Early October Flowers

Since my last flower post we’ve had a frost and freezing temps, so this one will probably be the last flower post this year. There will be some flowers like witch hazel and asters still blooming here and there in protected spots but I doubt I’ll find enough to do a full post.

I found a large colony of pink knotweed (Polygonum pennsylvanicum) still blooming, mixed in with grasses and clovers. As smartweeds go this one is very small and short but still pretty.

Pink knotweed is also called Pennsylvania smartweed. The flower heads are made up of many petal less flowers that grow densely on the stalk. Smartweeds get their name from the way your tongue will smart if you bite into them. Native American used smartweeds medicinally to treat a variety of ailments, and also used the chopped plants as a seasoning, much as we use pepper today. Some species are extremely hot while others are said to be milder. I almost always find smartweeds near water but these examples were not.

I’ve seen this pretty bi-color phlox in quite a few gardens. Many phlox blossoms are very fragrant but I always forget to smell this one. What would a fall garden be without a phlox or two? They’re so beautiful, it’s hard not to love them.

I was surprised to find peppers still blooming in a vegetable garden. This example had dark purple anthers.

False dandelion (Hypochaeris radicata) is a plant that is still thriving and I see it blossoming everywhere I go. This plant gets its name from its resemblance to the dandelion, but it would be hard to mistake one for the other. The yellow flowers are smaller than the dandelion’s and stand atop wiry, 6-8 inch long stems.

False dandelion leaves look like miniature versions of dandelion leaves and are nowhere near as wide or as long.

When I first saw this plant blooming while snow was falling a few years ago I thought it was a Shasta daisy on steroids, but it turned out to be the Montauk daisy (Nipponanthemum nipponicum) which is a Japanese creation also called the Nippon daisy. It is extremely hardy; I’ve seen it bloom after a 28 degree F. night and it is also a very late bloomer. It would be an excellent choice for a fall garden.

Many roses will usually bloom right up until a hard freeze and these pink ones still had a lot of buds coming along.

A friend complained about how weedy her morning glories had become, creeping throughout her vegetable garden and self seeding everywhere. I thought back about what poor luck I always had with them. Though I tried many times in various gardens they just refused to grow and bloom. That’s frustrating for a professional gardener but I suppose it’s good to have things in life that keep us humble.

I saw this zinnia still blooming in a friend’s garden. It might be the last one of the season.

New England asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) have just about finished now and I’m seeing fewer and fewer of them, so I thought I’d better grab a photo. It was on a roadside that had been mowed earlier, but even after being cut it still bloomed. I’ve seen other plants do the same.

Pink turtleheads (Chelone lyonii) still bloomed in a local park and I was surprised to see them. Mine stopped blooming a week or two ago. I don’t know the origin of this plant and have never known if it was a native or a cultivar but it does very well and asks for nothing. Pink turtleheads are native to the southeastern U.S. and don’t seem to mind dryness in spite of naturally growing near water.

I’ve never been able to look so deeply into a turtlehead blossom. There’s a lot going on in there. I’m going to have to read up on this plant.

I don’t see scabiosa very often; it doesn’t seem to be very popular here. This example was growing in a local park and seemed to be doing well, with many flowers. Actually I should say many flower heads, because what you see in this photo is a flower head containing many small florets. I’ve read that the name scabiosa comes from the plant’s use in the past to treat scabies, which causes severe itching. It is native to Africa, Europe and Asia.

Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) had a good year but their time seems to be just about over now. Though another name for this plant is “wild carrot” you had better know exactly what you’re doing if you dig and eat the root because there are very similar plants like water hemlock (Cicuta maculata) that are among the most toxic plants known.

I still see various species of goldenrod blooming here and there but the huge fields of them I saw in August and September are finished for this year. Native Americans used goldenrod for treating colds and toothaches, and it has been used for centuries to treat kidney stones and urinary tract infections.

The last thing I expected to see in October was an orchid in bloom, but there it was blooming away under a powerline cut I was passing through. It grew in what is essentially an unmown meadow, in full sun but surrounded and shaded by plants three times its height. To say it was a surprise would be an understatement.

I believe, because of the dry conditions it grew in and its nodding flowers, that it might be nodding lady’s tresses (Spiranthes cernua.) That orchid blooms in October with white flowers that nod toward the ground. There are at least two other orchids that look nearly identical though, so I could be wrong. I don’t get to see as many orchids as I’d like.

Many people have never learned to see the beauty of flowers, especially those that grow unnoticed. ~Erika Just

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Flowers Seen in October

Here in southwestern New Hampshire we don’t see many wildflowers in October, but every now and then you can find a stray something or other still hanging on. The bumblebee on this goldenrod (Solidago) was moving but very slowly and looked more like it was hanging on to the flower head rather than harvesting pollen. Bumblebees I’ve heard, sleep on flowers, so maybe he was just napping. The thought of a bee sleeping in or on a flower seems very pleasing to me, for some reason.

New England asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) are late bloomers but even they aren’t seen much after mid-October. This one had what I think is a halictid bee on it. They are also called sweat bees. At first I thought it was a hoverfly, but the long antennas changed my mind. He flew off immediately after this shot was taken, so there was no time for study.

Aster identification can be difficult but I think this one was a panicled aster (Aster simplex.) I don’t see too many large white asters at this time of year.

I’m not sure what is going on with dandelions in this area but I’ve seen very few this year. On the other hand, I’ve seen false dandelions (Hypochaeris radicata) almost everywhere I’ve been. If you look at just the flowers this plant might be confused with hawkweed, but its leaves are very different and look more like small dandelion leaves.

