant is also a toadflax. The name “toadflax” was supposedly given to the plant because toads liked to hide “among its branches.” Since none of the toadflax plants that I’ve seen over the years had branches, this must have been a difficult thing for the toads to do.
Canada Mayflowers (Maianthemum canadense ) are still blooming. Their blooming season seems to be extended this year as it is with many other plants. As a gardener I can say that this is one of the worst plants to allow in your garden beds because once it is in, it is there to stay. When pulled it breaks off at ground level and the root lives on to grow new plants and it stands up quite well to herbicides.
If Canada mayflower is allowed to grow in a garden before too long the garden will look like this. Note the almost complete lack of other species.
The white, flat topped flower clusters and feathery leaves of common yarrow can be seen everywhere on roadsides now. Yarrow must take the prize for the plant with the most common names, because it is also called–are you ready? Bad man’s plaything, bloodwort, carpenter’s grass, carpenter’s weed, devil’s nettle, devil’s plaything, dog daisy, fern weed, field hoop, herb militaris, knight’s milfoil, little feather, milfoil, nosebleed, old man’s pepper, sanguinary, soldier’s woundwort, squirrel tail, staunch grass, staunch weed, thousand-leaf, thousand-seal, thousand-weed, and yarroway. Whew! This plant and all of its baggage in the form of names originally came over from Europe. Plant breeders have been working with it for years and have produced many beautiful cultivars for the garden. This plant has been used medicinally for many centuries-remains of yarrow were even found in an excavation of a Neanderthal grave site.
Native Indian cucumber root (Medeola virginiana) isn’t one of those showy wild flowers. If you weren’t looking for it you might never even see it because of the flower’s greenish yellow color. I look for the leaves rather than flowers to find it, because its leaves grow in (usually) two whorls around the stem. The edible roots are eaten raw and are said to taste like cucumber, but this plant is scarce and shouldn’t be dug up. It should also never be confused with the similar looking Whorled Pogonia, which is poisonous.
This maple leaved viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium) grows in my backyard and has just started blooming. Over the years I’ve watched as it has increased to a sizeable colony and I’m happy to have its white flower clusters light up the dark edges of the forest. These plants are very useful because they do well in shaded, dry, poor soils like that usually found at forest edges. In the fall the leaves turn a deep, reddish purple and dark blue, almost black fruit clusters hang where the flowers were. Opposite leaves, five petals and five stamens help identify viburnums. The leaves of American high bush cranberry (Viburnum opulus) are very similar, but that plant has red berries. There are over 100 species of viburnum, but only 15 of those are native.
I finally found a 4 flowered starflower (Trientalis borealis) plant! Actually, 3 flowers and a bud, which I’m sure has become a flower by now. That might not seem like a lot to crow about but I’ve never seen more than 3 flowers on a single plant.
Showy yellow goat’s beard (Tragopogon pratensis,) also known as meadow salsify, has the odd habit of closing its flowers at around noontime each day. This gives it the strange common name of Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon. Aids in identification are how the large, 2 inch flowers follow the sun so that they are always facing it and petals that have 5 notches on their outer edges. Also, the seed heads look like a large dandelion seed head and a white latex sap will ooze from the stems if they are broken. The plant shown here was about 3 feet tall and was found at the local landfill. There is also a very similar western yellow goat’s beard (Tragopogon dubius.) The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is by the green bracts, which are shorter than the petals on Tragopogon pratensis and longer than the petals on Tragopogon dubius. This plant is originally from Europe.
Showy Yellow Goat’s Beard Bud.
Showy Yellow Goat’s Beard seed head. These are big-just slightly smaller than a baseball.
I don’t haveto go far to find Yellow hawkweed (Hieracium caespitosum) because it grows in my yard. This plant is in the sunflower family and is related to the dandelion. One flower head can produce as many as 50 seeds and the plant can also spread by underground stems called rhizomes. This plant is all about reproduction and it does it well-I’ve never seen as much of it as I have this year. Yellow hawkweed has a familiar story; it was introduced from Europe as a garden ornamental, escaped, and is now trying to take over the world. This plant is much harder to control than dandelions.
This Lesser Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea ) had a friend visiting when I took its picture. This small flowered plant likes to hide in among the tall grasses at the edges of mown fields and roadsides. It blossoms on a weak, wiry stem that tends to flop around every which way, so it’s hard to tell where it begins. The white, half inch flowers look like they have 10 petals but actually have only 5 that are deeply split or cleft. Each flower stays open for three days, but there are many of them. This plant that I walk by everyday bloomed only for about a week. It is native to Britain.
Tall Meadow Rue (Thalictrum pubescens) probably gets mistaken for columbine quite often when it isn’t blooming because the foliage resembles that of columbine. Once it blooms though, there can be no mistaking the quarter sized, petal-less flowers that are made up of long, thin stamens if it is a male plant and pistils with just a few stamens if it is female. These plants get quite tall-I’ve seen them at about 4 feet but the books say they can reach 6 feet and a few web sites say 9 feet. I have a cultivated version of this native plant in my garden that has much larger, purple flower clusters. Bees and butterflies love these plants.
