July 30
Goldenrod (Solidago
sp)
Rosinweed (Silphium
sp)
These two
perennial native plants can be found standing tall together
in late summer, in dry woods or open places. They have been
thriving for centuries without any help from man. Consider
how beautiful they are just as hobos along the roadside.
Given some grooming and a safe place in your garden they
will surpass that beauty and bring gold to a refined
courtyard. In fact our Goldenrods have been treasured
bedding plants in Europe ever since they were brought from
the New World, and Goldenrod has been included in bouquets
at Buckingham Palace. Some people still call them weeds, or
worse—the cause of hay fever. But it is, instead, ragweed,
that causes hay fever. Ragweed pollen is lighter than
Goldenrod and is easily carried airborne. I assume that is
why ragweed doesn’t need bright colors to attract insects
for pollen transfer. Identify and pull that villain out of
your garden!
But please don’t just pull up everything you didn’t pay
money for at a nursery. When you find an “unidentified
growing object” volunteering to grow in your garden, you
know that it is comfortable with your soil and light
exposure. It may have been brought in by wind, birds,
animals, or was just dormant in your soil. Let it grow a
year or two to see what it does. You may have discovered
something rare. Or at least you may have found the
Goldenrod suited to your exact location. With over eighty
species of Goldenrod in the United States, there is a
Goldenrod for almost any environment, from swamps to
roadsides to forests.
The butterfly in the painting is a Monarch. Both Goldenrod
and Rosinweed have composite flowers, important sources of
nectar for butterflies such as the Monarch on its southern
migration to Mexico for the winter. In the spring, the
Monarchs’ northern migration takes them back to areas where
they will find milkweed plants on which to lay eggs. The
caterpillar emerges from an egg to feed on the milkweed and
then forms a chrysalis. The entire life cycle can take
place within thirty days resulting in the emergence of the
butterfly. It needs nectar so we find it visiting Rosinweed
and Goldenrod.
(Click on the picture for a
larger image)
(Click here for the next
painting)
.