With the cooling weather - (well, "COOLER" than it has been), I was able to get out and take a stroll around our various meadows. I was actually quite surprised to see how many plants have already gone to seed already. I've been sequestering myself inside as I just can't stand this heat in a month where it's supposed to be so cool. Did I mention that Fall is my favorite season??
This year, I wanted to document (via pictures) all the various seeds before I actually gather them, just to see how many varieties I had.
So, here goes:
New England Aster (Aster Novae-angliae)
Maximillians (Helianthus Maximiliani)
Goldenrod (Solidago - either Nemoralis or rigida)
Prairie Blazing Star (Liatris pycnostachya)
This one cracks me up. The seed head is about 18" long on this one, and I actually found others that had very large seed heads.
My rule-of-thumb: one-third of the seed is for me, one-third of the seeds I scatter in the same location as the plant (as would happen in nature), and one-third I leave for the my yellow-bellied (and other) pirates.
Big Blue Stem (Andropogon gerardii)
Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans)
Gray-headed Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata)
Possum Haw (Ilex decidua)
This 'shrub' has gotten huge and has been very loaded with berries the last few years.
Dogwood (Cornus spp.)
Slender Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium)- I've been so pleased to see this stuff starting to spread to all the meadows!
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Pale Purple Coneflower (Echinacea pallida)
Rough Blazing Star (Liatris aspera)
Wild Senna (Senna marilandica) - this one was a 'volunteer' in the ravine area.
Ok, I reached this point and found that I was exhausted trying to catalog all the various native plants that were going to seed. Wow girl, what a problem to have!
