More Early August Flowers
August 12, 2020 by New Hampshire Garden Solutions

The longer I do blog posting the more I’m amazed more by what I don’t see than what I do, and here is a perfect example of that; pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea.) I’ve told readers before that they’d never see pearly everlasting on this blog because it didn’t grow here but what I should have said was I had never seen it. Now I’ve found it twice in two days in two different places. According to the USDA the plant gets its common name from the “pearl-white involucre bracts that surround the yellow disk flowers.” You can just see one of those disk flowers beginning to show in the center of this flower head. Native Americans used pearly everlasting for treatment of sores and rheumatism, and they also smoked it to treat colds and as a tobacco substitute. What I see far more of is sweet everlasting (Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium,) and they used that plant in much the same way.

But it is that time of year when some of our smallest and most beautiful wildflowers show themselves and field milkwort (Polygala sanguinea) is one of those. Its flowers are beautiful and unusual enough to make you want to sit beside them for a while and study them, and that’s just what I usually do. Milkworts get their name from the ancient Greeks, who thought they increased milk production in nursing mothers. The polygala part of the scientific name comes from the Greek polugalon or “much milk.”

On field milkwort flowers what look like petals arranged on a central stem are actually individual flowers packed into a raceme no bigger than the end of an average index finger. Each tiny overlapping flower has two large sepals, three small sepals, and three small petals that form a narrow tube. Several different kinds of bees help pollinate this plant, including bumblebees. Its flowers can be white, purple, pink, or green and I’ve noticed that the color can vary considerably from plant to plant.

This shot from a few years ago gives you a sense of the size of a field milkwort flowerhead. Still, as small August flowers go, it’s among the biggest.

The flowers of mullein (Verbascum thapsus) grow in a great long spike and they bloom from the bottom to the top. Once the blossoms reach the very top of the flower spike the plant is done. Native Americans used tea made from its large, gray green furry leaves to treat asthma and other respiratory ailments. It is also said to be useful as a relaxant and sleep aid.

Mullein is a biennial so like burdock and many other plants it flowers and dies in its second year of growth. It is considered a weed but if all of its flowers opened at once along its tall flower stalk I think it would be a prized garden specimen.

This photo is more about the red seed pods than the yellow flowers of Canada St. John’s wort (Hypericum canadense) because some St. John’s wort plants have red buds and others have red seed pods, and it can get very confusing.

This photo is all about the flower of Canada St. John’s wort; the smallest of all the St. John’s wort flowers. Each blossom wouldn’t even hide Lincoln’s head on a penny. In fact you could pick a bouquet of them and hide it behind a penny, so small are the blooms.

And here is a Canada St. John’s wort blossom on a penny. It’s one of the smallest flowers I try to photograph.

Brittle stem hemp nettle (Galeopsis tetrahit) is originally from Europe and Asia and is considered highly invasive in some areas, but it is relatively hard to find here. It’s an annual, growing new from seed each year. Its small purple flowers grow in whorls near the top of the plant, which is often branched.

Brittle stem hemp nettle flowers have a large 3 part lower lip where insects land. From there insects can follow dark purple stripes into the blossom. Once inside they’ll pick up some pollen from the 4 stamens that arc along the inside of the upper lip and hopefully pass it on to another flower. The 3/4 inch long flowers have long white hairs on their upper lip and the square stems are also covered in hairs. When you run your fingers over any part of the plant you can feel its stiff, bristly hairs but they don’t embed themselves in you, thankfully.

Sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus) flowers look a lot like dandelions, but the rest of the plant doesn’t. Its flowers are held about 2 feet high on wiry stems, and its leaves have prickly edges. The seed heads look a bit like a dandelion seed head but are denser because of more seeds. This plant is considered a noxious weed in many places and comes from Europe and Asia. It was first reported in Pennsylvania in 1814 and is now in all but 8 states and most of Canada. This one grew right at the edge of a ditch I didn’t know was there and as I backed up to get a better shot I suddenly found myself lying on my back in the muddy ditch. Once I stopped laughing I came out of it feeling a little foolish but otherwise unscathed.

Here is a look at the edge of a sow thistle leaf. It feels as prickly as it looks.

When I started working where I do I found a single chicory plant (Cichorium intybus) growing in a 13 acre field that I mow each week. I mowed around the plant and let it be and then there were 3 or 4 plants, and then a few more, and now there is a forest of them. One recent day I found myself in the middle of this forest admiring all of these beautiful flowers and I suddenly had the strange sensation that I was lighter, almost as if gravity had been switched off and I was being carried away by the beauty that I saw. And for all of the rest of that day I felt light, as if I had little weight. It was very strange, but not uncomfortable. In fact I’d like for it to happen again. It reminded me of lying on my back in the grass as a boy, watching the clouds float past. Sometimes I felt as if I was floating then, too.

Beauty, according to Indian spiritual master Amit Ray, is the purest feeling of the soul. Beauty arises when the soul is satisfied he says, so on this day my soul must have been immensely satisfied.

And then I wondered if dragonflies like this Halloween pennant, perched atop a chicory plant, felt the same lightness I felt. And bees and butterflies? Do they have a sense of having any weight at all? Since they must know that they’ll float to earth if they stop moving their wings I’d guess the answer would be yes. Insects, especially dragonflies, do seem to have a certain amount of intelligence, because when I’m mowing this field dragonfly squadrons fly along on either side of me, knowing that the mower will scare insects up out of the grass. It’s an easy meal they don’t have to work too hard to get, and it’s always quite a remarkable thing to watch. No matter how fast or slow the mower goes they fly right along beside it.

Beautiful yes but every gardener’s nightmare come true, because creeping bellflower (Campanula rapunculoides) is virtually impossible to eradicate. I worked for years trying to remove it from a garden I once worked in and last I knew the plants were still thriving. I think the new owners must have come to see the futility of it all.

