Goldenrod and purple loosestrife dominate this meadow view but we still have a lot of other flowers blooming.
I’m seeing more and more native asters each day, blooming to usher in fall. I think this one might be a crooked stemmed aster (Symphyotrichum prenanthoide) but there are so many asters that look alike it’s hard to be sure. At about a half inch diameter the flowers are too small to be a New England Aster. I found it growing in a wet area at the edge of the forest.
Surely black eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) must be one of the longest blooming flowers. They’ve been blooming since June and should go well into October. Native Americans cured earaches with the juice of its root, but early colonists gave it its common name after an old English poem by John Gay about a woman called Black Eyed Susan.
Nodding smartweed (Persicaria lapathifolia) gets its common name from its drooping flower heads and the very sharp, peppery taste of the stems, which makes the tongue smart. It doesn’t seem to bother ducks, geese, and all of the other animals that eat it, though. This is also called curly top smartweed; obviously because of the way the long flower spikes droop. It is originally from Europe.
Each nodding smartweed flower spike is made up of many pink to white, very small flowers. The flowers never fully open, which can make it hard to count any of their reproductive parts, but each one has 5 sepals and no petals. There are also six stamens, two partially fused carpels and two styles.
Lady’s thumb is another Persicaria; (Persicaria maculosa.) It looks a lot like its cousin nodding smartweed but instead of growing near water this one will be found growing at forest edges. It is originally from Europe and has spread to nearly every state since 1843.
Lady’s thumb gets its common name from the dark spot that appears on each leaf. Legend has it that a lady with a dirty thumb (apparently) left the smudge-like mark on a leaf and it has been there ever since.
A bee on a spear thistle flower head (Cirsium vulgare) isn’t unusual but I never knew that the pollen from this plant was orange. According to the little pollen baskets on this bumblebee’s legs, it is.
It was getting dark when I took this photo of blue vervain on the banks of the Ashuelot River. It came out looking kind of moody but the vervain flowers still held their beautiful blue color and that’s what I was after. These plants are nearly done for the season now. I’ll miss seeing my favorite color flowers.
I see thousands of examples of yellow hawkweed for every one orange hawkweed (Pilosella aurantiaca) and I’m not sure why that is. The plant might be from Europe but it’s far from invasive. Maybe their scarcity is due to the color orange being virtually invisible to bees. They do reflect ultraviolet light though, so that means that some insects must find them.
The last time I did a flower post I had found some wild mint (Mentha arvensis.) This time I found some spearmint (Mentha spicata) growing at the edge of the woods. Like wild mint spearmint has been used since recorded time both medicinally and as a flavoring. Pliny wrote of it and the ancient Romans cultivated it to scent their bath water. Spearmint is originally from Europe but the pilgrims brought it on their first trip to America, so valuable was the plant to them.
Instead of growing in the leaf axils as they do on wild mint, spearmint flowers appear at the top of the stem. They are said to be pink or white but these were white, blue, pink and lavender. I wish I could send you their scent because it was refreshing on a hot summer day. I’m not sure what the hair or web on the flower was. I didn’t see it until I looked at the photo.
Slender gerardia (Agalinis tenuifolia) reaches ankle height here but I’ve heard that it can reach 2 feet. The tiny purple flowers would be easy to miss if it weren’t for the large numbers of them on each willow leaved plant. It has the odd habit of dropping all its flowers each afternoon and opening a new crop the next morning, so you have to catch it before noon if you want to see unblemished blooms. This plant is also called false foxglove and slender leaved foxglove but I see little resemblance to foxgloves, either in flowers or foliage.
I don’t see too many mallow plants in or out of gardens so I was surprised recently to find this musk mallow (Malva moschata) growing on a roadside. Since it’s another plant that is originally from Europe it was proabably a garden escapee, but you could hardly call mallows invasive. I see them once in a blue moon. I thought this one was pink but my color finding software sees lavender.
Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) is another European native that most likely came over on the earliest British ships because it was an important medicinal plant that was considered to be “necessary for a garden” in sixteenth century Britain, according to a list of plants compiled by John H. Harvey called Garden Plants of Around 1525: The Fromond List. Though considered toxic it was used to treat parasitic worm infestations. The insect repellant qualities of tansy were well known and it was used to discourage flies and other pests indoors, and as a companion plant in the garden where it repelled cucumber beetles and other common garden insects. It is still used as an insect repellant today.
