Here are a few more examples of what is blooming in southern New Hampshire at this time of year.
Upright bedstraw (Galium album) is also called upright hedge bedstraw, and that name is perfect because it describes where this plant is found growing. Where the meadow meets the woods there can be found millions of tiny white, honey scented flowers lighting up the shade. Bedstraws hail from Europe and have been used medicinally for centuries. In ancient times entire plants were gathered and used as mattress stuffing and that’s where the plant gets its common name. The dried leaves are said to smell like vanilla in some species of Gallium and honey in others.
Tickseed coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) gets its common name from the way that its seeds cling to clothing like ticks. The plant is also called lance leaved coreopsis and that is where the lanceolata part of the scientific name comes from. Coreopsis is found in flower beds as well as in the wild and can form large colonies if left alone. The yellow flowers are about an inch and a half across and stand at the top of thin, wiry stems. This is a native plant with a cousin known as greater tickseed that grows in the south.
Our native swamp candles (Lysimachia terrestris,) not surprisingly, like to have their feet wet most of the time and are common along the edges of ponds and wetlands at this time of year. They bloom at about the same time as whorled loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia) and that is because both plants are closely related. These plants stand about 2-3 feet tall and have a club shaped flower head (raceme) made up of 5 petaled yellow flowers.
Each yellow petal of a swamp candle flower has two red dots at its base that help form a ring of ten red dots around the five long stamens in the center of the flower. The stamens are streaked with yellow and red.
Wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) has pale yellow flowers similar in color to those of the sulfur cinquefoil (Potentilla recta) but they can also be white or pink. This plant is considered a noxious weed because it gets into forage and grain crops. I always find it growing at the edges of corn fields at this time of year, not because it likes growing with corn but because it likes to grow in disturbed soil. Wild radish is in the mustard family and is sometimes confused with wild mustard (Brassica kaber,) but that plant doesn’t have hairy stems like wild radish. Everyone seems to agree that this is a non-native plant but nobody seems to know exactly where it came from or how it got here.
Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) gets its common name from the way the chopped and boiled leaves produce a soapy lather that is particularly good at removing grease. This plant is a native of Europe and is thought to have been brought over by colonists to be used as a soap substitute. Another common name for this plant is bouncing bet. I’ve heard several stories about how this name came about but I like the one that claims that the curved petals catch the breeze and make the plant bounce back and forth in the wind. The flowers are very fragrant.
The feathery pink bits on rabbit’s foot clover (Trifolium arvense) are sepals that help hide the tiny white petals on this plant. The sepals are much larger than the petals and make up the larger part of the flower head. This plant is introduced from Europe and grows on river banks and in sandy vacant lots. Its common name comes from the flower’s supposed resemblance to a rabbit’s foot.
I didn’t think I’d see any native Allegheny monkey flowers (Mimulus ringens) this year because it usually starts blooming much earlier than it did. This plant likes sandy soil and sunny, wet places so I don’t see it that often. It is also called square stemmed monkey flower, for obvious reasons. The small but beautiful flowers are supposed to resemble the face of a smiling monkey, but I don’t see it. Does anybody else see a monkey here?
Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) is a small plant that is hated for its extensive root system that makes it almost impossible to get rid of in pastures. Not only does it have a taproot but also a large fibrous root system that can spread horizontally for several feet. Canada thistle isn’t anywhere near as large or prickly as other thistles, but it does have small prickles on its leaf margins. I didn’t see the crab spider on the underside of the blossom until I looked at the photo.
Everyone seems to be taking photos of Queen Anne’s lace from the backside this year, so since it is such a well-known plant that doesn’t need much in the way of explanation I thought I’d try it too. This plant is also called wild carrot and if you dig up its root and crush it, you’ll find that it smells exactly like a carrot. It should never be eaten unless you are absolutely certain of the plant’s identity however, because it closely resembles some of the most toxic plants known.
It was another day with bright, harsh sunlight, so I didn’t have much hope for flower photography, but this backlit hedge bindweed blossom (Calystegia sepium) stopped me in my tracks. This has been one of my favorite flowers for a long time-I can remember admiring it even as a small boy-but back then I called it a morning glory. Though it is in the morning glory family hedge bindweed is a perennial, while true morning glories (Ipomoea) are annuals.
I was determined to get close enough to a fragrant white water lily (Nymphaea odorata) to get a decent shot and I did, but I also got my feet soaking wet. I wish I could have gotten close enough to smell it, but I would have needed a boat for that. Each blossom of this plant opens for just three days to let insects visit and after that the stalk coils like a spring, dragging the flower under water where it sets its seed. After several weeks the seeds are released into the water so currents can carry them to suitable locations to germinate.
I should like to enjoy this summer flower by flower, as if it were to be the last one for me.~ Andre Gide
Thanks for stopping in.
