Wildflower Wednesday: Goldenrods

Fall's best landing pads of deliciousness.

 Goldenrod is a genus of over 120 species of herbaceous perennials in the daisy family (Asteraceae). There are at least 75 native to North America. They thrive in open areas like prairies, meadows, and savannas while some species prefer woodland edges or moist conditions.

 

Goldenrods are luminous with small, bright yellow flowers in dense clusters on top of tall stems. They begin blooming in mid September in my middle Tennessee garden and continue to bloom throughout October. They put on a beautiful flower show and any insect that needs pollen and/or nectar is sure to be found visiting.You can't ask for a better fall blooming wildlife valuable plant and when you combine them with the ex-asters, you get beauty and happy critters.

 

 

Yet gardeners are reluctant to plant them, so let's get the objections over with first! 

Goldenrods have a bad reputation for two reasons.
 

• They have been misidentified as the cause of hayfever suffering. They are not responsible for any allergy symptoms you or I are having this fall. The tiny grains of wind blown pollen from ragweed is the culprit. Goldenrod is insect pollinated and the pollen grains are too big to be blown about. Pass that along please!
   
• Their tendency to colonize might be one of the main reasons so many gardeners don't plant them in their gardens. Long time readers know I have a love affair with rough and tumble, take care of themselves, colonizing wildflowers and goldenrods are the champion of colonizing wildflowers. Yes, they can be aggressive spreaders, but they are rugged and adaptable. They grow were many wildflowers cannot survive and they can spread quickly where there is no other native plant competition. Those that have been problematic propagate by a rhizomatous/spreading root system that can quickly take over a small garden. So avoid Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) and Late Goldenrod (Solidago gigantea)  two goldenrod species known for their aggressive spread by rhizomes.  If you want to plant a goldenrod but fear their nature, look for clump forming cultivated beauties like Solidago 'Solar Cascade', Solidago caesia/Bluestem Goldenrod, Solidago odora, Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks'. My favorite clump former for shade is Solidago flexicaulis/Zigzag Goldenrod.

If you stop by my garden today, you'll see Tall goldenrod/Solidago altissima holding court with New England ex-aster/Symphyotrichum novae-anglia. I love watching the Bumbles dance from aster to aster and goldenrod to goldenrod. 

Goldenrods are considered a keystone species that supports hundreds of different species across the food web. The plant provides food, shelter, and breeding grounds for a vast ecosystem of insects, which in turn sustain larger animals. 

Critter particulars: Sources

Insects 

•  Moths and butterflies: As many as 143 species of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) in North America are known to feed on goldenrod leaves and shoots during their larval stage. Goldenrods are especially critical for the monarch butterfly's migration, providing a vital source of nectar in the fall.  (Moth Table)  
• Bees: More than 40 species of native bees are specialists that rely on goldenrod pollen. Queen bumble bees and honey bees, too, feed on goldenrod nectar to build up fat reserves before winter.
• Wasps: Many different wasps use goldenrod. This includes parasitic wasps that lay eggs in goldenrod galls, predatory wasps that hunt other insects on the plant, and many more that feed on its nectar.     
• Flies: Goldenrod gall flies/Eurosta solidaginis lay their eggs inside the stem, causing a gall to form where the larva can safely grow and overwinter. Other types of flies, such as hoverflies and midges, also feed on goldenrod.     
• Beetles: Numerous beetle species consume goldenrod, from pollen-eaters like the locust borer to predators like the goldenrod soldier beetle, which eats aphids.     
• Other insects and arachnids: True bugs (like aphids and stink bugs), grasshoppers, thrips, and ambush bugs all feed on goldenrod.

 Birds      

• Insect-eaters: Birds like woodpeckers and chickadees consume the insects and larvae that shelter in the galls on goldenrod stems, which is a key food source during the winter.     
• Seed-eaters: Once the flowers fade, the seeds provide nourishment for songbirds like eastern goldfinches, juncos, and sparrows during the colder months.     
• Game birds: Larger birds such as turkey, grouse, and pheasant have been known to eat goldenrod leaves and seeds 

 Mammals      

• Seed-eaters: Small mammals like squirrels, raccoons, and opossums eat the seeds from the goldenrod.     
• Browsers: Though often considered deer-resistant, mammals like white-tailed deer, rabbits, and other rodents will sometimes browse the leaves.

 Just a few photos of some of the frequent visitors on goldenrods in my garden

                                    Skippers are frequent visitors on goldenrods.
 