Native wild cucumber (Echinocystis lobata) is a late summer blooming vine that climbs on shrubs and trees. It likes to grow in sandy soil and prefers shade over full sun. The flower spikes (Racemes) grow to 6 inches or more all along the main stem. These plants are annuals and grow from seed each year.
The greenish white, star shaped male flowers of wild cucumber have 6 petals that are twisted slightly. The female flowers are yellowish green and not at all showy. They grow at the base of the male flower stems. There is usually only one female flower for every 5 or 6 male flowers, which is why there are so few fruits seen on each vine.
I like the spiny fruit of the wild cucumber, which had formed just days before I took this photo. I also like its spiraling tendrils that curl even when they have nothing to curl around.
We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder
Thanks for stopping in.
You still have lots of flowers there, ours seem to be slowly going to seed now. Still we have berries to make up for it and the odd red leaf.
We do still have quite a few but September frosts will finish most of them off. Soon we should have plenty of color in the trees if it hasn’t been too dry.
I have always been amazed at the variety of flowers you find in all seasons. I am also so surprised at how many are now garden plants in Europe. I know in the States many gardeners attempt to grow native plants and I can imagine this working. However, I cannot imagine having a lovely garden in Europe with only native plants. Is that because I am ignorant of native species? So many “wild flowers” over here are considered weeds because they are so invasive in gardens. Do you know if we have less variety of wild flowers in Europe? Amelia
I don’t know for sure Amelia but I’d guess that Europe had more species of wildflowers than we do here. Many of them are very beautiful too, which is why they ended up here.
I stopped mowing one of my lawns one year and was amazed by all of the wildflowers that appeared. Maybe that’s all you would need to do to have a wildflower meadow.
I let patches of my “lawn” flower with wild thyme some other flowers for the bees but I follow some blogs that have or are trying to grow a wild flower meadow and it is more work than I am prepared to put in. Also I need my lawn to access the rest of my garden. I am surprised that you think Europe has more wild flowers, I certainly don’t know enough about our native wild plants.
for soome reason, wordpress doesn’t send me blogs anymore,,including yours and Mary Holland…she said it was happening to many people. Have you had any issues and can I be signed up again?
Hi Ruth,
I haven’t heard of anyone having any problems. The only thing I can think of is to click on the “follow” button again. That’s a WordPress issue that bloggers really have no control over, so I have no way to correct it for you. If it helps any, I put up new posts every Wednesday and Saturday.
I grow a bunch of the Crooked Stem Aster. Most of mine have a much lighter blue than your aster in the picture, but I’m sure there is a lot of variation. I can only tell this aster by the stems, which grow in a sort of zigzag pattern. I had no idea there was a native Persicaria! I thought they were all exotics.
I’ll have to pay closer attention to the stems of asters. I’m seeing this one blooming everywhere now and yes, there is a lot of variation in color with asters.
There are native Persicarias, one of them is Persicaria punctata or dotted smartweed, but the two highlighted here are from Europe.
I enjoy all of your posts because I learn from them. This one solved a problem that I have been scratching my head over. I have a plant in my garden that was given to me by my daughter. She did not know what it was and neither did I. I have been trying to find someone to identify it for years. Now, thanks to you, I know it is tansy. It is somewhat like mint in being invasive. I love the smell of the leaves. Thanks again for your wonderful posts.
You’re welcome Joan, and thank you. I’m happy that I could help even if I didn’t know that I was doing so!
Beautiful and informative post as always, Allen – thank-you. I love growing Rudbeckia in the garden because of the long-lasting flowers. I hardly ever see Tansy here nowadays so it is nice to see a picture of it in your post.
Thank you Clare. Rudbeckia is a great garden flower and some of the newer varieties are really beautiful.
I’m surprised that you don’t see more tansy. I pictured it just growing along the roadsides there, which it doesn’t do here.
It used to – I remember it from when I was a girl – but I have only see it once in years and years and that was last year!
I wonder what would cause it to die off. It has never seemed like a very robust plant to me, and certainly not invasive here.
It could be intensive agriculture and use of weedkiller or (as per our earlier discussion) mowing of grassland or roadsides at the wrong time.
Yes, all or any of those would do it.
