Mountain Wildflowers

I will start with the four show-offs.

These are the ones everyone notices by road or stream.

My next post will be of the quiet little beauties that may be overlooked.

This stand of New York Ironweed/ Veronica novebaracensis is by a road I travel often.

IMG_8989

I look for it every summer and fall. It has gotten bigger over the years.

IMG_8979

It is over six feet tall.  When the sun hits it, it can stop traffic.

Joe Pye weed/ Eupartorium maculatum is another tall beauty.

IMG_8987

Legend has it that it is named for an Indian “Joe Pye” who used it to cure fevers.

IMG_8984

This stand is huge and also beside a familiar road.

I was lucky to find this Cardinal flower/Lobelia cardinalis. This one is named for being the color of Roman Catholic cardinal robes.

IMG_8995

It was tucked up under a bridge. This one has been over-picked and is harder to find.

IMG_8992

The last is probably the most familiar, Goldenrod/ Solidago.

IMG_8982

I was hesitant to pick a species name for this one without a closer look.

It is a supplier of mountain sunshine along roads and fences.

IMG_8988

So here are the “big four.”  Next will come the “hardly noticed” mountain wildflowers.

Flower in the Wild

Wild Wandering

“I’d rather be a tall, ugly weed.”

This is the last line of Julio Noboa Polanco’s poem, Identity.

Many of my posts have been about cultivated plants and flowers,

purposely bred, raised and carefully tended.

In Julio’s poem this type of plant is described as “watered, fed, guarded, admired, but harnessed to a pot of dirt”

Harnessed to a pot of dirt.
Harnessed to a pot of dirt.

I have chosen to give some attention on Wednesdays to the wild plants

that are sometimes called weeds.

Not all weeds are wild and not all wild plants are weeds.

Weed is a term used to refer to a plant growing where it is not wanted.

Weed is also used as a verb referring to the removal of the unwanted plants.

This is not the case when using the slang term Weed to refer to marijuana/Cannabis/hemp.

It is possible to weed weeds while smoking weed. If you confuse these three you may end up in a bit of a jam.

So today, I will show you some tall weeds on the Alley farm the are far from ugly.

Mr. Alley and Mr. Alley taking a walk out back to see the
Mr. Alley and Mr. Alley taking a walk out back to see the “weeds” and butterflies.

These may be called wild flowers by people who appreciate their beauty.

A former post  “Weeds are the Champions” highlighted the resilience of weeds.

I would like to tweak that to say “Wild is the Champion” for this post.

Scollid wasps on Goldenrod.

These lovely plants were neither planted nor tended.

God is the best gardener.

rabbits,Cheraw, Portland, Blog 1060
Strong and free Ironweed.

I have nothing in my garden that compares to this vine.

rabbits,Cheraw, Portland, Blog 1082
Wild pea vine is not praised, handled nor plucked.

The butterflies love this tall Joe Pye Weed.

rabbits,Cheraw, Portland, Blog 1071rabbits,Cheraw, Portland, Blog 1079

I was a bit jealous that I wear myself out taking care of my “harnessed hybrids” ,

while all this beauty was totally maintenance free.

Spider having snacktime.
Spider having snack time.

Follow the Flower.