I saw this view of purple New England asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) and goldenrods along a roadside recently. In my last flower post I showed the very dark purple New England asters that are my favorite but I’ve noticed that bees seem to prefer the lighter colored ones.
There’s little that’s more cheery at the end of summer than a New England aster.
I didn’t see the crab spider on this white campion (Silene latifolia) blossom until I saw it on the computer, and that happens more than I would have ever guessed. Crab spiders change color to match the color of the flower they live on and they can be hard to see. White campion flowers have 5 deeply notched petals that have an easily seen fringe at their base. This example is a female flower.
I’ve seen exactly two white turtleheads (Chelone glabra linifolia) flowers this year and this is one of them. They seem to be having a tough year. I’ve seen plants with the tops eaten off and I assume deer did that, and I’ve also seen some type of caterpillar eating the flower buds. The plant gets the first part of its scientific name from Chelone of Greek mythology. She was a nymph who insulted the gods and was turned into a turtle for her trouble. I have a friend who said he immediately thought of a turtle when he saw these flowers but for some reason I never see a turtle when I look at them.
Here is one of the caterpillars that I’ve seen eating the turtlehead blossoms. There are two different species of sawfly larvae that feed on the plant but I don’t know if this is one of those.
This nodding bur marigold plant (Bidens tripartita) grew in the wet mud at the water’s edge at a local pond. This is another flower I’ve had trouble finding this year. That seems odd because I usually see them everywhere. I’ve even seen islands in the river covered with them. As they age the flowers of the nodding bur marigold nod towards the ground and that’s how the plant comes by its common name. The flowers look something like a miniature sunflower and are supposed to be good for honey production. I like their deeply pleated petals. The plants grow to about knee high, often in standing water at the edges of rivers and ponds.
Lady’s thumb (Polygonum Persicaria or Persicaria maculosa) is also blooming near water just about everywhere I go. The plant is one of the smartweeds, so called because your tongue will smart if you bite into it. This plant is originally from Europe and Asia and is considered a noxious weed. It was first seen near the Great Lakes in 1843 is now found in nearly all of the lower 48 states. It likes to grow near water and is usually found along pond and stream banks.
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.
The tiny flowers are packed into a long raceme and can be white, red, pink, or a combination of all three. In my experience it is rare to find one as open as this one was.
Blue stemmed goldenrod (Solidago caesia) appears early on in summer but waits until September to bloom. Its stems grow vertically until the flowers begin to open and then they fall over into a more horizontal position, as if to show off the yellow blooms that grow in tufts all along the stem. This plant isn’t considered rare but I know of only one or two places where it grows. It is also called wreath goldenrod.
The stems of blue stemmed goldenrod get their blue color from the same natural wax coating that is found on grapes, plums, blueberries and other plants. The coating is called a bloom and plants use it as a form of protection against moisture loss. It’s made up of tiny powdery, whitish crystals which reflect and scatter light in ways that can make the surface that they cover appear very blue. The wax crystals can be washed off by rain or melted by the sun but though we’ve had some very hot and wet weather this summer many stems were still blue.
This nice colony of white wood asters (Aster divaricatus) blooms by an old stone wall every year where I work. They last for quite a while and I’m always happy to see them. Most of their cousins will have gone to brown and finished for the year but they’ll often still be blooming.
I always find silverrod in dry, gravelly places at the edge of the woods near the end of August. It’s hard to get a photo of because it’s usually surrounded by other plants and rarely grows alone. It grows about knee high and isn’t seen anywhere near as often as the yellow goldenrods.
I think almost everyone knows what goldenrod looks like but not everyone has seen silverrod. Silverrod (Solidago bicolor) is in the goldenrod family and is also called white goldenrod. It is the only native white flowered goldenrod found in the northeast. The small flowers almost always have at least one ant on them.
I think it’s just about time to say goodbye to beautiful little forked blue curls (Trichostema dichotomum,) because I’m seeing more seedpods than flowers. This plant is an annual so it will have to grow again from seed next year. These little beauties are usually barely ankle tall and like to grow in sandy soil in full sun.
Sand jointweed (Polygonum articulatum) is a curious little plant that gets its common name from the way it that grows in pure sand, and from its many jointed stems. I know of only one place where it grows but each year there are many new plants there. It is an annual so each year’s plants have to produce plenty of seed. They grow to about knee high and this year there are plenty of tiny white blooms, so hopefully strong seed production will continue.
Some of sand jointweed’s flowers have plum colored anthers and some have white anthers. Why that is I don’t know, unless they color with age. The flowers bloom from the bottom of the stem upwards, so I suppose it’s possible.
Sand jointweed’s flowers are about 1/8 of an inch across, or about the same size as Abraham Lincoln’s ear on a penny, as this photo I took earlier shows. They’re darn near impossible to get a good shot of.
