Goldenrod ~ Pasture margin, October 2003
I have umpteen slide carousels of wildflower pictures going back I hate to confess how many years. Wildflower taxonomy and photography have been interests since grad school days. Two years ago, in the process of installing a CDRW drive so I could back up all my digital camera wildflower images (many hundreds) my hard drive crashed and they were all lost. Some among them were carefully composed portraits of strikingly beautiful and dramatically illuminated natural bouquets.. of Lady's Slippers, Indian Pipes and Virginia Bluebells. Most were simply mugshots... utilitarian reminders of unpretentious and common roadside and pasture-edge plants from around here that would never get much attention from those demanding a show from the world of flowering things.
The goldenrods are so abundant in pastures and along roadsides that it is easy to overlook the fact that these common weeds are quite stunning when examined from up close in the slanting sun of late afternoon-- a light that only enhances the gold in this late-flowering autumn floral arrangment. There are two or three other fall flowers I'd like to find posing in the right light to have their pictures taken durning their last days: the blue asters, witch hazel, and beech drops are at the top of the list. Stay tuned.
Comments
Gimme some witch hazel, Fred. I've often wondered what that looked like. Did you know that the mountains around there were once filled with folks who picked by hand and sold witch hazel and other wild-growing herbs to pharmaceutical companies? My writer-friend Julia Ebel is writing a children's book on the topic. The Wilcox Drug Company in Boone bought from the pickers, supplementing many an Appalachian budget.
Posted by: trish | October 13, 2003 9:11 AM
How lovely!!! :)
Posted by: Artichoke Heart | October 13, 2003 1:55 PM
"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."
~George Eliot
More photos please.
The spiderweb was a favorite.
Posted by: Anne | October 13, 2003 4:18 PM
Hi, Fred!
I'm a florist and have really started to appreciate goldenrod since it's introduction as a commercially produced cut flower. As a weed, it "makes" a fall field or ditch...fallish. And, as a cut flower, it softens and blends all those other gorgeous fall colors.
Tidbit: You're NOT alergic to goldenrod--it's the ragweed that blooms at the same time (or so say the floral gods!)
BTW, you lend alot of serenity to my day--thanks!
Posted by: Birdie | October 13, 2003 6:39 PM