September 20
Cut-leaf Coneflower (Rudbeckia
laciniata)
Jewelweed (Impatiens
capensis)
This perennial
native coneflower likes moist areas such as stream banks.
The yellow daisy-like flowers appear in late summer and
early fall, visited by butterflies such as the Cloudless
Sulpher in the painting.
You may also find, blooming there, Jewelweed, an annual
whose orange flowers attract hummingbirds. The juice in
Jewelweed stems can ease the rash of poison ivy or the
irritation of an insect bite.
Those juicy stems are often host to another annual, dodder
(Cuscuta
gronovii), a parasitic
plant. Seeds from last year’s pretty little white flowers
sprouted in early summer and grew until the host plant was
found. The fragile yellow or orange string-like stems then
scrambled up that host plant, attaching themselves by
sucker-like feet. They abandoned their own roots, and now
live quite well, without leaves or any green color, at the
expense of their host. By the end of summer, dodder can
blanket a whole garden area with orange threads looking for
more host plants. It is one of the few native plants that
are not
welcome in my
garden. (Another is poison ivy!).
(Click the picture for a larger
image)
(Prints and Note
Cards)