The weather people said we were in for a growing season ending killing freeze last Saturday night so I went looking for late bloomers before it happened. I’ve seen dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) blooming in January so I wasn’t real surprised to see one in October, but over the last two years these flowers have been very scarce. I saw 5 or 6 on this day though so I wonder if the very hot temperatures we’ve had in summer lately have something to do with their scarcity, as some of you suggested the last time I mentioned not seeing any.
The flowers of false dandelion (Hypochaeris radicata) look much the same as those of true dandelions in a photo, but in the field they are much smaller and stand on 6-8 inch long, wiry stems. Its leaves look like smaller and narrower versions of dandelion leaves. The plant is also called cat’s ear, possibly because of the bracts along its stem that look like tiny cat’s ears.
Spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) is terribly invasive and hated by pasture owners but its flowers are beautiful. This plant is native to Europe and Asia and was accidentally imported in a hay seed shipment in the late 1800s. One reason it is so strongly disliked is because it releases a toxin that can hinder and prevent the growth of neighboring species. It grows in all but 5 states. Though mowed down earlier by highway crews these plants bounced right back and are again covered with flowers.
It must have gotten too cold for this bumblebee because it died as it lived, hugging a flower.
Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) sometimes has a second blooming period like yarrow does. Though the flowers are smaller and not as tall they can almost fool you into thinking that it’s summer again. When freshly cut Queen Anne’s lace flowers will change color depending on the color of the water in which they are placed, so if you put a bouquet into purple water you’ll have purple Queen Anne’s lace.
The pee gee hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata) is a “panicled” hydrangea, meanings its flower heads are cone shaped rather than round. These plants grow into large shrubs sometimes reaching 10-20 feet tall and nearly as wide. Though originally introduced from Japan in 1862 this plant is thought to be native by many and is a much loved, old fashioned favorite. What I like most about this hydrangea is how the flower heads turn a soft pink in the fall. When they’re cut and dried they’ll hold their color for quite a long time.
Goldenrods (Solidago) still bloom but now the flower heads are smaller and they’re spottily seen here and there rather than everywhere like they were a month ago. According to English apothecary and botanist John Gerard in 1633 goldenrod was “strange and rare” in England and “the dry herbe which came from beyond the sea sold in Buckler’s Bury in London for halfe a crowne for an hundred weight.” It was highly regarded of as a cure for bleeding ulcers and for healing bleeding wounds. The plant must also have been very valuable to early colonials but seeds must have found their way to England because it was eventually found growing wild there and the bottom fell out of the imported goldenrod business.
Slender fragrant goldenrod (Solidago tenuifolia) is one of the easiest to identify because of its scent, which is said to resemble anise and sassafras. Since I’ve never smelled anise and sassafras I can’t confirm this, but its fragrance is pleasant so I always bend to give it a sniff when I see it. This plant closely resembles lance leaved goldenrod (Solidago graminifolia) but its leaves are narrower and have a single vein in each leaf. Lance leaved goldenrod leaves have 3-5 veins.
Red clover (Trifolium pretense) is very cold hardy and make up some of the latest blooming flowers we see here. I’m never disappointed when I stop to take a closer look at these beautiful little flowers. Though it isn’t a native plant Vermonters loved it enough to make it their state flower. It’s easy to see why; some flowers seem to glow with their own inner light and this is one of them.
Asters of every kind bloom here and after seeing so many you can find yourself thinking if I’ve seen one I’ve seen them all, but this one stopped me in my tracks because of the central blue / purple disc flowers. The center disc flowers of an aster are (almost) always yellow or brown and I can’t remember ever seeing any that were this color. The flowers were quite small; no more than 1/2 inch across with ray flowers that had an odd curving habit. If you know this aster’s identity I’d like to hear from you. I’ve looked in books and online and haven’t found anything like it.
Since it blooms in early June seeing gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa) blooming this late in the year was a surprise. An unusual thing about this shrub is its white berries. White usually signals that the fruit is poisonous, like those of poison ivy, poison sumac, or white baneberry, but though I’ve read that gray dogwood berries aren’t edible I haven’t read anything saying they’re poisonous. Birds certainly love them and gray dogwoods make an excellent choice for those trying to attract them. Though the flowers in this photo look a little sad an 8 foot tall gray dogwood covered with white blossoms in June is a sight not easily forgotten.
