Here’s a small sample of what is blooming here now.
Bifid hemp nettle (Galeopsis bifida) has a small but beautiful flower that always reminds me of heal all (Prunella vulgaris). This entire plant, including the flowers, is covered with hairs and the sepals end in points that can be sharp. These sharp points catch on animal fur or clothing and spread the seeds far and wide. Hemp nettle looks a lot like a tall mint plant because it is in the mint family.
Forget me nots (Myosotis) are still blooming on the river banks. It’s a beautiful little weed that gets its scientific name Myosotis from the way the leaves resemble mouse ears.
Though it looks like the flowers of enchanter’s nightshade (Circaea lutetiana) have four petals there are really only two. There are also two sepals and two stamens, with a single style. The ovaries that form at the base of the flowers have tiny barbed hairs, and that means they stick to just about anything. This plant gets its scientific name Circaea from Circa, an enchantress in Homer’s Odyssey with a fondness for turning men into swine. It’s a good story but unfortunately the plant is a native of North America, so Homer most likely never saw it.
I’ve always know native liatris, often called blazing star, as a garden plant even though it is a native wildflower common to our prairies. I found this one growing on the side of a road and it’s the first one I’ve ever seen growing naturally. There are 37 different species of liatris, and I’m not sure which one this is.
Our native slender fragrant goldenrod (Euthamia tenuifolia) is my favorite goldenrod because of its scent. This plant can be confused with lance leaved goldenrod (Euthamia graminifolia), but it has a single vein in the center of each leaf and lance leaved goldenrod has 3 to 5 veins. It’s that time of year when goldenrod takes the blame for causing hay fever, when in fact ragweed is the culprit. Goldenrod pollen is much too sticky and heavy to ever become airborne, so it is impossible for it to get in noses that way.
I keep hoping to find yellow jewelweed (Impatiens pallida) but all I find is spotted jewelweed (Impatiens capensis). It isn’t that I don’t like the spotted variety; it’s just that it is one of the first plants I learned to identify so I’ve had a long time to get to know it. The yellow variety I’ve seen maybe 3 times. This native plant is also called orange balsam and touch me not. Hummingbirds love these flowers.
It’s easier to see why it’s called spotted jewel weed from the side. These spots are what attract pollinators. The curved nectar spur at the back of the flower can also be seen. It can only be reached by pollinators with long tongues, like butterflies and hummingbirds.
Jewel weed leaves have a waxy coating that makes rain bead up into drops. When these drops sparkle in the sun they look like jewels, and that’s where the name jewel weed comes from.
Steeplebush (Spiraea tomentosa) is easy to recognize because of the way its erect stems are unbranched, with steeple shaped flower clusters at their ends. They are usually found near water. This native plant is available commercially and is an excellent choice for butterfly gardens. Native Americans used a tea made from steeplebush leaves for easing childbirth.
In my opinion it is the leaves more than the flowers that make native dwarf dandelions (Krigia virginica) resemble regular dandelions. Spring leaves look quite different, but as the season progresses they look like hairy, miniature version of the dandelion leaves that we’re all familiar with. It also has seed heads that are similar to common dandelion but they’re much smaller and more brown than gray. This native likes full sun and dry, sandy soil.
Native whorled wood aster (Oclemena acuminate) is also called sharp leaved aster because of the way the leaves come to a sharp point. The common name whorled aster comes by way of the leaves appearing to grow in a whorl but it isn’t a true whorl. This is one of those plants that like to grow at the edge of woodland. Pearly crescent butterflies love this plant, so it is a good addition to a butterfly garden.
The flowers of tall blue lettuce (Lactuca biennis) are usually very pale blue so I was surprised by the deep color of these. The flowers grow in a cluster at the top of a plant that can reach 10 feet tall under the right conditions. This plant is easily confused with wild lettuce (Lactuca virosa) when it isn’t blossoming but its leaves are hairy while wild lettuce leaves are not. I’m not sure what the red eyed insect trying to hide behind the upper flower is.
The pale yellow flowers of tall lettuce (Lactuca canadensis) are often tinted by red or pink on their edges. This is another native lettuce that can reach 10 feet tall with clusters of small, 1/4 inch flowers at the top of the stalks. The leaves of this plant can be highly variable in their shape, with even leaves on the same plant looking different from each other. Native Americans used this plant medicinally. The milky white sap contains lactucarium and is still used in medicines today.
The flowers of tall rattlesnake root (Prenanthes trifoliate) which are shown in the photo resemble those of tall white lettuce (Prenanthes altissima) but the leaves of the rattlesnake root are deeply divided into 3 parts while the lettuce leaves aren’t. It also has a waxy, reddish stem which helps in identification. Its flowers can be white or pinkish. This plant is also called gall of the earth because of how bitter the root tastes. These roots were once made into a very bitter tonic that was used to (allegedly) cure snake bites and that’s where its other common name comes from.