Locust borer

Ambush bug waiting for unsuspecting critters

                             

Green Sweat Bee

                                                                    

More Bumbles

   

Honeybee from neighbor's hive

                                                   

 Ailanthus webworm moth 

Why I recommend goldenrods for your garden.

• Bloom when needed most: bees are provisioning their nests for the winter and monarch butterflies are feeding on nectar that they need for their migratory journey south. 
• They're also a valuable food source for a wide range of pollinators, moths, and other butterflies in other words they support the local ecosystem. 
•  Support more species of moths and butterflies than most plants 
• Host plants: they provide food for the larvae of certain insects, which are then eaten by birds like woodpeckers and chickadees. 
• Tough and adaptable to most garden conditions.
• Low maintenance. 
• Their roots support soil structure and help prevent erosion. 
• Beautiful in bloom.
• They make a spectacular impact  
• Provides seeds over the winter for chickadees, finches, nuthatches and pine siskins as well as shelter in the dried stalks for predatory spiders and wasps.
• Some like Zig zag goldenrod have beautiful fall color.  

 

                                                 The Particulars

 Genus: Solidago 

Family: Asteraceae

Common name: Goldenrod 

Life Cycle: Perennial

Flower Color: Gold/Yellow 

Flower Inflorescence: Corymb, Panicle, Raceme

Flower Bloom Time: Fall/Summer 

Native range: Throughout US

Light: Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day) Except the ones that prefer shade

Moisture: Medium to dry

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone:2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b 

Propagation: Division, seed 

Comments: Goldenrod is a herbaceous perennial adaptable to poor soil, tolerant of drought once established and has potential to reseed. Consider them for a butterfly garden, drought tolerant garden, native plant habitat, pollinator garden, rain garden, naturalistic garden and a meadow. There's sure to be a perfect one for your garden conditions.

Wildlife Value: Birds eat the plant's seed. This plant supports Wavy-lined Emerald (Synchlora aerata) larvae. It also attracts butterflies, bees, and wasps. The genus Solidago supports the following specialized bees: Andrena (Callandrena s.l.) asteris, Andrena (Callandrena s.l.) braccata, Andrena (Cnemidandrena) hirticincta, Andrena (Cnemidandrena) nubecula, Andrena (Callandrena s.l.) simplex, Perdita (Perdita) octomaculata, Melissodes (Eumelissodes) fumosus, Colletes simulans, and Colletes solidaginis. It is a common host of the beneficial beetle, the goldenrod soldier beetle.

 

Goldenrod gall

Dear Readers, Thank you for stopping by to see our September Wildflower Wednesday star! Goldenrods don't scare me! I hope that I've been able to show you that there's much more good than bad in these golden beauties that light up our fall gardens and provide for critters. Check with a local native plant nursery in your part of the world to find the best goldenrods for your garden. xoxogail

PS If you want to provide for fall pollinators you must plant landing pads of deliciousness like Goldenrods. And you must never, ever, ever, ever, use pesticides in your garden. I mean never!

 

Thank you for stopping by and welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. WW is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if your wildflower is in bloom or not; and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants.

 Gail Eichelberger is a gardener, Tennessee Naturalist and nature writer in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

First Wednesday Challenge: A Conversation About Leaves

 

It's the First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife In Our Gardens Challenge and I'm here to talk about leaves.

Leaves are miraculous and beautiful....In my part of the world it's golden leaf time. Elms, shagbark hickories, spicebushes, Eastern hop-hornbeam, witch hazels and maples are glowing. I love autumn.

I've known since I was a little kid that leaves were a lot of fun. Back then I loved walking through the leaves that had fallen on the sidewalks, they crunched and crackled when you stepped on them. Neighbors made great piles that were fun to jump into and later that day they burned them creating a huge bonfire. Honestly, that's a smell that takes me back a few years.

In middle school science I learned that the job of a leaf was to make food for the plant. But being a curious person, I wanted to see what an internet search would yield. Searching "the job of a leaf" yielded thousands of pages. Almost all start with this simple explanation: "The most important job of a leaf is to make food for the plant. They're responsible for turning sunlight into food."

They're especially beautiful in the fall.

A few pages into the search I found a source that expanded on that definition.

 "A leaf is considered one of the most important parts of a plant as it is a source of food for the plant itself and also for animals who feed on it."(source)

Wow! I loved reading that. Finally, a definition that acknowledged that an important job for leaves was not only feeding the tree, but also feeding animals.* By animals they meant insects or as E.O. Wilson defined them, the little things that run the world.

