prairie point

So far I don’t have a garden, unless you count the plants in pots. But I do have some wildflowers, including some that are new to me.

There was one naturalist that I use to go on hikes with who was generally very knowledgeable. But when he came across yellow flowers like this one he would often just shrug his shoulders and called them DYC, for “damned yellow composites.” The composites are one of the biggest families of flowers and can be really hard to identify.

I think I may have identified this one though. My research points to golden crown-beard or Verbesina encelioides, actually a very common plant throughout the US as it turns out. If you know better please set me straight.

It’s growing in clumps at the edge of the woods. The plants are about three feet high and tend to sprawl. They started to bloom shortly after the rain we got a few weeks ago and now they are blooming quite profusely. The deer seem to ignore them. Most of the guidebooks I’ve consulted report an unpleasant odor when the leaves are crushed but I haven’t found this to be the case.