I love meadows, don’t you? The word “meadow” itself invokes a cheerful, nostalgic feeling in my heart. When I think of meadows, the hayfields and woodland edges of my childhood in Nova Scotia come immediately to mind. I have fond memories of walking the fields and roadsides picking wild berries with family in the summertime. In the fall, I would bring my mother and aunt bouquets of blue and white asters mixed with yellow goldenrod and other fall flowers.
I think most, if not all, of the meadows I’ve seen over the years are chock full of fall-flowering perennials like these. They have a timeless, pastoral beauty about them but also play an important role in our local ecosystems. Until recently, there has been little interest in non-cultivated varieties of native North American plants. Because demand was low, it used to be very difficult to find native plants in local nurseries. As the popularity of these plants has increased, many growers have added native wildflowers to their offerings, which has allowed us to keep a wider variety in stock all year.
A large part of my time at the nursery is occupied with ordering perennials to fill orders and stock the nursery. In order to get the specific plants we need, professionals in the green industry use the names that botanists and plant breeders have assigned to them. I’m constantly pouring over catalogues, pdf’s and excel sheets written primarily in botanical Latin. Even if I don’t intimately know each and every plant on the list, most are familiar. In the past few years, several new genera have bubbled up that I had never heard of. Most of these aren’t new plants, but rather re-classifications of already known plants. This sort of thing happens all the time. One example that recently threw me was the switch from Sedum spectabile ‘Autum Joy’ to Hylotelephium spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’. Who can even say “Hylotelephium“? – Brutal!
Many of the North American asters I’ve been fond of all of my life have also been reclassified. As it turns out, the genus Aster was named before the North American asters were added and is now comprised of mostly Asian plants. Scientists have determined that our asters are more related to goldenrod than those Asian plants, and thus they had to be re-named. The gentle, lovely, easy to pronounce, Aster has been replaced with Doellingeria, Erybia, Ionactis, Oclemena and Symphyotricum. It wasn’t me! Blame it on science!
Doellingeria is comprised of two species: D. infirma (Cornel-leafed aster) and D. umbellata (Flat-top white aster). Eurybia has three species: E. divaricata (White wood aster), E. macrophylla (Bigleaf Aster) and E. schreberi (Schreber’s Aster). Ionactis has one species: I. linariifolius (Stiff-leafed aster). Oclemena also has one species – O. acuminata (Mountain Aster). Unfortunately, the real tongue twister, Symphyotrichum has a list of species that include common plants like S. cordifolium (Blue wood aster), S. laevis (Smooth aster), S. lateriflorum (Calico aster) and S. novae angliae (New England Aster), among others.
So where have all the asters gone? They’ve been renamed and move to new classifications. But they are still with us and going strong! Now say Symphyotrichum novae angliae five times fast! You’ll impress all your plant-loving pals!
Although nature made flowers for her own purposes, I am certain that humans have enjoyed them since we appeared on Earth. Archaeologists have determined that we began cultivating plants some 12,000 years ago. Most of the archaeological studies have found evidence of agriculture for the purposes of food production, but I think it would be fair to assume that very soon after, we began growing plants for their beauty as well. Arguably, flowers are the most beautiful part of many plants and for that reason, most modern gardeners design their spaces to include their favorites. There are thousands upon thousands of flowering plants that are suitable for garden use. Unfortunately, the robust deer herd on Nantucket seems to enjoy our flowers even more than we do!
With a common name like “Harlequin Glorybower,” you would think this plant just fell from Mount Olympus or something! In fact, the botanical name for this genus, Clerodendron, stems from the Greek words kleros (meaning fate) and dendron (meaning tree). The common name references the fact that the flowering structures resemble the costume of Harlequin, a character from ancient Italian classical theatre – fancy! “Glorybower” is a semi made-up word meaning, “stunning garden arbor” which presumably refers to the domed shape of the mature plant. I find this part of the name particularly funny, since it is considered a “trash- tree” in much of the southeastern US where it has become naturalized since its introduction from Japan in the 1860’s.
Colonies of Sassafrass are easily identified from a distance by their “Dr. Seuss-looking” growth habit of more or less upright, wiggly trunks and branches. Up close, the youngest twigs are a shiny green while more mature branches and the trunks become grayish and furrowed over the years. In early May, yellow flowers seem to burst out of the tips of the twigs, filling the whole canopy in a bright sunny haze. Another easy way to identify these trees is by the leaves. While most trees have leaves that are all the same shape, these trees have a set of three different leaves that appear throughout the canopy at the same time: a simple ovoid shape, a “mitten” shape and a shape with three lobes, resembling a trident. During the growing season the leaves are a medium green, but they take on hues of brown, maroon, orange and deep scarlet in the fall.