 Dr Wilson wrote a paper in 1987 hypothesizing what would happen if insects disappeared. He concluded that most flowering plants would disappear (because they’re pollinated by insects), the food web that supports amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, etc. would quickly collapse, and the biosphere (living part of the world) would rot due to the loss of insects that consume dead plant and animal matter.

Insects are still disappearing.

Title: Magical Garden

Unfortunately, we've done too good a job of eradicating bugs! We've armed homeowners with pesticides, we've hired folks to spray yards for mosquitoes (they kill all insects), we plant non native plants that aren't host plants for insect young, we've lost natural areas, and then every fall we pay lawn service contractors to haul away one of our most valuable ecological resources-fallen leaves.

Yes, fallen leaves are one of our most valuable resources for the health of our gardens. 

Leaves can:

• protect your plants’ roots from drying out or freezing
  
• suppress weeds
• preserve soil moisture
• decay into leaf mold which is a great soil amendment
  
• return nutrients to the soil 
• shelter seeds so they can bloom
• be part of a soft landing for insects
  
• btw, a thin layer on your lawn will not smother it, instead it can do all the things we've listed in this list for your lawn     
  

 And...you can still have fun with leaves. Build a brush shelter with your favorite little kid. Use branches, sticks and stems, and leaves to make brush piles that will shelter native wildlife. It's also okay to jump into a leaf pile.

Leaves are a significant part of a soft landing. "Soft landings are diverse native plantings under keystone trees (or any other regionally appropriate native tree). These plantings provide critical shelter and habitat for one or more life cycle stages of moths, butterflies, and beneficial insects such as bumble bees, fireflies, lacewings, and beetles. In addition to plants, soft landings also include leaf litter, duff, and plant debris. " (Heather Holm) Soft landings also provide critical shelter for toads, lizards and turtles and mammals.

soft landing for

I wish I could convince our neighbors that fallen leaves are valuable and not the enemy. Their leaf blower brigades have arrived and they're blowing all the leaves off their lawns and their foundation beds onto tarps that are emptied into trucks and hauled away.

They return weekly to wage a noisy and destructive war against every leaf and small twig that might have landed on the lawn. This war against nature is costly for the environment; the fertilized and manicured mono-cultural lawn is made even more valueless for wildlife and the ecosystem. There's nothing in a mono-cultural lawn for insects or birds to eat and they've eliminated all the leaves that could have been a part of the soft landing.

People argue that the leaves will smother their lawn and plantings? I have a bee friendly lawn and so far, it hasn't smothered my wildflowers, my sedges or my perennials. But, if that's a concern, then do what I do when leaves are too deep.

What do I do...I gently rake or kindly sweep the leaves that fall on my walkways and driveway into the garden beds. I relocate especially deep piles of leaves by gently raking them onto a tarp and moving them to a wilder part of the garden. But, most leaves stay where they fall. 

My shallow clay soil is richer and healthier from 35+ years of letting leaves stay where they fall. Decaying leaves have mulched my wildflowers, added organic matter to the soil, improved the soil structure, and provided nutrients for the microbial communities.  

And it doesn't cost a thing.

Let me leave you with this quote from the Xerces Society. I hope it helps you decide to let the leaves stay in your garden.

There are so many animals that live in leaves: spiders, snails, worms, beetles, millipedes, mites, and more—that support the chipmunks, turtles, birds, and amphibians that rely on these insects for food.  It’s easy to see how important leaves really are to sustaining the natural web of life.(Xerces Society source)

xoxogail

*It wasn't until I fell in love with native wildflowers that I learned that insects have both a mutualistic (plants feed insects and insects pollinate plants) and evolutionary relationship with plants. "The entire food web is based on interactions between plants and organisms. Native plants feed a native insect population. This is an evolutionary relationship, and these relationships are not forged quickly. Some insects need certain plants. We lose species diversity when a species does not have the food it needs.” ( Kate Venturini Hardesty)

Take the Taking Care of Wildlife In Our Gardens Challenge

The first part of this challenge is to do something, even lots of things, each month that support the critters living in our gardens. Gardening with native wildflowers, shrubs and trees that make sense for our ecoregion is a good place to start or continue (as the case may be). Plants and their pollinators are a classic example of mutualism: they have coevolved through evolutionary time in a reciprocal beneficial relationship. This is also true for other critters that visit and live in our gardens. 

Activities that increase our knowledge of the natural world are equally as valuable. Helping others learn about nature is included. Golly gee whiz, there are so many things you can do. 

