I saw this view along one of our roads recently. Lupines and Ox eye daisies seemed to go on forever. There were a few white lupines but most were blue / purple. It’s a hint of what will come; soon our meadows will explode with color.
Dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis) is an introduced plant that came from Europe in the 1600s but it doesn’t seem very invasive; the few colonies that I know of hardly seem to spread at all, and that’s possibly because they are biennials. This plant is in the mustard family, Brassicaceae. The young leaves of dame’s rocket are rich in vitamin C and oil pressed from its seed is used in perfumes.
Dame’s rocket flowers are sometimes mistaken for phlox, but phlox has 5 petals rather than the 4 petals seen on dame’s rocket. Phlox also has opposite leaves and those on dame’s rocket are alternate. The flowers are very fragrant in the evening and are said to smell like a mixture of cloves and violets.
When I was growing up we had a hedge of rugosa roses and I’ll never forget their wonderful scent. This rose reminded me of them because it too had that same scent. I think it was in the rugosa rose family but it wasn’t the exact one we had. The Latin word “rugosa” means “wrinkled,” as in the wrinkled petals this one had. They are a shrub rose that come along just after lilacs so if you’re looking for an extended period of fragrance in the garden I can’t think of anything better to extend it with. Rosa rugosa has been cultivated in Japan and China for about a thousand years but it has only been in this country since 1845. After its introduction it immediately escaped cultivation and can now be found just about anywhere on the coast of New England.
Pliny the Elder said chewing the root of greater celandine (Chelidonium majus) would relieve a toothache, but modern science has found that every part of it contains a range of isoquinoline alkaloids that makes it toxic if used in large amounts. When used in the correct dosage the plant’s yellow sap can be used against warts and moles. If used at all, all of the latex sap should be washed from the hands because it can cause irritation if rubbed into the eyes. Greater celandine is native to Europe and Asia but early settlers brought it with them to use medicinally, and it has found its way into all but 19 states in the U.S.
All the books will tell you that the flowers of greater celandine have four yellow petals but nature doesn’t know the words always and never, so you have to use a little common sense when identifying plants. Things like leaf shape, where it grows, flower size and color, and the yellow sap all have to be considered when identifying this one.
I love the beautiful colors and shapes found in the perennial bachelor’s button blossom(Centaurea). They make excellent low maintenance, almost indestructible additions to the perennial garden. I found this one growing in a friend’s garden.
Each strap shaped, yellow “petal” on a yellow hawkweed flower head (Hieracium caespitosum) is actually a single, complete flower and each forms its own seed. The buds, stem, and leaves of the plant are all very hairy and the rosette of oval, overlapping leaves at the base of the stem often turn deep purple in winter. The Ancient Greeks believed that hawks drank the sap of this plant to keep their eyesight sharp and so they named it hierax, which means hawk. It is an introduced invasive and names like “yellow devil” and “devil’s paintbrush” show what ranchers think of it.
This beautiful clematis was spotted in the garden of friends of mine. Its blossoms are large, probably 6 inches across. I think its name is “Nelly Moser.” Though we do have native clematis most clematis cultivars have a Chinese or Japanese lineage. According to Wikipedia the wild clematis species native to China made their way into Japanese gardens by the 17th century, and in the 18th century Japanese garden selections were the first exotic clematises to reach European gardens. From there came our first “exotic” clematis, an old favorite called Jackmanii, which is still grown today.
Fringe trees (Chionanthus virginicus) might look like another exotic import from China or Japan but they’re native to the east coast of the U.S. It’s a beautiful and fragrant tree that you rarely see anywhere, and I wonder why it’s so under used. It is said to be tougher than dogwood, more dependable than saucer magnolia, longer-lived than cherry, and smells better than Bradford pears. So why don’t more of us use it?
When seen alone the fringe tree’s blossoms don’t seem like much to get excited about but when they get together in lacy, drooping clusters at the ends of the branches they are quite beautiful. Fringe trees are one of the last to show new leaves in spring and they can look dead until the leaves and flowers appear.
I’m guessing that there’s a good chance that most people have never seen the pipe shaped flowers of a Dutchman’s pipe vine (Aristolochia durior) because you have to move the vine’s large leaves aside and peek into the center of the plant to see them. Dutchman’s pipe is native to some south eastern hardwood forests and has been cultivated in other parts of the country and Canada since the 1700s.