None can have a healthy love for flowers unless he loves the wild ones ~Forbes Watson
Next time I may have to do a post with more wildflowers because there are so many blooming. Thanks for stopping in.
Wow, common yarrow does have a lot of does have a lot of common names. Thank goodness for binomial nomenclature so we can all speak the same language.
I know-and yarrow is just one of the plants with a list of common names.
A great list- Bad Man’s Plaything has to be my favorite alternate name for a plant ever 🙂
I thought that was pretty funny. You would think a bad man could find something just a little more threatening than a flower to play with!
Nice tactic of the Canada Mayflower…breaks off at the stem and lives and thrives and spreads…crowding out all others. I like the Goatsbeard, as well…love seeing them along the trails out here. Thank you, Allen.
You’re welcome. Yes, many plants use the same tactics as the Canada Mayflower, which is why they are so successful at taking over the environment and driving the native species out. The goatsbeard is a nice flower-I like seeing it here as well.
Wonderful post, Allen. I really enjoy the common plants in the post, we have many of the same here in Michigan but most of ours are done flowering.
The Canada Mayflower, Starflower, Autumn Olive, Indian cucumber root, Maple Leaved Viburnum are done for us this year.
The Yarrow, Showy yellow goat’s beard, Blue Toadflax (that’s a good photo you have for how small this flower is), Lesser Stitchwort, they are going strong yet.
Deptford Pink, Clammy Ground Cherry, Canada Anemone are blooming already. Even the Hairy Bush-Clover is close to blooming. Our vegetable garden is going strong too. The tomato plants are much farther along than last year. Of course we have used the onion greens for Mongolian beef.
Thanks for posting, Chris 🙂
Glad you liked the post Chris. It’s interesting to see how many different plants are in different states.That’s one of the things I enjoy most about reading yours and other blogs.
Nice show of wildflowers. My imagination feels that the understanding and recall of wild plants was once the knowledge of Native American medicine men. These medicine men would have had to learn from another after years of specialized work together. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
You’re welcome Grampy, and welcome back! Yes, it’s painful to think of all the knowledge that was lost when the Native tribes were decimated. Centuries of knowledge lost and only now are we beginning to understand the cost.
I’m sure enjoying your wildflowers! Some of these we have here, Yarrow, salsify and hawkweed. I see that the stitchwort is supposed to grow here in Montana but I’ve never seen it.
Thamks! That stitchwort is small and easy to miss like most other chickweeds, bot it usually grows in colonies of numerous plants. It’s also a little taller than other chickweeds.
I had no idea that common yarrow had so many names. Wow!
I have eaten Indian cucumber root, but only sparingly, and only from a large colony I found. It does taste just like cucumber. It is a biennial, and only the second year plants produce the two tiers of whorls. First year plants only produce one whorl (and they don’t flower).
Funny that I never heard that Indian cucumber root had only one whorl its first year. And that was one of the first wildflowers I paid any attention to. It’s amazing what you can miss. I’m glad you told me!
Another wonderful set. Thank you! I always learn so much from your posts!
You’re welcome and thank you for visiting. I’m glad that you’re getting something out of it.
Over 100 species of viburnum! That explains why I can’t seem to ID the one I recently found blooming.
Yes-if someone is just starting to identify plants viburnums are not a good place to start! I’m pretty sure that you can handle it though, Scott. You’re far beyond beginner status.
Well, thanks, Allen. But I’m basically as resourceful as my guide books allow, and they generally include only one or two viburnums. Can you recommend a useful resource to help ID one?
We all use guides-you should see how many plant books I have! A good shrub book that has many viburnums in it is “The Shrub Identification Book” by George W.D. Symonds. Photographs are by A.W. Merwin and they are clear and legible. This was published by Harper Collins in 1963 but it is so good that it is still in book stores. The ISBN number is 0-688-050409. It is my go to book when I find an unknown shrub.
Great — thanks!
I see your photos and think to myself that those plants don’t grow here, but then while I am out walking, I spot them, and say to myself “Oh, so that’s what they are!”, but by then, I can’t remember the names any more. 🙂 The same things happens when I see Tracy’s photos from his Seasons Flow blog, you two are almost teaching me to be able to identify wildflowers. I think that part of my memory problem is the difference in regional names for some of the flowers, plus a mental block for some reason.
I do the exact same thing with birds so i know what you mean. Anything beyond common bluejays and robins and I’m lost. Common names of planta can be very confusing too, but since most people don’t know Latin, common names are what most of us use. Some plants can have 10 and sometimes more names, so I’m sure it is also a regional thing. What I do with birds is tell myself that all I need to do is enjoy their beauty and not worry about their names.
What lovely flowers! And their names are so charming!
I wonder sometimes what the people who gave these names to flowers were thinking when they did so, because some of them really don’t make sense. Thanks for visiting!