What’s Blooming In My Damp Meadow

– Posted in: Native/Invasive, What's up/blooming
5 comments

I get so engrossed with gardening around the house during the summer that I tend to ignore the wilder parts of our property. I decided to remedy that and take a walk through our damp meadow, and I’m glad I did. I saw some plants that I hadn’t realized were growing there, as well as the usual suspects.

Swamp milkweed - Asclepias incarnata

Swamp milkweed – Asclepias incarnata

I didn’t know we had swamp milkweed growing on our land. There isn’t very much of it, so perhaps it’s just starting to get established. I think it’s a lot prettier than common milkweed.
Blue vervain - Verbena hastata

Blue vervain – Verbena hastata

We had blue vervain growing at the old house so I’m glad to see it here, even if I only spotted a single plant!
Queen of the Prairie - Filipendula rubra

Queen of the Prairie – Filipendula rubra

A friend gave me Queen of the Prairie two years ago. Last year the deer ate it down to the ground. This year they’ve left it alone, choosing to chomp down on hydrangeas and phlox instead. It’s only about four feet tall–half of its potential height–but I am glad to see it’s still alive. Hopefully it will grow from strength to strength and eventually make a big patch.
Joe Pye weed Eutrochium sp.

Joe Pye weed Eutrochium sp.

I’m not sure which species of Joe-Pye weed this is. Can you tell it’s tall? I had to point my camera up to take this picture. It may be we have more than one species growing here. All I can tell you is this plant is very happy here.
Joe Pye weed Eutrochium

Our meadow has quite a bit of Joe-Pye weed, which is just on the cusp of bloom.

It’s not just in the meadow, it’s in every garden bed where I missed pulling it out or permitted it to stay. It loves it here, almost as much as…
golden rod - Solidago sp.

…golden rod – Solidago sp.

Goldenrod is also just starting to come into bloom. There’s not as much of it as the Joe-Pye weed in this meadow, though there’s plenty of it in the surrounding countryside. I wonder if it’s a goldenrod especially adapted to moist soils?
Common boneset - Eupatorium perfoliatum

Common boneset – Eupatorium perfoliatum

Boneset likes the same conditions as Joe-Pye weed, but there never seems to be as much of it.
Meadow sweet - Spirea alba

Meadow sweet – Spirea alba

Meadow sweet is classified as a shrub, but it doesn’t seem very shrubby to me.
sedge

Sedge

I don’t know which sedge this is, but the whole eastern side of the meadow is full of it, and it is all blooming right now.

So glad you could join me on this little stroll. We should do this again sometime soon, don’t you think?

Posted for Wildflower Wednesday, created by Gail of Clay and Limestone, to share wildflowers/native plants no matter where you garden in the blogosphere. “It doesn’t matter if we sometimes show the same plants. How they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most. It’s always the fourth Wednesday of the month!”

About the Author

Kathy Purdy is a colchicum evangelist, converting unsuspecting gardeners into colchicophiles. She gardens in rural upstate NY, which used to be USDA Hardiness Zone 4 but is now Zone 5. Kathy’s been writing since 4th grade, gardening since high school, and blogging since 2002. Find her on Instagram as kopurdy.

In the end, this may be the most important thing about frost: Frost slows us down. In spring, it tempers our eagerness. In fall, it brings closure and rest. In our gotta-go world–where every nanosecond seems to count–slowness can be a great gift. So rather than see Jack Frost as an adversary, you could choose to greet him as a friend.

~Philip Harnden in A Gardener’s Guide to Frost: Outwit the Weather and Extend the Spring and Fall Seasons

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Frank August 6, 2017, 9:03 am

Lucky you to have a spot like this. When I look at my miserable astilbes and when I was searching for a spot for moisture loving Japanese primula I was thinking of this and wishing I had my own. Unless you have to mow it of course. 🙂

Kathy August 1, 2017, 1:00 pm

Second to only the woodland garden, a wet full sun meadow is one of my very favorite habitats! These plants are beauties and I love how big and stately some of them become like ol’ Joe. I hope your Queen of the Prairie takes off, too – there’s nothing like it! I see many of these very same flowers – swamp milkweed, Joe-pye, goldenrod and vervain – growing at the lake and it’s wonderful to see them in their natural habitat and the insects and butterflies they attract. And thank you for enlightening me on a plant I wasn’t sure about (that I saw on the shores of the lake), boneset! I also saw lots of what I think is Steeplebush (Spiraea tomentosa) which didn’t look shrubby either but is a shrub. I so enjoyed strolling among your wild gardens!

Gail July 28, 2017, 6:53 pm

You have Spirea alba! Wowzer. What a treat to see your wet meadow and how happy all the wildflowers are…Thank you for sharing and joining the WW celebration.

Leslie July 28, 2017, 5:26 pm

I loved this walk…I can’t imagine having property with plants I didn’t know I had. Or that, indeed, I had not planted!

Pat Webster July 28, 2017, 12:16 pm

I love this post, Kathy. Take me for a walk any day! And I’m struck, as always, by how similar our conditions are. I have the same range of plants growing in the damp meadows, and it all seems at the same point of development. Except I don’t have swamp milkweed, or not that I’ve found. I’ll have to go looking.