The old fashioned Dutchman’s pipe vine has very large, heart shaped leaves and has historically been used as a privacy screen or for shade on porches and arbors. You can still see it used that way today, but most don’t see these small flowers. They’re mottled yellowish-green and brownish purple with a long yellow tube, and are visited by the pipevine swallowtail butterfly and other insects. The plant contains a compound called aristolochic acid which can cause permanent kidney failure, so it should never be taken internally.
The round white flower heads of wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis) hide beneath its leaves and quite often you can’t see them from above. Compared to the ping pong ball size flower heads the leaves are huge and act like an umbrella, which might keep rain from washing away their pollen. Each sarsaparilla flower is very small but as a group they’re easy to see. Dark purple berries will replace the flowers if pollination is successful, and it’s usually very successful. This is one of the most common wildflowers I know of and I see them virtually everywhere I go, including in my own yard. The roots of the plant were once used to make root beer but the drink that was called sarsaparilla contained no part of the plant. It was made from birch oil and sassafras root.
Our locust trees are blooming. The one shown here is a black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) loaded with white, very fragrant blooms. One way to identify the tree is by the pair of short spines at the base of each leaf. Like many other legumes its leaflets fold together at night and when it rains. Its hanging flower heads remind me of wisteria.
Locusts are in the same family as peas and beans and the flowers show the connection. Black locusts were prized by colonial Americans for their tough, rot resistant wood. In 1610 colonists found black locust trees planted beside Native American dwellings and thought the Natives were using the tree as an ornamental, so they decided to use it that way as well. They also used the wood for ship building, forts and fence posts while the Natives used it to make bows and blow darts. It was once said to be the toughest wood in all the world and was one of the first North American trees exported to Europe.
Bristly locust (Robinia hispida) is more shrub than tree, but it can reach 8 feet. The beautiful pinkish purple flowers are very fragrant and bees really love them. Every time I find one in bloom it is absolutely covered with bees, which makes getting photos a challenge. What sets this locust apart from others are the bristly purple-brown hairs that cover its stems. Even its seedpods are covered by hairs. Bristly locust is native to the southeastern United States but has spread to all but 7 of the lower 48 states, with a lot of help from nurseries selling it for ornamental use.
The beautiful little flowers of red sandspurry (Spergularia rubra) are hard for me to see because they’re so small, so I take photos of them so I can see them better. This plant was originally introduced from Europe in the 1800s and it has reached many states on the east and west coasts but doesn’t appear in any state along the Mississippi river except Minnesota. It must have been introduced on both coasts rather than first appearing in New England and then crossing the country like so many other invasive plants have. I find them growing in dry, sandy waste areas. I’m not sure what the web or plant fibers surrounding this flower were all about.
I was bending down the stem of a sandspurry with one hand and taking its photo with the other so the penny is out of focus, but at least you can see how tiny this beautiful little flower really is, and that’s what’s important. I think you could fit about 8-10 of them on a penny.
Maybe, beauty, true beauty, is so overwhelming it goes straight to our hearts. Maybe it makes us feel emotions that are locked away inside. ~James Patterson
Thanks for coming by.
Plenty of beauty and interest here, but I especially taken by the unusual pipe shaped flowers of the Dutchman’s pipe vine and that tree behind the Dame’s rocket.
Thank you Ben. That tree sure has a lot of burls on it. A wood turner’s dream come true.
Perhaps so. But for now I prefer it living where it is. 🙂
It’s in a local park so it’ll be able to live out its life in peace.
That’s good to hear. 🙂
These posts are always educational, Allen. Thank you for the lessons and the tour!
Our black locusts are at the end of their bloom period now. The bees love the blooms.
You’re welcome Lavinia. Yes, sometimes I have trouble getting a photo with all the bees buzzing around the locusts.
So many lovely flowers! I have only recently (in the last two or three years) discovered Greater Celandine here. I don’t see it very often and it is another example of a native plant that doesn’t seem to be faring as well as it does as a non-native in the USA. Your Fringe Tree looks so beautiful as does that meadow with the Lupines and Ox-eye Daisies.
Thank you Clare. It’s interesting that so many of your natives do better here. I remember you said the same about maiden and Deptford pinks.
I think you’d like to have a fringe tree or two in your garden, if just for the fragrance.
Very tempting!
You have a lot of beautiful things in bloom, but I was captivated by the red sandspurry. What a gorgeous little flower!
Thanks Montucky! They are pretty little things, but almost too small for me to see well.
I have two fringe trees but they’re both under 10′ tall. I’ve heard they’re susceptible to the Emerald Ash Borer – maybe that’s one reason they aren’t being planted more right now.
