Skipping months ahead, June, and Lavender will be blooming. Ah that scent! I love it. Most people enjoy it too but many insects, including fleas, ticks, flies, and moths are repelled by the scent. As you can see, apparently not Cabbage White butterflies (Pieris rapae). Along with other butterflies, bees are attracted to Lavender, who feed on the pollen and nectar.
At the very top of my favorites for wintertime shrubs — Winterberry (Ilex verticillata). A deciduous species of Holly. Native to eastern North America, and is hardy in USDA zones 3 through 9. Winterberry is a dioecious bush that gets tiny inconspicuous flowers in June and July that attract bees and butterflies and is the host plant for one butterfly in particular, Henry’s Elfin Butterfly. Birds love the brilliant crimson berries which cling to their leafless branches in winter. I love them too, for their elegant beauty.
Solomon’s Plume (Maianthemum racemosum), an herbaceous perennial in the lily family (Liliaceae). The berries are a brilliant crimson right now at the end of October, and easy to spot along trails in the mountains. Just as easy to spot, in the spring, are the flowers which bloom for about 3 weeks, late April into May.
Solomon’s Plume is native across most of North America north of Mexico in elevations of up to 9,000 feet. It is a plant that prefers partial shade, and deep, moist, soft soil. But it can be found in dry, rocky soils much like where it is growing when I see it in the woods on my mountain.
In the autumn the leaves of Solomon’s Plume die back, disappearing until the spring when the plants sprout up again from rhizomes and secondary fibrous roots. Those sprouts become arching, slightly zigzag stems with alternate ovate leaves.
The tiny flowers that appear on the end of those arching stems are pollinated by beetles, flies and bees. The berries which replace the flowers during the summer each contain a few seeds, are round, and 1/4″ across.
This is what the berries look like mid-July. Gradually they’ll become the bright crimson berries that are on the plants now in October, waiting for birds such as Ruffed Grouse and Veery to dine on them. Helping distribute the seeds, spreading the plants further through the woods.
White Wood Aster (Eurybia divaricata), is an herbaceous perennial plant native to eastern North America. It’s encountered mainly in the Appalachian Mountains but can be found scattered in other places in the east.
Stems that are not perfectly straight, take on a reddish/purplish hue as the season wears on. Heart-shaped leaves with serrated edges. Plants can be densely covered with blooms late summer through autumn.
White Wood Aster flowers are composites, with about 10 snowy white (or sometimes a pale purple) ray florets arranged around brilliant yellow disc florets much like a daisy. Those bright yellow disc florets change color as they age turning a ruddy purple.
The flowers with a width of one inch are a favorite of bees and butterflies. Speaking of butterflies, that butterfly in the first picture? It’s an American Lady Butterfly. Birds and small mammals eat the seeds. If not eaten, the seeds are equipped with cream colored bristles and wisps of hair which allow the wind to take the seeds up and away.
Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus). An herbaceous perennial that often grows to 5 – 7 feet tall. It’s native to eastern and central North America and can be found along rocky trails and dry open sites.
As this example, as it dances in the dappled sunlight shows, the leaves are opposite with a smooth to slightly toothed margin and hairy underside.
Butterflies, Silvery Checkerspot (pictured above), Gorgon Checkerspot, and Painted Lady use the Woodland Sunflower as their larval host plant.
An abundance of other insects are attracted to Woodland Sunflowers. Some even to the point of exclusivity. There are certain bees which visit Woodland Sunflowers that will go to only this species of flower, or flowers of the Helianthus, or Sunflower genus. They are said to be oligolectic. Their larvae must be fed the pollen or nectar of those particular flowers in order to develop properly.
Woodland Sunflowers spread by rhizomes forming colonies. In the autumn as the flowers fade those colonies become prime territory for game birds, song birds, and small mammals gathering to enjoy the seeds.
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Aromatic Asters (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) are visited by bees, butterflies and skippers, seeking nectar and in the case of the bees, pollen. The caterpillars of moths and of Silvery Checkerspot Butterflies eat the foliage. This Crab Spider is hanging around hoping to catch some dinner, just waiting for the perfect insect to come along.
I’ve got some Aromatic Aster blooming like crazy right now. A stunning show is put on by this perennial plant.
Aromatic Asters are native to northeastern and central United States. I’m looking forward to dividing my plant in the early spring of next year. The more the merrier.
Got a spot in the woods? If you do, I hope you have this plant somewhere close by. An amazing color and a beautiful flower. Ironweed. Quite possibly New York Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis), but then again it might be Upland Ironweed (Vernonia glauca), or Tall Ironweed (Vernonia gigantea). These three species all reside in Virginia and to add to the confusion they hybridize. So I won’t go out on the proverbial limb and try to identify which species my photos contain. They are Ironweed!
This photo above is an Ironweed, lakeside at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, in Richmond, Virginia. In less formal settings you’ll find them in ditches, edges of ponds, moist meadows and stream banks. But they are also quite happy on drier mountain slopes that get full or partial shade, as my gardens can attest. If you have Black Walnut trees around, Ironweed is tolerant of the juglone that those trees present as a challenge to gardeners.
In looking very closely at the blooms of Ironweed, I immediately think of itty bitty bighorn sheep, looking out through the intense magenta petals of the disk flowers. Those curlycue, white, “sheepsheads” that I see are actually the split stigmas of each individual flower.
A host plant of the American Lady Butterfly, Ironweed also attracts many species of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. I love having these flowers here in my gardens, both as gifts to me from dear family, and volunteers.
Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum) are abloom right now, surely to the delight of many fairies in the wood.
Bees are attracted to the blossoms. But in facing down, the blooms discourage other pollinators which hesitate to hang upside down to feed on the nectar or pollen. Nodding Onion is native to North America.
Though a beauty to gaze upon, the bulb and grass-like leaves of Nodding Onion have an oniony scent. Not the floral scent one would expect from such a charming pink blossom.
A native mint that has intrigued me for years living trailside here on the mountain. I’ve found it available at a native plant nursery and now I have some in my gardens. Silverleaf Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum incanum). Native to eastern North America.
The nectar of this Mountain Mint is popular with bees and butterflies. The flowers are white, sometimes tinged with lavender, sometimes dotted with purple speckles. I like those speckles!
The leaves of Silverleaf Mountain Mint are indeed silvery. Very dense but short, incredibly soft white hairs cover the leaves and the stems giving them that beautiful color. Stems that, like other mints, are square.
Silverleaf Mountain Mint spreads easily into dense clumps. Some say it is an aggressive grower. I’m looking forward to that. Bring it on!
July, and the hillsides that are my gardens are brilliant with the happiest of yellow thanks to Gray-headed Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata). Native to central and eastern North America. However in Virginia it is considered an escape from cultivation. A herbaceous perennial plant that can be as tall as four or five feet, and quite narrow. Tall and spindly. But in a mass planting they’re a joy.
Attractive to pollinators, this coneflower is popular with bees, butterflies, wasps, flies, and beetles. AND the occasional Crab Spider.
Come autumn and winter, the seed heads will bring on Goldfinches and other songbirds. A mighty good reason to leave those gardens as they are. A good excuse to let those seed heads be during the winter.
But for now I’m thoroughly enjoying the lift those petals of sunshine yellow bring to my heart.