The second part of the challenge is to post about it somewhere: Your blog, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even your neighborhood listserve. Wouldn't an article in the local paper be a coup for nature! Why post it? Because positive publicity is needed to educate our friends, neighbors and communities about how important even the smallest changes we make as gardeners can be for pollinators, birds, insects and mammals, including humans, that live all around us. 

Why now? My neighborhood is changing. Yours might be, too. Every day an older home along with many (if not all) of the mature oak, hickory, maple, Eastern cedar and hackberry trees are cut down. Insects, birds, even mammals lose their home site and food supplies when we lose trees. During construction soil is compacted by bulldozers, trucks and piles of debris cause runoff; surface runoff that can carry pollution to streams and rivers. It's important that our neighbors and our community have information about how important trees are to our ecosystem. Trees contribute to their environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife.

In place of the "bee lawns" composed of Claytonia, Salvia lyrata, Ruellia humilis, fleabane, Western Daisy, Violets, self-heal, clovers, native grasses (in my neighborhood it's poverty oat grass) and sedges, they're being sodded with non-native grasses. These monoculture turf lawns contribute nothing environmentally. Here's what we lose when our diverse lawns are replaced with pristine turf grass:

• Gone are the lightening bugs.
• Gone are the ground dwelling/nesting native bees.
• Gone is the habitat for insects, spiders and other critters. 
• Gone is plant diversity. 
• Gone are trees that provided for hundreds of moths, butterflies and other insects.
• Gone are the nesting sites for woodpeckers, hummingbirds, Chickadees and other birds. 
• Gone is a healthy foodweb.
  

 It breaks my heart. 

We can't stop the progmess, but, maybe we can make a lot of educational noise and help our new neighbors see the value in providing for critters and ultimately helping the environment.

A gardener can hope! 

xoxoGail

Here's an incomplete list of things you might consider doing or changing in your garden, and things you can do for and/or in your community. But don't limit yourself to my list, make your own list or check out the internet for ideas.

 

Looking for ways to get involved go here for a list of environmental advocacy groups.

Buy the best wildflower, butterfly and bird id books for your state.

Read nature books to your children and grandchildren. Buy them nature books.

Get in the garden with your children and grandchildren. 

Give nature books as baby shower gifts (Nature books for infants and toddlers)

Shrink your lawn and make your planting beds larger.

Plant your favorite native perennials and shrubs. Leave them standing after they've gone to seed to continue to provide for wildlife. What you plant in your yard makes a difference to wildlife. I garden for wildlife so every tree, shrub and plant is chosen with wildlife in mind.

 

Plant more natives and then consider planting even more. "A typical suburban landscape contains only 20-30% native plant species. Try reversing that trend in your own landscape by using 70-80% native species." (source) 

Plant for bloom from late spring to early winter. Bees are most active from February to November (longer in mild climates) late winter blooming Hamamelis vernalis and the earliest spring ephemerals (like the toothworts, hepaticas, spring beauties, and False rue-anemeone) are perfect plants for a variety of pollinators.

Commit to never, ever, ever, ever using pesticides in the garden.

Stay away from native plant hybrids and cultivars that are double flowered. They are sterile and have no pollen or nectar for insects and no seeds for the birds. If possible plant “true open-pollinated native wildflowers”

If you want to garden for wildlife and pollinators, don't let lack of space stop you! Plant your favorite wildflowers in large containers. You just might have the prairie or woodland garden you've always wanted...in a pot!
 
Create a water feature. Provide water year round that is accessible to birds, bees and other critters.

Make a rain garden in low spots to collect and mitigate runoff.

Show some soil! Our native ground nesting bees nest in bare soil, so don't mulch every square inch of your garden. 

Get rid of the plastic weed barriers in your garden, it's not good for anything.

Invite bugs into your garden. Plant annuals that attract beneficial bugs.

 

Learn to tolerate damaged plants. Imperfection is the new perfect.

Don't be in a rush to clean up the fall garden. Leave plant stalks and seed heads standing all winter. Leave those fallen leaves or as many as you can tolerate! Insects over winter in the fallen and decaying leaves. Leave a layer of leaves as a soft landing material under trees for moths and butterflies to over winter. Many caterpillars drop to the ground from the trees in the fall and need a soft landing site and a place to live over the winter.

Allow a fallen tree to remain in the garden. Limbs on the ground are a perfect shelter for small animals such as rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels and a habitat for beetles, termites and other insects.

Make a brush pile. Stack fallen brush, cut tree limbs, broken pots for ground beetles. Ground beetles are excellent at eating "bad bugs". Bugs are also good bird, toad and small critter food. 

