Wildflowers and Others in the Field

  • Post published:08/11/2014
  • Post comments:2 Comments
Panicled aster
Panicled aster

I have wildflowers in the fields around our house. Other flowers have joined them unexpectedly. These wildflowers showed up mysteriously en masse this year. I believe they are panicled asters. They are tall with ‘willow-like’ leaves, numerous rays and they bloom in August through October.

Panicled aster
Panicled aster

Lots of these pretty flowers in the field and along the roadside.

Goldenrod
Goldenrod

Goldenrod, solidago. Maybe this is Solidago juncea which has tiny leaflets in the axils of the slim toothless of the upper leaves. The flower clusters have what they call an elmlike shape.  There are many types of goldenrod and you’d think it would be easier to tell them apart.

Steeplebush
Steeplebush

At least I know this is steeplebush, Spiraea tomentosa, a low woody shrub with pink flowers and leaves that are a pale brownish color on the underside.. If you look very closely you can see that those tiny flowers have five petals and grow in a kind of pink fuzzy cluster.  Right behind the steeplebush is a clump of wild mint.

Wild mint
Wild mint

This isn’t a very noticeable plant. Icertainly never noticed it in the field before. Mine doesn’t seem very minty, but I am fascinated by the tiny flower clusters that grow in the leaf axils.

Thyme escapees
Thyme escapees

Behind the wild mint is a large clump of escaped thyme.  Actually there is a lot of thyme in the field. And in my ‘lawn’.  I didn’t realize it could spread by seed, but it must. I have been deliberately planting thyme in my lawn for a number of years. It gets mowed often enough that it rarely blooms, but I consider it an important element in my ‘flowery mead.’

Bee balm escapees
Bee balm escapees

This bee balm is growing right at the very end of the road, in front of our brush pile. Possibly it is the result of a stray root from a thinned clump of bee balm in the Herb Bed nearby.  Escaped thyme and bee balm – do they now qualify as wildflowers too?

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Lisa at Greenbow

    I would be having a whole lot of garden space like this if my garden was a large as yours. Beautiful.

  2. Pat

    Lisa – I’m ready for the garden to not be as large as this. Small is beautiful, too. As you know.

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