Fall riches abound. Goldenrod is blooming – providing food for pollinating insects. I didn’t cut mine back in June, so it got very tall – fell over onto other vegetation. Trimming plants that will get too tall early enough that they will still bloom and be shorter overall is a lesson learned to be applied next year.

I’ve been watching the growth of my native plant garden during its first year – pulling weeds as quickly as possible. There were a couple of plants that I left for a little while so that they could get big enough for identification. It turns out that they are sassafras! They are ‘bird planted’ on opposite ends of the garden. They are the food plant for spicebush swallowtail caterpillars – so I am leaving them in the front yard garden. I have spice bush in the backyard so I expect to see more of these butterflies in coming years. They are not old enough to produce seeds but might be winter food for birds in coming years.

I trimmed pokeweed to keep it short and there seem to be even more fruits than usual. They will be eaten by birds – mostly songbirds and mourning doves. The dry weather since midsummer has caused some of the plants to already start dying back. I’ll cut a lot of the plants after the first frost, but they will come back from the roots next year!

The chives that I grew from seeds produced in my mother’s garden several years ago are more prolific each year. They aren’t native but they provide another texture among the violets and black raspberry…and they are edible. These are a plant that I grow for the memories associated with visits to Texas over the years.

The American Spikenard blew over in a storm, and it has been so hot since midsummer that it looks like the fruit is going to dry out very shortly after it ripens.

On the plus side – the American Beautyberry did very well this year. Its leaves are lush and the fruits is maturing. They will be food for songbirds too!

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