Stretching his hand up to reach the stars, too often man forgets the flowers at his feet. ~Jeremy Bentham
Thanks for stopping in.
I just wandered on to your site while I was trying to identify some Nebraska wildflowers. I didn’t find my flowers, but I certainly enjoyed looking at your flowers. Congratulations on your stunning photography, your patience, and your obvious love of the flowers.
Thanks very much Pat. I’m glad you found the blog and I’m glad that you’re enjoying it. I do love flowers and all of nature, and I’m glad to hear that it comes through.
This site is a little tedious because the plants are in alphabetical order rather than by color or type, but it might help with your search: https://uswildflowers.com/wfquery.php?State=NE
Gorgeous post.
Thanks!
🙂
What a beautiful selection of flowers! It’s so enjoyable to see so many with which I am not familiar!
Thanks! I thought the western version of the steeplebush that I saw on your blog recently was interesting.
Great post. To me and I can tell to you…flowers are like friends. We always look forward to seeing them and miss them when they are gone.
Thanks Grampy. That’s true-winters seem extra long with no flowers to see.
I would not have predicted that anyone could have accidentally featured so many photographs of New Hampshire plants that I had not seen before. But you’ve done it. I knew the jewelweed, forget-me-not, and Prenanthus, but not the others. Very cool!
Thanks! I was surprised that so many of them were native.
I loved the hemp nettle. I thought that you might have painted the face and bow tie on for a moment.
Somebody said that it looked like a rag doll, and it does!
I think the Steeplebush is fascinating…. You continue to have quite an array of beautiful flowers in your neck of the woods, Allen. 🙂
We do have a lot of different wildflowers here Scott. These posts only scratch the surface.
A lovely selection of wildflowers. I like the steeplebush, I have never seen it growing around here. Forget me nots don’t grow as a wildflower here, it’s Eurasian right? Interesting about the botanical name, but I have to wonder where that common name came from.
Thanks! According to the website Illinois Wildflowers, steeplebush is native to Illinois. It’s also sold commercially now. Certain species of forget me nots are native to Canada and Alaska, but I’m not sure how they came to be in the lower 48. There are about 20 species and a different story of how their name came to be for each one. Rememberance seems to be the common thread tying all the stories together.
Wow! Your photo skills are improving, not that they were bad before! I’ve found that a flash changes the color of blue flowers the most, but that may depend on the species, as plants can interact with light in some weird ways. How did the LED flashlight work, or didn’t it?
Thanks! I get a lot of practice, so they should be improving! I’m also trying to pay a little closer attention to the technical side of things, even though I’m not trying out for any photography awards. I find the flash / not to flash thing intriguing and have been trying to play around with it a bit more.
I bought an LED light last week and haven’t been able to use it much yet, but I was pleased with the the 2 or 3 shots that I used it on. In case you’re interested, it’s an Energizer “headlamp” (100 Lumens) that comes with stretchy strap so you can wear it like a miner’s lamp on your forehead. You can also use the strap to hang it from a tree branch for down lighting on your subjet fungi, I’ve discovered, and it will also sit flat on the ground. It was about $25.00. I hope to get more use out of it today if I ever get out there.
Very nice! The forget-me-nots are a favorite. The shot of the jewel weed is lovely.
Thanks Melanie. I like forget me nots too. They grow wild in several spots here.
When my son was younger, he used to love the jewel weed seed pods because of the way they pop when you touch them. (That’s probably why I have so many of them in my yard.) I always look forward to your posts and photos!
Thanks Laura. I still like jewel weed for the same reason. They say the seeds taste like walnuts, but I’ve never tried them. It would take a lot of them to make just a small snack!
Beautiful shots of a whole host of flowers. I especially enjoyed your photos and explanation of jewelweed. Quite a number of your photos looked really artistic in this posting, including the first jewelweed shot, the steeplebush shot, and the shot of the rattlesnake root. I know that it’s tough enough to get identifiable shots in the locations where you find these flowers–you go well beyond that in the quality of your photos. (By the way, every time that I look at the first photo in the posting, the flower on the right reminds me of a rag doll.)
Thanks Mike. The first jewelweed photo was taken very late in the afternoon one day and I couldn’t get a sharp shot without using the flash. When I got home and was able to see the photo better I was surprised and happy at what the flash had done. The same was true with the rattlesnake root. I have to let go of the notion that the flash is a bad thing and try using it more, I think. I’m wary of it because it often changes the color of flowers, especially. All I did with the steeplebush was try to get the water that it loves to grow near in the shot with it. I hadn’t seen it before you mentioned it, but the hemp nettle does look like a rag doll. That’s funny!
Wonderful photos again. The forget me nots are the only ones I see around here, they’re quite often used as garden plants as well as growing wild. 🙂
Thanks! The same is true here with forget me nots. I like how you also use goldenrod in your gardens, while most of us turn our noses up to it.