NPG July 19, 2018

NPG Thursday, July 19, 2018

Perennial Society luncheon today and very happily a reasonable weather day, not like the unbreathable, unbearable few earlier this week.  Ellen accompanied me and of course headed to the Native Plant Garden before all else.  The hot weather would have kept me away, but the difficult traffic today, some on the way to the Garden, and a lot on the way home, makes me wish the Garden and I lived closer to each other. It continues to surprise me how quickly things change in the NPG, and it's like watching my children grow up; wouldn't want to miss anything.  And, yet, new ones bloom and old ones gone.  Again, with gratitude, Michael Hagen was in the NPG and also sat at the same table at the luncheon, so picked his great brain about the plants that have the nerve to stump me.

Helenium

Approaching the NPG, the corner that I always photograph when I first get sight of it, was filled with color. Wild Bleeding Heart, Coreopsis, Coneflower, Phlox, a little Beebalm, Culver's Root which was named after the pioneer physician who advocated this plant for various treatments. Oxeye/False Sunflower Heliopsis helianthroides.  Not a true sunflower. Honeybees favor the radial symmetry of daisies, clover and the sunflowers, while bumblebees prefer the bilateral symmetry of orchids, peas and foxgloves.
  A newcomer, Helenium.

Culver's Root Veronicastrum virginicum, False Sunflowers

All the blueberries have been eaten, the berries on Aronia are robust. First view into the NPG is almost overwhelming with Joe Pye Weed Eupatorium dubium, which was said to dissolve kidney stones. Just a legend that an Indian named Joe Pye cured typhus fever with this plant.
The boxes at the entrance contain Coreopsis verticillata, yellow flowers and airy thin leaves, Wild Quinine, and Poppy Mallow which I first learned when it was growing behind Split Rock

Joe Pye Weed

Oakleaf hydrangea is imposing as you enter, and all that red? They planted a lot of Cardinal Flower and I do mean a lot. Beautiful plant and if they had to re-plant it because it didn't readily come back from last year, it makes me feel as if I'm not the only one whose Lobelia cardinalis failed to thrive.

Cardinal Flower

Ellen likes Fleabane, but I tend to pull it out of my yard because it proliferates and I'm never sure if it isn't really a weed.  Up for discussion is Glade Mallow, because different leaves from several species on the right of the boardwalk may be confusing.  Blooming early was a little dark purple Ironweed Vernonia farther up on the boardwalk.

Glade Mallow Napaea dioica

The first time I saw and worked to identify Plymouth Rose Gentian there was just one plant actually under the boardwalk as you take the left turn.  Now its delicate pink flowers are spread generously along the water side of the boardwalk.  A little left of Pickerelweed in the water.

Plymouth Rose Gentian
Sabatia kennedyana
The inhabitants of Plymouth, Mass. believed that the Pilgrims of 1620 named the plant after the Sabbath, the holy day on which they first saw the flower.

Possibly the most beautiful of flowers, a little Spigelia marilandica showing up the sort-of-steps, but you don't have to go up there, instead turning left where Meadow Beauty Rhexia is attracting more attention than the Sarracenia Pitcher Plants. Listen and you may hear the frogs croaking.

Meadow Beauty Rhexia

The beautiful orange Butterfly Weed is going to seed and as striking as that plant is, the seeds in their delightful, soft, floating transportation means, touchy/feely, compare favorably to most materials that I have ever rubbed between my fingers.

And now the meadow and on the right side of the path, too,  Black-eyed Susans, Coreopsis lanceolata, Hoary Skullcap, Purple Prairie Clover Dalea purpurea, Goldenrod, Mountain Mint, Liatris Gayfeather/Blazing Star, Poppy Mallow, Thimbleweed.

Purple Prairie Clover Dalea purpurea
Edible by both people and animals, is high in protein.
Tea can be made from the taproot. It is actually a legume,
not a clover.

Liatris spicata Blazing Star/Gayfeather
Many medicinal uses. Makes an excellent cut flower.

Poppy Mallow Callirhoe  bushii

Thimbleweed was in the "old" NPG and I am glad it is back.

I had to ask last time, and the brain again couldn't come up with: Flowering Spurge, that light and airy plant with small white flowers.  In fact it threw me again farther on with a seedling that I wasn't sure was the same plant.  The name comes from the Latin, "to purge," and Native Americans recognized it as a powerful cathartic. Careful doses important because an overdose may be fatal.

Michael helped also with Spotted Horsemint, Monarda with whitish leaves and no flower.  Just saw one remaining Celandine Poppy Stylophorum dyphyllum but in my garden they bloom on and off all summer.

Flowering Spurge Euphorbia corollata

Spotted Horsemint  Monarda

We had time before having to get to the luncheon, so walked through the Rock Garden, and were pleased to be greeted  enthusiastically by Stefan, who has always been protective of the gardens he services.  Joanne N. and Joyce were there, too.

I pride myself when I do a tour in telling "stories" about the plants, not just identifying them.  I realize that in writing this blog I have been more concerned about helping others to know the names, as I struggle to get them right myself.  And to get this out soon so anyone looking for help in improving his or her tours will find them still blooming.  I could scold Michael Hagen for keeping on adding new-to-me plants.  But I am going to take a little time to add some stories that I believe are more interesting and remembered by most visitors rather than just the name.