One recent day I drove from our property to the Hellertown area in overcast and rainy early afternoon weather. Along the way, the lower parts of the roadsides were filled with blue Asiatic dayflowers and chicory blossoms, and further up yellow evening primrose flowers were abundant. Usually, the blossoms of this biennial primrose open in the evening and close in mid-morning, but they often stay at least partially open in cloudy weather.
In early September, if the weather’s been cooperative, flower gardens always seem to be at their best, and so are plants in wild or untended areas. Some of them are environmentally valued natives while others are invasive exotics like the currently blooming knotweeds.
Originally from east Asia, knotweed grows in almost any disturbed ground and can get to be 8 or more feet high. These plants are now covered with white flowers, making them stick out where previously they were visibly ignored.
Knotweeds, be they the Japanese, giant, or hybrid bohemian variety, have hollow stems and are often mistaken for bamboo. And it’s really hard getting rid of them because of their extensive underground rhizomes and the fact that cut stems can quickly re-root.
White flowers also now cover wild clematis vines, some of which are native and some of which are an introduced invasive. But both kinds are really attractive; they smell sweet; and they draw pollinators.
We have one growing up a pole and I admit that I occasionally go out and smell or look at it. I did exactly that a few days ago when I walked by it on my way to look at some purpletop grass.
This native eastern bunching grass (Tridens flavus), also called grease grass, pretty much goes unnoticed until it produces its dark purple seedheads. It grows in well drained shallow or even dry rocky soil and is tolerant of road salt.
There are many other native grasses and also many exotic ones, but you really need to have a good knowledge of botany to differentiate between them. Some are obvious, like the big Ravenna grass that grows in wet areas and is also called giant pampas grass. But good luck to anyone trying to tell cheat grass from poverty grass.
As I approached the clematis and purpletop grass I picked up a lot of medium-sized branches that were downed by last week’s storm. We were in the area that got hit by straight line winds from a thunderstorm’s downdraft. The storm itself didn’t last more than 10-15 minutes, but it was long enough to take down the tops of several trees, the half of a 30-foot persimmon tree, and countless big branches.
The electricity went out immediately, so it wasn’t until the next morning when I saw that some of my favorite plants in big heavy pots on the deck were blown to the ground and destroyed, as were many others in the ground.
But we were lucky. We had no structural damage. Plants can be replaced and we can walk around downed branches until they get removed. However, homes up on the hill had trees with huge root balls uprooted and a friend watched the wind move a motorhome in his neighbor’s yard.
Arlene Koch may be reached at sports@lehighvalleylive.com.
The Link LonkSeptember 06, 2020 at 09:00PM
https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/2020/09/gardens-and-wild-flowers-are-at-their-best-in-early-september.html
Garden and wild flowers are at their best in early September - lehighvalleylive.com
https://news.google.com/search?q=Flower&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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