🙂
No wonder I could never catch the flowers on what turns out to be smartweed open, they never open. I didn’t know what it was, but I’d watch some of the plants for the flowers to open to give me a few hints, but it never happened. I thought that they may be one of the flowers that only open at night.
With this post, I was also able to identify the tansy flowers that I shot a couple of weeks ago. Eventually, you’ll get around to identifying most of them, but I suspect that a few that I see aren’t seen there. Since I put the species in the keywords in Lightroom, hopefully I’ll be able to look them up by color, size and season until what they are finally sticks in my brain.
I love the moody photo of the blue vervain, and I wish that there were more of the orange hawkweed blooming here. I only see them for a few short weeks in early summer, and very few at a that.
Thanks Jerry! Pilewort is another flower that never quite opens and I’m sure there must be more. They can be frustrating if you’re waiting for them to open.
I’m sure there a few flowers that you have that we don’t. For some reason many flowers just decided to not move very far. I wish you luck with the Lightroom flower database. I keep thinking I’ll do one on the blog but I never do.
I don’t think orange hawkweed really thrives anywhere. It certainly doesn’t here.
Does a bee only collect pollen from one sort of flower on each trip? I have often wondered about the colour in their baskets compared to the flower that they are on.
I’ve wondered that myself. I wouldn’t think they’d restrict themselves to one type of flower per trip, but maybe different flower’s pollen tastes different.
AT LONG LAST
When I
At long last
Have learned
To view people
As I view flowers
I shall
At long last
Have made some progress
Thanks Ben. There’s a lot of truth in that one, especially for myself.
I am happy if I can give you a gift since you have been given me (and many others) so many.
During a walk in the woods, almost anywhere in the country, it’s amazing how many plants are from somewhere else.
That’s for sure! I even surprised myself on this post when I realized that most of the plants in it were from Europe. Oh well, there’s certainly no turning back at this point. They’ll always be with us now.
As always, a very informative post. Thank you. I actually caught the orange pollen on a thistle years ago. I hadn’t noticed it until I viewed my photo enlarged on the computer. It was quite a surprise!
Thank you for that, Pat. I wondered if maybe the bee had been foraging on other flowers and had just happened to land on that thistle but you put that theory to rest. Good old nature, just when you think you have everything figured out along comes another curve ball to keep you guessing.
I haven’t been here as often as I’d like, Allen, but it is always refreshing to visit with you…well captured photos with a pleasant and informative narrative.
I know how it is Scott, life interferes sometimes. I’m glad you like what you do have time for. Thanks for coming by.
My pleasure….
Especially like the moody vervain shot. Thanks for all of them.
You’re welcome. Thank you for stopping in.
Reblogged this on Dawn of Divine Rays.
Thanks very much Agnes.
You’re very welcome, Allen. Wishing you a very blessed Sunday. Namaste
Thank you Agnes. I’m wishing you the same.
Glad you got to see some of the less common flowers. The mallow is lovely. Interesting about the Tansy. I love natural insect repellents.
Thank you Laura. Yes, tansy has been used that way for centuries so there must be something to it. I’ve heard it works especially well on flies, and is said to even keep mice away.
so, I know a number of plants have blue pollen; have you ever seen blue in bees’ pollen “baskets”? I haven’t. Now I want to go shake a spear (I call them bull) thistle plant over a piece of white paper and see the pollen.
You have far more orange hawkweed up there in NH than here in NJ; when I was hiking up there this summer it seemed to me that everywhere I looked I saw it, but I’ve never seen it here.
I love your cucumber tendrils. We get the burr cucumbers more than the wild, but they both have the super-curly tendrils I like.
Wonderful post, as always! (and how can it be “late August” already, ugh!)
Thank you Sara. Yes, I have seen a bee with blue chicory pollen in its baskets and I even have a photo of it somewhere on this blog but I can’t seem to find it. The comment from Pat confirms the orange thistle pollen. She got a photo of it.
I’m surprised that you saw so much orange hawkweed here. I never see it in this part of the state.
Yes, if you’re a tendril lover the gourd family is for you!
So lovely. I just love that wild cucumber!
Thank you Melanie. Me too!
always love your informative round-ups – thanks!
You’re welcome, I’m glad you enjoy them.
I enjoyed your beautiful overview of late August flowers in your part of the world, you keep nature fresh in my mind’s eye.
Thank you Susan, I’m happy to do that!