A few photos above from an early morning hike at the Friendship Hill National Historic Site near Pt. Marion, Pennsylvania. If you want to learn more about the history of this sprawling estate, you can go to this link or search for prior posts from the main search page of my Tumblr blog. In addition to the historic homestead of Albert Gallatin, the park features ten miles of hiking trails through verdant oak-hickory and riparian forests. This time of year, the Central Appalachian forest is rich with fungi, legumes, berries, and the loveliest orb-weavers imaginable.

From top: wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia), also known as yellow ironweed, a late summer aster so named because the petioles of its leaves run down the plant's stem; northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin), a gorgeous native shrub whose bright red berries in late summer are followed by the most extraordinary gold foliage in the fall; orange mycena (Mycena leaiana), a lovely, gregarious fungi of deciduous logs whose pigment has shown antibacterial and anti-cancer properties; the ripened but dangerously toxic berries of pokeweed (Phytolacca americana), whose young leaves are used by mountain folk to make poke sallet (but only after repeated cleansings to remove the toxins); American hog-peanut (Amphicarpaea bracteata), a lovely twining vine whose roots and ground nut are edible; cutleaf coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata), also known as green-headed coneflower and wild goldenglow, a close relative of black-eyed Susan with gorgeous, pinnately-dissected leaves (the leaf photo also shows the characteristic tri-foliate leaf pattern of hog-peanut); zig-zag goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis), one of two adorable woodland goldenrods that grow in this area (the other being blue-stemmed goldenrod), both of which produce clusters of brilliant yellow flowers in both their leaf axils and at the ends of their stems; steeplebush (Spiraea tomentosa), also known as hardhack, which produces delicate plumes of pink flowers in late summer; a spined micrathena (Micrathena gracilis), which has ensnared a fly in her web; and an arrowhead orb weaver (Verrucosa arenata), also known as a triangle orb-weaver, a sparkling gem of an arachnid that reels in its prey like a fisherman dragging in a net.

Wingstem, both kinds, growing right near each other as they not-infrequently do around here.

Verbesina occidentalis is the one in bloom, and the last pic shows just the leaves of V. alternifolia. The main difference between them is the leaf arrangement (opposite vs alternate), but alternifolia also blooms later & less showily.

Verbesina alternifolia / Wingstem at the Eno River State Park in Durham, NC

Caterpillars eating the wingstem seeds 🐛

Wingstem: A Natural Beauty

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Virginia (2) by re_vised

New Plants!

1. Purple Loosestrife

2. Broadleaf Arrowhead

3. True Forget Me Not

4. Wingstem

Today I saw a liverwort for the first time!

I stood and watched a little heron perched on a tree and saw the most brilliant, jewel-like metallic blue and green dragonfly with wings the velvety black of the night sky.

The ironweed is blooming in rich royal purple, jewelweed in vivid orange, wingstem in bright sunny yellow, and cardinal flower in unbelievably vivid scarlet. Yellow goldenrod, magenta phlox, white Virginia clematis. Meadows and streambanks along the hiking trails are rainbowed with wildflowers. I appreciate wildflowers individually, but placed together their bright colors are a whole other tier or beauty.

There's a spot with a little meadow full of milkweed and the monarch butterflies have a breathless majesty that never goes away no matter how often I see one.

Walking home I heard a chorus of frogs and stopped for a while to listen to them.

Somehow I'm most excited by far about the liverwort.

A few late summer odds and ends from a bike ride on the Mon River Trail yesterday. The asters are really starting to pop now as the days grow noticeably shorter and autumn closes in. A number of interesting vines are also in bloom and producing fruit for wildlife before the first frost. Climbing false buckwheat (Fallopia scandens) and oneseed bur cucumber (Sicyos angulatus), a member of the gourd family, are both aggressive twining vines with distinctive foliage, flowers, and fruits. 

From top: a goldenrod soldier beetle strikes nectar gold on a wingstem flower (Verbesina alternifolia); Short’s aster (Symphyotrichum shortii), a really beautiful perennial often found growing in dry to mesic oak-hickory woods with limestone near the surface; climbing false buckwheat, a delicate twiner whose pendulous fruit has three ruffled sides, like pantaloons; oneseed bur cucumber, whose bristly fruit can cause painful stings; crooked-stemmed aster (Symphyotrichum prenanthoides), also known as zag-zag aster, whose stems often zig-zag between the nodes of its spatula-shaped leaves; and the glorious New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), one of the most important pollinator plants of late summer and early autumn.

Mid-September ridgetop hayfield flora:

White snakeroot, late boneset, wingstem

Pearly everylasting, grass-leaved goldenrod, chicory

Thistle, wild carrot, horse nettle

Common milkweed, honey locust

Took a bunch of insect photos the other day and most were pretty blurry but here are two of some tachinid flies (Archytas?) that I liked. 🪰💚🪰💚🪰💚🪰💚🪰💚🪰💚🪰💚🪰

(Plant they’re on is wingstem for those curious; great for shady pollinator gardens.)

Wingstem

friends i’ve made recently

colorful comb-footed spider (i dont know her species, but i like to call her jill. she is orange and red and white and looks like a little cloudy glass marble.)

alleged wild lettuce the height of a 1-story building (also don’t know the name bc the flowers were so so so far away from me and the stem was wrapped up in a vine so i couldnt get a good look at the actual tall plant’s leaves. it was so fucked up tall for a non-woody plant)

purple passionflower and the fruit thereof (someone told me it’s called a maypop here)

frost grape (apparently tastes “sour” and “wild”, i did not try it myself. very pretty in a decorative way.)

wingstem

frostweed

Pure Green sweat bee (didn’t bite me, too focused on aforementioned frostweed to want my sweat)

ironweeds (big)

dayflowers

snailseed

riverbank grape (located on a riverbank. real.)

toothy skink (new friend unlocked due to climate change)

good news: trimmed 3 feet off all branches of the redbud in spring

bad news: redbud has grown 4 feet on all branches that were trimmed

excellent news: a bird has made a nest in the redbud!!

not sure whose nest it is, as it’s about 7 feet off the ground, but i will check on it throughout the day to look for the resident. it is a decent sized nest, maybe a catbird? Audubon says about the grey catbird: “Placed in dense shrubs, thickets, briar tangles, or low trees, usually 3-10' above the ground,” and All About Birds say, “Catbirds usually build nests on horizontal branches hidden at the center of dense shrubs, small trees.”

also in garden news: the elderberry is chaotic, it has grown 8 feet this year, and the flowers are 10 inches across. i bow to thee. the birds have not been able to ravage the blueberries because they are covered in a canopy of yellow passionflower. a liatris plant has volunteered all the way across the yard. the joe pye, pale indian plantain, and wingstem have RETURNED and will bloom. the featherbells will bloom. the rose mallow will bloom. the rhododendron maximums will bloom. the sweet fern has started to spread and fill in the area between the rhododendrons. the turks cap lily is going to bloom!!!! I thought I had killed that poor plant, it was a tragic time in my life. 2 years ago I planted 2 lilies (either turk’s cap or canada lily), one immediately shriveled and died. the other was weeded out of existence by yours truly. I thought wow, i should be put in the gallows for this mistake. last year, the lily did not return. i marked it off my plant list and wrote ‘died 2021′. this year, it came back, this time with 2 stalks! a miracle. happy days. and it will bloom. wow.

i love my yard and my plants. they are all so lovely.

Wingstem by Bill

Via Flickr:

Brecksville Reservation, Brecksville, OH, Deer Lick Cave Trail