White avens (Geum canadense) are everywhere this year, more than I’ve ever seen. Each flower is about a half inch across with 5 white petals and many anthers. The anthers start out white and then turn brown and you usually find both on each flower. Each flower becomes a seed head with hooked seeds that will stick to hair or clothing.

I saw a hosta blossom that had to be in this post because it showed perfectly why hostas are in the lily family. In fact another name for the plant is the plantain lily.

This very beautiful rosebay willowherb (Chamerion angustifolium) grows just off the side of an old dirt road at the edge of a swamp. At least I think it is rosebay willowherb; there seems to be some confusion among sources about the regions it grows in. According to the USDA it doesn’t grow in New England, but the University of Maine lists it in its database. Another name for the plant is fireweed and Henry David Thoreau mentions seeing great stands of it in 1857, so I’ve been wondering for years now if the USDA map is incorrect. If you live in New Hampshire and have seen this plant I’d love to hear from you.

Narrow leaved gentians (Gentiana linearis) grow alongside the same road that the rosebay willowherbs were on. Gentians of any kind are extremely rare in these parts and I’m always as excited to see them as I would be to see a field full of orchids. Narrow leaf gentians like moist, calcium rich soil and that’s one reason you don’t see them here very often, because our soil is generally acidic. Another reason is that the flowers never open so insects have to force their way in, and it takes a strong insect like a bumblebee to do so. Third is how its seeds are too small to interest birds and its foliage too bitter to interest herbivores. I love its beautiful deep blue color and I hope this small colony will spread. I’ve heard of other hidden colonies of it here and there as well.
Never has the earth been so lovely or the sun so bright as today. ~Chief Nikinapi
Thanks for coming by.
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Posted in Nature, Wildflowers | Tagged Ashuelot River, Brittle Stem Hemp Nettle, Canada St. John's Wort, Canon SX40 HS, Chicory, Creeping Bellflower, Field Milkwort, Fireweed, Halloween Pennant Dragonfly, Hancock New Hampshire, Hosta Blossom, Keene, Mullien, Narrow Leaved Gentian, Native Plants, Nature, New Hampshire, NH, Olympus Stylus TG-870, Pearly Everlasting, Prickly Sow Thistle, Rosebay Willowherb, Summer Wildflowers, Swanzey New Hampshire, White Avens | 21 Comments
Ben said exactly what I wanted to say, so I will leave it at that. That is a beautiful passage you wrote.
Thank you Lavinia, I’m glad you liked it.
Thank you for bringing more beauty into my day.
“I mowed around the plant and let it be and then there were 3 or 4 plants, and then a few more, and now there is a forest of them.”
“One recent day I found myself in the middle of this forest admiring all of these beautiful flowers and I suddenly had the strange sensation that I was lighter, almost as if gravity had been switched off and I was being carried away by the beauty that I saw. And for all of the rest of that day I felt light, as if I had little weight. It was very strange, but not uncomfortable.”
Perhaps their way of saying thank you.
Thank you Ben, I’m always happy to be able to bring a little more beauty into people’s lives.
Now I’ll thank you for such a wonderful thought!
😊
I can understand your feelings after your encounter with the field of chicory. It is a really beautiful flower.
It seems really odd to me to hear you talking about finding one rosebay willowherb when it is so common round here.
I echo my sister’s remarks about your skill at photographing tiny flowers.
Thank you. I can’t think of another flower or plant that looks like chicory. I look forward to seeing it every summer.
I’m not sure why rosebay willowherb doesn’t like it here but there are less than a hundred sightings of it in this state. I know of only one spot where it grows.
Persistence and image stabilization are what it takes to do the very small ones. I sometimes go back three or four times to get a fair shot of some of them.
Small is beautiful! Such pretty tiny flowers. That Canada St. John’s Wort is a delight, and not for the reason you are thinking as you read this! It’s so pretty.
Thank you Cynthia, that is a pretty little thing!
Interesting how so many plants that are found in both Canada and the U.S. have Canada in their name.
Is that because your plant hunters came north?
I’m not sure but I’d guess that had a lot to do with it. In those days plants were collected and sent, often to Europe, to botanists to identify and name.
Excellent information, thank you for this!
You’re welcome Katherine, and thank you!
I’ve often found Chamerion angustifolium in Maine and New Hampshire. To see where citizen scientist have reported it anywhere in the world, log into iNaturalist and do a search for it. You will be able to see pictures and a map where the plant had been found. Thanks for a really great blog. I’ve been a fan for years.
Thank you Gary. I did what you suggested and found surprisingly few observations for fireweed, which is what the website wanted to call it. Only 73 people had found it and only one here in Cheshire County. So it isn’t common but it is here in more than one spot and that’s really what I was wondering.
Thanks again, and thank you for being such a loyal fan for so long!
“When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object”, From the Unbearable Lightness of Being.
How fortunate to be lifted above a field of blue chicory and hear no protest.
Thank you Lynne, that’s a great quote.
It was quite an amazing feeling that just came out of nowhere.
I am a recently new subscriber and am enjoying your posts. Thank you! Question about chicory: Do you know if it can be transplanted, or what is the best way to get some to grow on my property in Mass?? I see it on many roadsides and would love to have some at home.
Thank you Cathy, and welcome! Chicory has a tap root like a dandelion so you’d have to transplant very young plants, I think.
I think the best way would be to collect seeds and start them in a pot or seed tray and then transplant the young seedlings. Once established these plants are very tough and will bloom for years.
I’m going to try seeds myself this fall.
I love your close ups of tiny little flowers like the Canadian st John’s Wort, with my own eyes I would miss so much of the beauty.
Thank you Susan. That’s where the camera comes in. It sees much better than I do!