Thank you. You’re a wonderful photographer. I could almost smell the white water lily. I’m in southern NH city now with miniscule greenspace but lived in rural area for decades. It was wonderful to see all the flowers I used to grow or see. I’ll visit again.
You’re welcome. Most of these photos were taken in or near Keene so if you’re anywhere nearby you could easily meet them all in person. I hope you’ll have a chance to!
GREAT photos and a GREAT post!
Thanks!
I just found your blog via The Anxious Gardener. I garden in Peterborough, NH and was very pleased to find such an excellent resource for wild flowers in NH. Your blog is excellent. The header must be Mt. Monadnock, right? Looking forward to looking at older posts.
Hi Michael and welcome!
You’ll find plenty of wildflower photos to look through here! Yes, that is a shot of Mount Monadnock that my daughter took several years ago. I’m glad you found the blog-even if it had to be by way of England. You’ll find several other NH bloggers stopping in now and then. One of them, Laura Mahoney, lives very near to you. Her blog is called Touring New Hampshire and can be found here: http://touringnh.com/
Another interesting post. Those bindweed flowers certainly are lovely, I keep seeing them out and about myself but they’re a Pain in the garden and hard to get rid of 🙂
You’re right about that! They’re almost impossible to get rid of.
What a refreshing little photo essay you have created for us. That swamp candle flower is pretty as any orchid with those sprays full of blooms.
I can see a large print of the reverse side of Queen’s Anne Lace image featured over a sparse mantle. A b/w conversion could look great too, my friend.
Thank you Patrick. Maybe I’ll have an enlargement of the Queen Anne’s printed to see what it looks like. I’m glad you’re still able to read these blogs, and I hope you’re feeling much better.
Wow, so beautiful!!! Wonderful shots!!!
Thank you Rexlin!
Your photo of the bindweed is gorgeous! Once again I have enjoyed seeing the flowers in your area, and especially the ones that I don’t see here like the swamp candle, the Allegheny monkey flowers and the rabbit’s foot clover.
Thanks Montucky! The sun angle was perfect on the binweed. I’m surprised you don’t have rabbit’s foot clover. I thought that plant had colonized just about every state.
Wonder if that Galium would grow well in my back garden – or if it can be purchased.
I think it would probably do fine if you put it in a spot that mimikced where it grows in the wild. A quick look online didn’t show anyone selling it, but I’d be willing to be that somebody does. If not just collect some seeds.
I love swamp candles. Saw some on my blueberry picking trek last weekend. Nice collection of wild flower photos here.
Thank you. I like swamp candles too.
What can I say other than another great post! I’m going to go looking for some of these which I’m not familiar with, but I’m not sure that they all grow in Michigan.
Can’t wait to see what you find today Jerry!
I don’t think that I found any of these, but it was a productive day.
Hope to see it on your blog soon.
I’m not sure which I enjoy more, your wonderful photography or the descriptions of each plant. I love reading your blog!
Thank you. I’m glad to hear it!
The world is full of wonderful sights and smells; thank you for sharing yours, I especially enjoyed the water lily. There is only one real rule in this process and that is bring an extra set of clothing. Close to the very top of the “I love things list” is dry socks.
Thanks Charlie, I agree-dry feet are important, especially if you’re on a long trail. Luckily, that day I wasn’t.
Square stemmed monkey flower is my favorite flower name. I used to have a batch growing here, but haven’t seen them for a few years.
I know a woman who breeds dogs and names her breeding dogs after flowers. Knowing that I was into flowers, she asked me to suggest a name for one of hers. She was not amused when I suggested STMF!
They seem to like real wet places that hardly ever dry out. No, that probably wouldn’t be a good name for a dog! She was probably hoping you’d say something like petunia or magnolia.
Beautiful shots and explanations. Hate to repeat the comment, but the lily is exceptional. 🙂
Thank you Judy. I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
Wonderful shots. I especially like the water lily (and the fascinating information that you provided about it) and the monkey flower (and, no, I don’t really see the face wither).
Thanks Mike. I thought you’d like the water lily! Sometimes i really have to wonder about the people who named certain flowers. There are so many that really don’t fit the name.
Thanks for the stroll! Anything in bloom that could cause sneezing lol I never sneeze 🙂
Ragweed will be blooming soon, but goldenrod will get blamed for all the sneexing it causes,
Thanks I have AC’s going now for what 10 days I must have him take the filters out and clean outside maybe just too must dust inside lol
Thanks I do have something really tall with tiny yellow flowers already in bloom here in my yard in Epping.
Thanks!
You’re welcome. Goldenrod is just starting to bloom here too.
🙂
I don’t see the monkey face either. I have two ponds and I wish some of those wet foot flowers would find their way to my house! Great post!
You should collect wildflower seeds and scatter them around the ponds in places that don’t get mowed.