Black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) flowers in October were as much of a surprise as dogwood flowers. Though it seemed to have only three petals instead of five the flower in the upper right had plenty of anthers. This plant prefers disturbed ground and I see it everywhere. One way to identify it is by looking at the undersides of the leaves, which are whitish and tomentose, which means kind of matted with flattened hairs. Raspberry and blackberry leaves have green undersides.
Those are snowflakes and ice pellets on that sedum. Only the toughest plants will bloom from now on.
David Marsden of The Anxious Gardener blog wrote a great post on aconite (Aconitum napellus) recently. He highlighted the plant’s toxicity in an informative and fun to read post and reminded me of a large group of aconite plants that I found growing in a children’s park once. I decided to go back and see if they were still there and as the above photo shows, they were. The plant can take a lot of cold and its blooms appear quite late in the season. Though beautiful the plant is extremely toxic; enough to have been used on spear and arrow tips in ancient times. In ancient Rome anyone found growing the plant could be put to death because aconite was often used to eliminate one’s enemies.
A side view of the blossom shows why aconite is also called monkshood. It’s a beautiful thing but I question the wisdom of growing it in a children’s garden.
I saw this daisy like flower blooming in a local park when snow was falling. It looked like a Shasta daisy on steroids, growing two feet tall with tough leathery leaves that looked much like Shasta daisy leaves. After a little research I think it might be a Montauk daisy (Nipponanthemum nipponicum,) also called Nippon daisy, which tells me that it must be from Japan. It was blooming beautifully after a 28 °F night, so it’s certainly cold hardy. Those are ice pellets on its petals. If only it was a Shasta daisy just come into flower in June.
May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life. ~Apache Blessing
Thanks for coming by.
For some reason I have missed your last few posts. This one was one definitely should not have been skipped. I had no idea about aconite. Who would plant that in a children’s garden????!!
Thanks Martha. I think you’ve been busy!
Someone who knew nothing about aconite probably planted it there.
Good to see you still have some flowers. I loved the bee photo. I found one like that last year, dead but still clinging to the lavender in my garden.
We had some but we don’t have many now. Mostly asters and goldenrod and a few straggly cat’s ears.
The bees have disappeared completely now, so winter is on its way.
It looks like you have many more flowers blooming than we do … so glad to see all yours!
Thank you. Yes, we had a few still blooming but there are less now after a good freeze.
This summer has just flown past, it doesn’t seem that long ago that you were posting about the first flowers of spring. Hopefully this winter won’t be as long and cold as the last two have been.
I’ve seen a few Queen Anne’s lace blooming a second time, along with a few others, but I haven’t had the time to really pay attention as I should. The aconite flowers are beautiful, I can see why people would plant them, but not in a children’s garden. Who ever did was probably like me, completely unaware of how toxic the plants are.
I know what you mean Jerry. I don’t think I’ve seen a summer go by as fast as this one did. I think we deserve a mild winter after the last two but it’s cooling off fast here now.
I think that’s why the aconite flowers are there. Someone saw how beautiful they were and didn’t do any research to find out if they were poisonous.
Poor bumble bee. They are very hardy and venture out at quite low temperatures but they are sometimes caught out by a sudden chill. If it was a worker it would have been the end of the line for it anyway. I have a Solidago that I planted very early on in my garden before I realised the diversity in the families of plants. Mine is short and unperfumed. I must see if I can find another variety, I believe they can be very attractive for the bees too. Amelia
I was surprised to see this one had died because there were others that were alive.
You could try blue stemmed goldenrod (Solidago caesia.) It’s on the small side as goldenrods go and is easy to control. It’s blue stems also add interest. As you know, there are many to choose from!
Beautiful photos, Allen – as always. Sorry about dumping knapweed on you but I would say I’m very happy to have it flowering in our flower meadow and, as your unfortunate bee illustrates, it is beloved of insects. D
Thanks Dave! It’s mostly the cattle and sheep ranchers who have a thing about knapweed. I’ve always liked its flowers and as you say, if I ever need a bee photo all I need to do is visit a stand of knapweed.
Lovely to see the last of the flowers… old man winter is not far away!
