Mid September Flowers
September 21, 2019 by New Hampshire Garden Solutions

This field of goldenrod shows that most of the purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) has now gone by.

But now the loosestrife is being replaced by asters. In this case New England asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae,) so the goldenrods will still have company as they slowly go to seed.

Though most purple loosestrife plants have stopped blooming I still see them here and there. This is an invasive perennial that came over from Europe in the ballast of a cargo ship in the 1800s. The beach sand ballast, loaded with purple loosestrife seeds, was originally dumped on Long Island, New York. The seeds grew, the plant spread and now it covers most of Canada and all but 5 of the lower Untied States. It likes wet, sunny meadows but will grow just about anywhere. It’s hard to deny its beauty, especially when you see a meadow full of it growing alongside yellow goldenrods, but the plant chokes out natives including goldenrod and creates monocultures.

I saw quite a few New England asters growing on the banks of a small stream. What was remarkable about them was their height. The small stream goes under the road I stood on but the asters were still at almost eye level, so I’d guess they were at least 7 feet tall.

Some plants were so top heavy they fell and hung out over the water.

I’m seeing lots more of my personal favorite, the dark purple asters. They’re loved by others as well and are grown in many parks and public gardens.

I saw the tallest red clover plant I’ve ever seen recently. The blossom, supported by surrounding shrubbery, had reached about waist high on me and it was perfect and untouched. I have an affinity for these little flowers because they quite literally helped me see the light; the light of creation that shines out of them and many other flowers. In fact I think all flowers have this light but it’s harder to see in some than it is in others. It is not hard to see here.

I thought that Meadowsweet (Spirea alba) was just about finished for this year more than a month ago but I’m still seeing lots of it in bloom. Strangely though, I’ve seen very few of its cousin steeple bush (Spirea tomentose) this year.

Heal all (Prunella lanceolata) is still blooming in lawns everywhere I go. This plant is also called self-heal and has been used medicinally for centuries. It is said to cure everything from sore throats to heart disease, and that’s how it comes by its common name. Native Americans drank tea made from the plant before a hunt because they believed it improved their eyesight. The tiny orchid like flowers always look like a bunch of little mouths, cheering on life.

I got a little anxious when I found that a clump of pink turtleheads (Chelone obliqua ) in a local park had leaves that were black and crisp, but these examples in my garden are blooming well and the plants look healthy. It is usually the last plant to bloom in my yard but not this year.

I haven’t seen any insects on these plants yet but they’re ready if they should happen by. This pretty plant was given to me by a friend many years ago so it has a lot of memories attached and I’d hate to lose it.

I’m still seeing quite a lot of Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) but I’m not finding any with the tiny red / purple flowers in the center. The flower heads seem to get smaller as the season passes, so maybe that has something to do with it. 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.

Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) is a rather common flower at this time of year but there seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding it. People don’t know if it’s a hibiscus or a mallow or a hollyhock, and that’s because all of those plants are in the mallow family (Malvaceae) and have similar flowers. The easiest way to identify a rose of Sharon is by looking at the plant the flowers are on. If the flower is on an upright, often tall woody shrub it is a rose of Sharon. Mallow and hollyhocks are perennials and / or biennials and will usually die back to the ground each year. Hibiscus resembles rose of Sharon but you’ll only find it growing outside year round in the southern states because it is very tender. I think of rose of Sharon as a hardy hibiscus.

I keep going to a bed of zinnias at the local college hoping to see painted lady butterflies, but I haven’t seen a single one this year, there or anywhere else.

The last of the tall garden phlox at my house.

I saw a very loud sedum in a local park. My color finding software sees orchid, plum and hot pink. I would have called it purple but since I’m color blind I trust such hard to fathom colors to the color finding software.

My first thought was that this insect probably really didn’t care what color the sedum was, but then I wondered if maybe the color wasn’t precisely what had attracted it. I think it was a hoverfly but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.