Rethink what you consider a pest. Lots of good bugs eat aphids. Spiders are important predators and they're great bird food!

Add nesting boxes for birds. 

Turn off your yard up-lighting, eave lights and porch lights after 11pm. This is important for nocturnal critters including mammals, snakes, insects, bats, birds (especially during migration). (Birdcast suggestions)

Plant shrubs and small trees that provide berries and nuts.

Keep a nature journal: You can observe visitors to your water feature, make note of when they visit. Notice which flowers attract the most pollinators and which ones are just pretty faces. 

Join your state native plant society (Tennessee Native Plant Society)

Join WildOnes even if there's no local group you can join the national organization.  (Middle Tennessee WildOnes)

Support your local native plant sellers. (GroWild in middle Tennessee, Overhill Gardens in east Tennessee,  Resource Guide TN Native Plant Society)

Encourage your local garden clubs to offer native plant talks.

If your garden club has a plant sale encourage them to sell more native plants.

Get trained as a naturalist (Tennessee Naturalist Program. Almost every state has their own Master Naturalist training program

Take an online course on tree, fungi and wildflower id. 

Take an online course on designing with native plants.

Take a walk in your neighborhood and observe nature. To quote Joanna Brichetto in Sidewalk Nature "Look Around. Nature is here, is us, our driveways, our baseboards, parks, and parking lots."

Read! There are hundreds of books on gardening for wildlife, the environment, and rewilding our world. There are delightful blogs with wonderful and informative articles.

If you are already gardening with wildlife in mind then add a few signs that help educate your neighbors. (Xerces Society, Pollinator Partnership)

Join the Xerces Society.

Set up an information station where neighbors can pick up brochures about your garden and other info. 

Get certified (National Wildlife Federation, check to see what your state offers)

Support trees by joining the effort to make sure developers don't remove more trees than are necessary for their project. Work to make sure there are tree removal permits and that they are actually enforced in your community.

 

 

 

 

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday: Verbesina virginica

It's rough and tumble wildflower time in my garden and that makes me happy. The take care of themselves Autumn beauties are shining.

Rough and tumble wildflowers are simple wildflowers that bloom their hearts out and require the easiest of care. Verbesina virginica is one of the best and it deserves to be a Wildflower Wednesday star every fall, but, especially this year, because it has survived to bloom beautifully despite our severe drought.

And when it blooms, it's a magnet for all kinds of insects. Especially bumblebees. They're out every morning and will be there every day until the flowers have gone to seed. But, going to seed is not the end of all this flower has to offer.

I wasn't always so crazy about Frostweed.  I first saw it growing in the wayback backyard~behind the Garden Of Benign Neglect. I decided to watch for a season to see what it could be. That was one of my best gardening decisions.

 

 It's a stately queen among the rough and tumble flowering natives in my garden. This tall Asteraceae family member (can reach 6 or more feet) is a plant that most of us wouldn't give a second look. At least not until it bloomed along with the other Autumn beauties. Plant it with Phytolacca americana/Pokeweed,  Solidago/Goldenrods, Rudbeckia triloba/Brown-eyed Susan, Vernonia/Ironweed, Oenothera biennis/Evening primrose and Silphium perfoliatum/Cup plants. I will always have a special place in my heart for these wild and rough looking beauties.

 

As I wrote earlier, rough and tumble wildflowers are simple wildflowers that bloom their hearts out and require the easiest of care. What I especially love is that they haven't had their best characteristic bred out of them. They are so much more than pretty faces, they're landing pads of deliciousness for butterflies, bees, wasps and moths. They bloom just in time for the late arriving pollinators which are making a mad dash to collect as much nectar and pollen for their last brood.

Frostweed is a late blooming magnet for all kinds of insects, including those insects that are themselves food for spiders, birds and other insect eating critters.

Bumble Bees love it. Green Metallic bees love it. Giant Carpenter Bees love it. Butterflies love it. Skippers love it. Hoverflies love it. Soldier beetles love it. Hummingbirds love it. In fact, it's an essential late summer/early fall nectar food for all visiting pollinators and it's an especially important food for the Monarch Butterfly. It's has been selected for monitoring by Monarch Watch an organization devoted to education, conservation and research about/for the Monarch Butterfly.

Verbesina virginica's flowers have a petal here and a petal there, but, that matters not to a bees and other pollinators.