The small violet blossoms of Indian tobacco (Lobelia inflata) have just a hint of yellow on the inside and are quite cold hardy. We’ve had two or three light frosts and the example in the photo continues to bloom in my yard. The plant gets its common name from the way its seed pods are said to resemble the tobacco pouches carried by Native Americans. They did smoke it, but medicinally to treat respiratory and muscle disorders, and as a purgative.

 

I was surprised to see this lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) blooming so late in the year. Even its berries should have come and gone by now. Something had been munching on its leaves.

I found this nasturtium in a friend’s garden. A little white hoary alyssum (Berteroa incana) leaned in to whisper encouraging words to the nasturtium while it was having its photo taken, and it stayed perfectly still the whole time.

Another surprise was this wild cucumber vine (Echinocystis lobata) still flowering and producing fruit. Apparently the male flowers aren’t as delicate as they look. One of the mysteries of nature for me is why this plant has so many male flowers when there is only a single female flower at the base of each flower stalk. Another mystery is why I keep forgetting to get a photo of that female flower.

Common yellow wood sorrel (Oxalis stricta) is often confused with clover but clover has oval leaflets rather than the heart shaped ones like those seen in this photo. Yellow wood sorrel’s three leaflets close up flat at night and in bright sunshine, and for that reason it is also called sleeping beauty or sleeping molly. The flowers also close at night. The stricta part of the scientific name means “upright” and refers to the way the plant’s seedpods bend upwards from their stalks.

Red clover (Trifolium pratense) likes cool weather and blooms right up until a hard freeze, even though there are few insects left to pollinate it. Red clover makes excellent hay and silage and increases the quality of grass pastures, and that is most likely the reason it was introduced by colonists in the late 1700s.

Our native witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) starts blooming sometimes as early as mid-September, so seeing it isn’t a great surprise. What is surprising is how I’m finding it growing in so many different places.  It’s doing well this year and each plant is loaded with blossoms. The “hama” part of the plant’s scientific name means “at the same time” and is used because you can see leaves, flowers, and the prior year’s fruit all at once on the same plant. During warm winters I’ve seen witch hazel bloom as late as mid-January.

Sweet everlasting (Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium) is living up to its name by still going strong.  Actually, the common name comes from the way it lasts for years after being cut and dried. An odd name for this plant is rabbit tobacco, given to it by Native Americans because they noticed that rabbits liked to gather where these plants grew. Because of these gatherings they thought that rabbits must smoke the plant as a way to communicate with the Creator. It was and still is used in smoking mixtures by some Native people.

I never expected to see an ox-eye daisy blooming in October but that’s one of the great things about nature study; there is always another surprise right around the next bend. I’m always grateful to be able to see and smell flowers but even more so in October because it is then, when they really shouldn’t be blooming, that I remember what a great gift they are.

Silently a flower blooms,
In silence it falls away;
Yet here now, at this moment, at this place,
The world of the flower, the whole of the world is blooming.
This is the talk of the flower, the truth of the blossom:
The glory of eternal life is fully shining here.
~ Zenkei Shibayama

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Late Bloomers

We’ve had 2 or 3 hard frosts here so the meadows full of flowers that we enjoyed all summer long have now gone over to browns and grays, but throughout October, here and there and now and then, I’ve stumbled across a solitary blossom, still hanging on to what was.

This blue toadflax (Nuttallanthus Canadensis) grew on the river bank and had a single bloom at the top of an exhausted stalk. There was a nice rust brown stone beside it to use as a background too.

Evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) sneaks in a bloom now and then on a good sunny day but there are few bees left to enjoy them. Bumblebees are moving so slowly that their movements can barely be seen as they crawl rather than fly.

A small tuft of bluets (Houstonia caerulea) grew in a lawn that I walked by recently. There were 3 or 4 pale flowers on the plant, and as usual it seemed as if they were competing to see which could show the faintest blue tint on its petals. Deep down, these petals always seem to want to be white and looking for those that are the bluest is always a fun summer activity.

New England asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) can take a lot of cold but even they have mostly closed up shop for the season. An occasional defiant burst of color can still be seen along the roadsides where there is shelter from the frost.

I can’t think of many plants more resistant to cold than a carrot and that is really all Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) is, so seeing it blooming at this time of year doesn’t surprise me. The carrots that we eat come from this introduced wildflower, and any carrot is sweeter after a frost has nipped it. There are however some very similar plants that are among the most toxic known, so when I want sweet fall carrots I go to the farmer’s market.

 

One sulfur cinquefoil (Potentilla recta) plant in a field of thousands of different species had a single pale, buttery yellow blossom, but even though the blossom was pale it still shone like a miniature sun among the browns and grays of the meadow.

The phlox (Phlox paniculata) in my gardens have all given up the ghost but this hardy example I saw beside a road was protected by overhead trees and was still blooming as if it were September.

You never really know what you’re getting with sweet everlasting (Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium) because its flowers look closed even when they’re open. I just noticed this year how cold hardy they are-I’m seeing more of them than any other wildflower.

 

I was surprised to see this lobelia, called Indian tobacco (Lobelia inflata), blooming at the edge of my lawn this late in the season. Apparently it’s not as delicate as I thought. It isn’t under trees so it must have taken the full brunt of the frosty nights. This plant is called Indian tobacco because someone though its seed pods resembled the tobacco pouches carried by Native Americans.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) usually tries for a second bloom in the fall and this year it just made it before we had a heavy frost. Man has had a close relationship with yarrow that has lasted thousands of years. A sprig of it was found in a Neanderthal Stone Age burial site estimated to be 100,000 years old.

In the cold dark days of the winter, dream about the flowers to get warmed up! ~Mehmet Murat ildan

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