Cow vetch (Vicia cracca) is a native of Europe and Asia that loves it here and has spread far and wide. According to the Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States the vining plant is present in every U.S. state. Cow vetch can have a taproot nearly a foot long and drops large numbers of seeds, so it is hard to eradicate. It is very similar to hairy vetch, but that plant has hairy stems. I like its color and it’s nice to see it sprinkled here and there among the tall grasses.

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 two places where it grows but each year there are many new plants. 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. As this photo shows they can be hard to see among the surrounding plants.

The flowers are among the smallest that I try to photograph and each year I tell myself that I have no hope of getting a good photo of them, but each year I try again. One of these times I’ll get it right. This shot does show the strange jointed stem, for those who have never seen the plant.

I can’t say that this plant is the hardest to photograph that I’ve ever seen, but it has to be right up there in the top five. It’s a beautiful little thing though, and worth the effort.

How small are sand jointweed blossoms? This shot from 2016 shows that they’re about 1/8 of an inch across, or nearly the same size as Abraham Lincoln’s ear on a penny.
Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul. ~Luther Burbank.
Thanks for stopping in.
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Posted in Nature, Wildflowers | Tagged Ashuelot River, Canon EOS Rebel T6, Cow Vetch, Goldenrod, Half Moon Pond, Hancock New Hampshire, Heal All, Keene, Native Plants, Nature, New England Asters, New Hampshire, NH, Olympus Stylus TG-870, Pink Turtlehead, Purple Loosestrife, Queen Anne's Lace, Red Clover, Rose of Sharon, Sand Jointweed, Sedun, Summer Wildflowers, Swanzey New Hampshire, Tall Phlox, White Meadowsweet, Zinnia | 34 Comments
I like NE asters, but they’re not my favorites. I think my favorites are the Short’s Aster with numberless masses of light blue flowers and the Aromatic Aster with it’s dark blue flowers.
I just take what nature gives. I like New England asters more for flower size and colors than anything else.
[…] a naturalist writer near Keene, NH, about 50 miles southwest, said last week that he hasn’t seen any painted ladies this […]
It’s amazing to see so many things still in bloom there, when here we have practically no blossoms left at all. And our forecast is for snow Saturday and Sunday.
Thanks Montucky! It seems far too early for snow. Last year though we had snow in November, which is rare now.
We still have plenty of asters and goldenrod blooming everywhere, and they will until a good frost.
Since I can’t always take the hound to the woods these days, we’ve also been walking along our road. A couple of weeks ago I saw Polygonum articulatum growing in such profusion I brought a piece home to ID and photograph. It’s probably been growing there for ages and I’ve just never seen it. I’ve also found a largish population of Epigaea repens – the third “new” place where I’ve seen it this year, although of course it’s been growing there for many years. I find this is a perfect time of year to spot it – when many understory plants are drying/dying/losing color but not too many leaves have yet fallen from the trees 🙂
Thank you Quinn, I’m glad you’re finding so many new plants. This is a great time of year to look for them and also a good time to see some of the later blooming orchids.
We are chock full of painted lady butterflies here in central NH this year! All over my buddleia, Joe Pye weed, asters, etc., and I saw lots at The Fells in Newbury NH yesterday, too. I wonder why none down your way? How interesting. Thanks, as always, for the sharp eye and the IDs.
You’re welcome, and thank you. I’m not sure why painted ladies are missing this year but other people have told me the same.
We have self-heal, red clover, cow vetch, Queen Anne’s lace, and goldenrod here is S. Chile. Plus yarrow, mullein, and false and regular dandelion.
The Europeans really got around, didn’t they?
On Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 5:10 AM New Hampshire Garden Solutions New Hampshire Garden Solutions posted: ” This field of goldenrod shows > that most of the purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) has now gone by. > But now the loosestrife is being replaced by asters. In this case New > England asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae,) so the goldenrods will still > h” >
They sure did, and they apparently brought seeds with them. I thought of them yesterday in fact, as I was picking hundreds of tick trefoil seeds off my clothes.