I’ve never heard that but you’re correct. Here’s an interesting article you might want to read. Coincidentally, it’s by the Chicago Botanic Garden: http://my.chicagobotanic.org/news/emerald-ash-borer-has-a-new-host-white-fringetree-update/
I have two native fringe trees in my yard, wonderful trees for the reasons you describe. (A nice clear yellow foliage in the fall, too.) I suspect not many people plant them because not many nurseries sell them. Now that native plants have become a gardening thing, maybe the availability will increase.
Thank you Kate, I hope so. I think they’re beautiful trees. I wish I’d planted one or two here years ago.
“I’m guessing that there’s a good chance that most people have never seen the pipe shaped flowers of a Dutchman’s pipe vine” – perfectly right in my case but my life is poorer for it.
They’re unusual interesting flowers that come in different colors and sizes, but you have to search a bit to find them.
Thank you for giving a name to the yellow plant that appeared in our yard a few years ago and is choking out everything around it at the edge of our woods here in Peterborough, NH — celandine. I assume it came to us via a bird and initially I let it grow. But it showing up everywhere now — perennial beds, veggie garden, yard, woods — and seems to overtake other plants around it if I don’t pull it out. I will never have enough warts or moles! 🙂
Thank you Tammy. Yes, celandine certainly does get around but I’m not sure how unless birds eat the seeds. At least it’s relatively easy to pull but I’d wear gloves because if you don’t your hands will be covered in its latex sap.
Some people actually grow celandine in their gardens on purpose. One man’s weed is another man’s flower!
I love the Dame’s rocket. They’re early bloomers and smell so lovely. My mum has had celandine “appear” in her yard; I guess it was bird planted. hahaha. Hawkweed is a special favourite of mine, particularly the shorter orange one, as there are so few true orange flowers.
Thank you Lee. I like dame’s rocket too. It really doesn’t seem invasive at all to me.
Celandine sure does get around but I’m really not sure how. Maybe birds do eat the seeds.
I don’t see much orange hawkweed but I do know where a few grow. I read once that the color orange is virtually invisible to bees. Maybe that’s why we have so few orange flowers.
Lovely, lovely! I really like your locust tree, and the fact that it’s fragrant is a bonus. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one here. I have had Dutchman’s Pipe vine in my garden and never seen the blooms. Maybe I never looked!
Thank you Cynthia. I’m not sure if locust grows naturally that far north or not but nurseries might have them. We have some very old trees here and they’re beautiful in the spring.
I think most people have never seen a Dutchman’s pipe vine flower. You have to search to find them and it can be difficult because they’re so small among all those huge leaves.
Lovely, entertaining and educational as always. As for locust being tough – you’d better have a sharp chainsaw to cut one. The old timers used to say that if you set a locust post in concrete you’d have to replace the post a few years after the concrete rotted.
Thank you for the interesting information Carol. I’ve cut down a lot of trees but I don’t think I’ve ever cut a locust. It is tough wood though, great for fence posts and I think the old timers were right.
Thanks for the laugh!
I can confirm the use of the yellow celandine sap on warts. When I was a child I sprouted lots of warts especially on my knees. By applying the celandine sap to them they disappeared within short never to come back. – Beautiful as it may be, the sandspurry is causing me lots of trouble as it tends to grow in between the cobblestones our yard is made of. To remove it from between the cobbles is a backbreaking task.
Thank you Zyriacus, that’s interesting. I wish I’d known when I was a boy because I had warts on my knees too. My grandmother always said it was because I handled so many toads, but I think she just didn’t want me handling toads.
You certainly have my sympathies regarding your weedy cobblestones. I once worked for a lady who had extensive multi-level brick patios that I had to keep weeded. I found the quickest was was with a plain flat bladed screwdriver, but it was still hard on the knees and back. Try spraying with full strength vinegar. It doesn’t kill all weeds but it works on quite a few.
Nice! My yard smells so sweet 🙂
It’s that time of year!
Reblogged this on Poltrack Pix and commented:
My Chinese Fringe tree is in blooming and once again I wonder why I planted it out of view behind a Kousa dogwood. If I could go back in time I would planted it right in the middle of the backyard. Beautiful collection of photos.
Thank you John. I didn’t know there was a Chinese variety.
I love meadow flowers, thanks for all the photographs.
You’re welcome Susan.
So many beautiful flowers. That fringe tree is really cool!
Thank you Laura. I wish I’d known more about fringe trees years ago when I was a gardener. I would have suggested it to the people I worked for.