I agree Eliza. He’s chilled me good a couple of times already, just to let me know that he’s in the neighborhood.
Surprising to see so many flowers still blooming! Beautiful though, and enjoyable to see.
Thanks Montucky! It is surprising how many will bloom right up until a hard freeze. They have to be very cold hardy!
Beautiful quote! Lovely photos of your late season flowers. I was interested to read what you wrote about Queen Anne’s Lace. I had noticed that it and Yarrow often had pink flowers in certain places round here. I have often thought that that was because of differences in the acidity/alkalinity of the soil (like hydrangeas). Do you think that would be the reason?
I too am surprised that Monkshood would be thought suitable for a childrens’ playground. We have had some slightly confused plants re-flowering in late autumn as well.
Thank you Clare.
Since I’m colorblind I don’t see the pink but I’ve read that many white flowers can have a pink tinge when they’re young and then lose it as they age. This excellent web page seems to support that: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artapr05/bjwildcarrot.html
I think whoever planted the monkshood didn’t know what they were planting. I’ve seen a lot of that.
Many plants can have a second bloom period but it seems late in the year for them to be doing it now!
Thank-you so much for that link! What wonderful photography. Thank-you too for explaining the pink colour – I will look more carefully in future and watch for the colour change.
You’re welcome. I visit that site often; it’s packed with information. I hope you’ll be able to see the pink to white change. It seems like it would be very subtle.
I would hope to photograph a plant each day to record the change.
That would make a great blog post!
I think it would too! 🙂
Your clover picture brought out the beauty of these unassuming plants very brilliantly.
Thank you. It’s my way of trying to persuade people to look at the more common flowers.
It’s worked for me.
The aster looks like Symphyotrichum lateriflorum (Calico aster). Want to thank you for your blog. I look forward to every post that comes to my inbox.
You’re welcome and thank you Karen. You agree with Sara’s comment and I think you’re both right. I’m glad to hear that you’re enjoying the blog!
Perhaps in my next life I shall be a bumblebee.
It’ll be a short life but a very sweet one, Ben!
Like you, I question growing monkshood in a child’s park. Today, for me, the snow squalls from this past weekend are a very distant memory. It’s sunny and 80 degrees here. I just planted 6 gray dogwoods by my back pond. They really got off to a good start this year. Hoping to see them in bloom in the spring!
I think whoever planted the monkshood probably had no idea what they were planting. I’m glad you found some good weather. Be sure to bring some back when you come north!
You might want to think about silky dogwoods to go with your grays. They have berries that start out white and then turn blue. The flowers are a lot like grays but they bloom at different times.
I think your aster is Symphyotrichum lateriflorum. It has smooth stems, small (for an aster) flower heads, white or purple ray petals, yellow or purple disk flowers, bracts at the base of the flower not recurved, linear leaves among the flowers and lower leaves that generally fall off before blooming. Common names would be calico, side-flowered, small white, or starved aster. Synonyms are Aster lateriflorus and Aster vimineus (they were combined and put in the new New World Aster genus).
Thanks very much Sara, after looking up Symphyotrichum lateriflorum I think you’re right. I don’t know how asters with purple centers have escaped my notice for all these years!
Beautiful post! Late fall flowers are such a gift. There are barely any blossoms left in my yard after the couple of hard frosts we just had. 😦
Thank you! Yes, it’s the same here now. I’m still seeing a few scattered asters and goldenrod but the season has pretty much ended. I hope winter goes by as fast as summer did!
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I’m sorry Hal but I’m not sure who you mean.
I couldn’t help myself and had to start Googling asters to see if I could find your purple-centered mystery flower. No definitive luck, but this site – http://www.waterwereld.nu/asteracaeaeng.php – has some pictures of asters that have both yellow and purple-centered blooms on the same plant, and the purple-centered’s ray flowers are curving, leading me to wonder if maybe some varieties turn that way as the blooms fade?
Thank you for your help Karen. At least you were able to find some with purple centers, which is more than I could find. I think you’re probably right about the curving ray flowers but to be honest I’ve never paid close enough attention to asters to know for sure. I’ll have to look a little closer nest time I see some.
Excellent pictures of beautiful flowers. I enjoyed your quotation too.
Thank you Susan, I’m glad you liked them!