From Seeing Seeds: A Journey into the World of Seedheads, Pods, and Fruit by Teri Dunn Chace, with photographs by Robert Llewellyn:
“Autumn is the season of seeds, from acorns to grape seeds to windblown fluff from milkweed, goldenrod, and fireweed. If no one eats a seed, does it automatically grow into a new plant next spring? What is inside a seed? How does it all work? Does it all work, or is there a lot of wastefulness? These are good questions.”
From “A Gardener’s Thanksgiving” in One Man’s Garden by Henry Mitchell:
“Gardeners, as a caste, are usually grateful for blessings. Indeed, it is wonderful how little it takes to make a gardener happy. A rooted sprig of some uncommonly pretty goldenrod will do….”
Hello!
I often overlook goldenrod when I’m out in the neighborhood plant-hunting, but it got my attention recently. Some of goldenrod’s best blooming takes place in late September through mid-October here in the southeast, and a couple of weeks ago I happened on the mix of goldenrod and coneflower (or black-eyed Susan) featured in the first galleries below. Because we’d had some colder nights, much of the growth behind the goldenrod was starting to turn dark aqua-green, so perhaps that gave the goldenrod an extra punch to my eye, and made the yellow and gold in it and the coneflower look especially fine in the foreground.
Anemone — a tiny flower with perfectly-shaped spherical unopened buds — is always a delight to come across, and photographs nicely close up. The purple/violet color — contrasting with the orange and light green center of the flower — was especially vibrant on these late-bloomers; and even though the petals are a bit ragged around the edges, they still, in my opinion, look pretty good!
Thanks for taking a look!
It does take so little to make a gardener happy. I can identify with that. I love Goldenrod and Black Eyed Susan. But then again I think yellow flowers are just about the most beautiful things I have ever see. Love all your pictures they’re beautiful.
Yellow and gold (or orange) colors always catch my eye — certainly right now when there’s a lot still hanging out in the autumn leaves. They photograph well too — not sure why, I should find out! — and it often seems like the camera captures them more accurately than some others.
Thanks for the comment!
That’s a pretty variety of goldenrod, I don’t know which one, there’s a lot of ‘em. But nice shots to show it off.
Thank you!
It is very nice, the individual flower buds were large for goldenrod, and made a big puffy flower cluster. The color was pretty intense too, a rich yellow-gold. I made a small attempt to narrow down the variety, but stopped trying when I realized I would just be making an uneducated guess.
🙂