This photo shows the curious jointed stem that gives sand jointweed its common name.
Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium) starts blooming in late July and is usually finished by now, but you can still see the odd flower head here and there. That’s a good thing because monarch butterflies love these flowers.
I was surprised to find a Deptford pink (Dianthus armeria) blossom because this plant usually blooms in July. I think this is the latest I’ve ever seen one but I was happy to see it because they’re beautiful little things. They don’t have the bold, jagged red ring around their center like their cousin the maiden pink (Dianthus deltoids) and bloom later than maiden pinks. The flowers are also smaller and the plant, rather than growing in large clumps of 40-50 flowers out in the open like the maiden pink, blooms shyly in threes and fours at the edges of meadows. Though it originally came from Europe it can hardly be called invasive.
One of the hardest lessons we have to learn in this life, and one that many persons never learn, is to see the divine, the celestial, the pure, in the common, the near at hand – to see that heaven lies about us here in this world. ~John Burroughs
Thanks for coming by.
Hey Alan! Working my way back through old posts. Otherwise I would’ve seen your entry on Silverrod and would know you knew it – not just guessed you knew it. 🙂
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Thanks again Cindy!
Thank you for the Burrough’s quote; so true. Your macro photography is marvellous! The crab spider with the skull face, the Nodding Bur Marigold, the Forked Blue Curl the Sand Jointweed and the Deptford Pink – all beautiful and interesting.
Thank you Clare. There are still a surprising amount of flowers blooming. I might be able to do October flower posts this year, which doesn’t happen often!
That would be good if you could manage it!
Sand jointed is native to Michigan, and I see it often, because if there’s anything we have in abundance in Michigan, it’s sand. But, I’ve never been able to get evan a fair photo of one of the flowers because they are so small, I don’t know how you do it!
Thanks to your blog, I was able to tell the difference between purple stemmed asters and some of the other species that I saw the other day, although I was still clueless about the other species.
I never saw the resemblance to a turtle either when it comes to the turtlehead flowers, until I shot a photo of one from almost straight on and slightly below one of the flowers as it was just beginning to open. In the photo, the flower does sort of resemble the mouth of a turtle, but I still wouldn’t call it a strong resemblance.
Another great post, keep up the great work, especially the photos of the tiny flowers you find.
Thanks Jerry! It’s that Olympus camera that does it. It’s great for macros once you get used to its quirks.
Clueless is the way I still am about 90% of the asters. It has taken years to learn a handful and I’m never 100% sure I have all of them correct. There are a few though, like New England asters, that look like no other.
I thought turtlehead flowers looked more like a snake head than anything, but even that is a stretch of the imagination for me!
That is an exceptionally pretty little crab spider!
I thought so too!
The Deptford Pink was a beautiful way to finish your post.
Thank you. I love those little flowers.
Great post. Very interesting about Lady’s Thumb. Still waiting for our NE Asters to bloom.
Thank you. I wonder why they’re so late? At least by New England standards they are.
A number of times, I haven’t noticed a crab spider either, until I saw it on the computer. I did not know the crab spider changed color to match the color of the flower. Thanks for that interesting tidbit. 🙂
You’re welcome Lee. They are small! I’m fairly certain that I read that it takes about 6 weeks for them to change color, and then only females, I believe. I’ve seen them in white and yellow.
Lots of beauty still left in September. That crab spider caught my attention. I didn’t know any spider could change color, and it looks as though there is a face on its body.
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Thank you Laurie. I saw that face too. Yes, if I remember what I read correctly it takes them a long time to change color. About 6 weeks, I think. I’ve seen them in yellow and white.
Wow! Six weeks.
They must have to do some planning ahead to know what color to be!
Thank you for another informative and beautiful post.
You’re welcome Jane, and thank you!
“Jointweed” is a funny name. I imagine someone rolling a joint…
But that nodding bur marigold is not the same as marsh marigold, is it? Or a relative?
Thank you Cynthia. I know what you mean but I don’t think I’d smoke that plant.
No the nodding bur marigold is completely different than marsh marigolds, including the size. These flowers are about as big as your 5 cent piece.
Yup. I still see the turtle head.
Not me! I hope everything is good in California. It doesn’t sound it!
I meant to say “thank you!” in my post…!
I thought so!
That you this early morning presentation of a beautiful wild bouquet . And for Burrough’s words. Heaven on earth, we only need to look.
Thank you Lynne. If there is a secret that’s it-just slow down and look closer.
Well, your eagle eyes certainly spotted a lot of colour about still. My favourite was the forked blue curl, such a pretty shape as well as a lovely colour.
Thank you Susan. Yes, that little flower has an interesting strategy for sharing its pollen.