Is that the same as the annoysome “beggar’s ticks” in Texas?
No, tick trefoil is Desmodium canadense, but its seeds stick just as well as beggar’s ticks.
Thanks.
The purple asters are really beautiful! You are so fortunate to have them growing wild. The Meadowsweet is such a delicate pink!
Yes, we’re seeing purple asters everywhere right now!
That meadowsweet surprised me because it’s usually white. It must be a natural hybrid.
The clover picture was very good. I have never seen a clover as high as that one.
I haven’t either. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It came up to my waist, rod straight.
Wonderful photographs, heal all and the clover blossom were my favourites and I loved your quote.
Thanks very much Susan. Luther Burbank was a plant breeder and he’s a hero of mine. He created the Shasta daisy, among many other beautiful and useful hybrids.
I must thank you for putting a smile on my face. I love the photos and the text that goes with them.
You’re welcome Adrian, and thank you. I always like to hear that people are enjoying this blog. It helps me keep going!
Ha! Didn’t know that about QAL. I’m going to try turning some blue 😁. After countless gallons of water, I pulled my crisp, dry zinnias out this week. Good for you for keeping some going. The prunella in my lawn (actually the entire lawn) is brown and crispy. It’s been a terribly dry summer here. I’ve reserved most of my watering for the veggie beds. Sigh.
Let me know how it works Ginny! I haven’t done it with Queen Anne’s Lace but it works well on white peopny blossoms!
It’s very dry here too and I’ve seen trees with brown crisp leaves at the top instead of fall color. We really need rain or fall will be a bust this year.
I hope we both see a week of drizzle!
The photos are all beautiful, and certainly food for the eyes and the soul. I love that field of goldenrod!
As for the purple centers in Daucus carota, even during the early part of the season when blooms are larger, I seem to have a mix of ones with purple centers and ones without. It blooms and thrives in the heat of summer when the ground is baked hard like a brick.
Thank you Lavinia. You’d love it here right now. Goldenrod blooms everywhere you look!
Yes, not all Queen Anne’s lace flowers have that strange purple center bloom. I see them quite often but I’ve never paid much attention to what time of year it was.
Thank you for all your picture, but especially (this time) the sand jointweed.. Your attention to the tiny flowers has inspired me to look more carefully around me. We recently relocated to South Carolina and a more suburban setting. But with a more careful eye I have found a dozen new to me, and lovely, tiny “weeds” in my own back yard. I’m calling them wildflowers and letting them stay. The male of the household has his perfect lawn in front. I have planted and unplanted flower gardens. Thanks again, it’s so much more fun with wildflowers.
You’re welcome, and thank you. Perfect lawns used to thrill me but not so much anymore. I’d rather have a meadow full of weeds. As you say, they’re much more fun.
I don’t know much about what grows in South Carolina, but I’d bet that you’ll find many beautiful things. And no snow shoveling!
Allan, I’m lucky that Sand Jointweed grows all over here. It even grows across the street along the rail trail I walk almost every day!
Ed Voss , author of “Field Manual of Michigan Flora” writes, “The perianth varies from white to red. Until the plants bloom (chiefly August–September), the peculiar segmented appearance of the immature inflorescences, with closely overlapping ocreolae but no buds yet evident, often arouses curiosity in those not familiar with the species.”
M 🙂
They’ve certainly aroused my curiosity but though I once knew two places where they grew I now know of only one colony of maybe twenty plants.
You’re lucky you have so many!
Thanks, Allen, for all your photos! Sand Jointweed is one of my favorites. I look for it every year. Your photos are just the ticket to appreciate this wildflower. Marie 🙂
Thanks very much Marie. I hope you have better luck finding it than I do!
I’ve had several painted ladies on my echinacea this year here in mid-coast Maine. In addition to the other expected visitors, had one rare visit by a Giant Swallowtail (a first for me.) We have a couple varieties of winter hardy hibiscus still flowering here. I have a midnight marvel that is a delight! – Susan
Thank you Susan, you’re lucky to have so many butterflies there. I keep hoping I’ll see a black swallowtail but I never have, and I didn’t even know we had a giant swallowtail.
I’m going to have to look up that midnight marvel hibiscus. It sounds like it might be beautiful!