It's a native herbaceous biennial/perennial in the Asteraceae/Sunflower family. It has clusters of white ray florets and white disk florets with noticeably contrasting purplish-black anthers. 

Its leaves are dark green with rough surfaces and toothed margins and are oppositely arranged.

Its stem has distinctive wings running along its length leading to one of it's common names, wingstem. If you live in its native range, you've probably seen it along roadways or in natural areas and parks. It can be found on streams and river banks, bluff bases, bottomland and upland forests, pastures, railroads, roadsides, prairies, and in forest openings. It can be found all over my neighborhood where ever birds have transpooped the seeds. It is most common in areas with neutral or basic soils (Soil which is in the range from slightly acid to slightly alkaline) .

Frostweed is a robust spreader. Seedlings germinate far from the parent plants thanks to wind and birds! It self sows in my garden (I have to thin it out), but, I've begun scattering seeds here and there for their architectural and pollinator appeal. If you have seeds, plant them as soon as you get them to insure the seeds get at least a 30 day stretch of cold, moist conditioning. If there's snow on the ground you can mix them with sand and toss the mixture onto the snow or winter sow them in a container so you can keep an eye on them, then transplant where their height will best appreciated. 

Verbesina virginica has a lot going for it:

• It blooms exactly when bees are provisioning a nest for the winter. 
• It has a long bloom time (late July to October) 
• Pollinators love it, especially bumblebees
  
• Provides seed for migrating birds
• It's a feeding station for over-wintering birds
• It's a  host plant for the caterpillars of Summer Azure, Bordered Patch, and the Silvery Checkerspot butterfly
• Great architectural appeal (6 feet tall)
  
• The Chelsea chop in June will keep it shorter
  
• Drought tolerant when established
• Not particular about soils
• Not eaten by deer or rabbits
• Frostweed flowers are a winter bonus!

Although, more common on the first frosty mornings of fall, here in my Middle Tennessee Zone 7a garden we have all the right ingredients for frostweed flowers to make their special appearance all winter long.

 Imagine a beautiful late fall day; it's warm and the sun is shining. The Verbesina's roots draw water up into the stem and late that night when the temperatures drop well below freezing, the stems freeze, split open, emitting plant juices, which immediately freeze into ribbons of ice that curl around the stem and the base of the plant!

 It's magic! Well actually the scientific term is capillary action.

Isn't nature grand!

Everyday there is something of the marvelous to behold.

Frost flowers will continue to form as long as the temperatures are cold and the plant juices are flowing.

You've got to get this plant in your garden!

The Particulars

Family: Asteraceae

Common names: White crownbeard, White wingstem, Frostweed, Iceplant, Iceweed, Virginia Crownbeard, Indian Tobacco, Richweed, Squawweed

Native Range: Pennsylvania west to central Texas, south to Florida

Habitat: White Crownbeard occurs in prairies, in pastures, in forest openings, along streams, and on roadsides. It is most common in areas with neutral or basic soils.

Size: The stems are 3-8 feet in height and unbranched below the inflorescence. They have winged internodes, and are pubescent. The wings that make them easily identifiable

Bloom: Flowers are produced in heads. The heads are arranged in corymbs. Each head has 1-7 white ray flowers and 8-15 off-white disc flowers.

Bloom time: Late July–October.

Sun: Full sun, half sun, and, even fairly shady sites.

Water: Moist to dry

Maintenance: Weeding and editing, plants can become weedy, spreading by seed and from rhizomes.

Propagation: The fruit is a winged achene with two small bristles at its apex. Best planted from seed or if in a natural area allowed to self sow. Seed dispersal is by wind, animal or flowing water

Wildlife Value: Over wintering birds eat the seeds. Bumble Bees love it. Green Metallic bees love it. Giant Carpenter Bees love it. Butterflies love it. In fact, it's an essential late summer/early fall nectar food for all visiting pollinators and it's an especially important food for  the Monarch Butterfly.

Comments: Best in natural garden, along pond edge or if well managed in the background of a butterfly garden. This plant is called "frostweed" because it often forms spectacular "frost flowers" in the fall, when a sudden overnight freeze causes the stems to burst and release sap.

I adore this plant, but, I also weed it ruthlessly if it's crowding other more delicate plants. I can't imagine Clay and Limestone without Frostweed and the other rough and tumble beauties. Local gardeners, let me know if you want seeds, I'll have extras for sure.

xoxogail

Thank you for stopping by and welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. WW is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if your wildflower is in bloom or not; and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants. It's all about celebrating wildflowers. If you participate in WW, please leave a link.

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.