Late Summer Flowers #ShadowshotSunday

Today, some late summer flowers. 

These are pink turtleheads. I bought one plant at a farm market in Asheville, North Carolina in 2012.  I also bought a white turtlehead but it didn't survive.  Turtleheads are a native wildflower to where I live, but I found out recently that while the white turtleheads are native to where I live, the pink ones aren't.  However they are native to where I bought the plant.

Finally, (hiss boo) Japanese knotweed in bloom.  It's lovely when in bloom.  But:  it  was brought over to the United States as an ornamental and erosion control plant around 1873.  By the 1930's it was considered a major problem.  It reproduces vegetatively and is found on all continents except Antarctica.  The only good thing I can say about it is that the honey bees make from it is delicious.

Joining up with Lisa at This and That: A Blog for her #ShadowshotSunday. 

August Park Shadows #ShadowshotSunday

Yesterday was a beautiful day to take a walk in a local park. 

The bushes with white flowers are Japanese knotweed, an extremely invasive plant.  That being said, they also are a prime source for late season nectar for honeybees and bumblebees in our area. I've had their honey (it's dark) and have enjoyed it, even as these displace native plants.   I would still rather have the native plants.

This is a tree planted several years ago under a New York State program.  These and others are thriving now. 

Joining Lisa at This and That - A Blog, for her #ShadowshotSunday. 

Wildflowers of Late August

Seen in the last week of August.

 Goldenrod.

Common sneezeweed, so called because the dried flowers and leaves used to be an ingredient in a type of snuff, which made you sneeze.  This plant is a member of the aster family and used to be cultivated in gardens.  Even today, there are cultivated varieties.  What I saw is yellow but there are also types with orange highlights.

Last but not least, this.

Japanese knotweed (shudder).

Japanese Knotweed is a fact of life here in the Southern Tier of New York State, and in many other states in the United States.

It was introduced to the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1800's initially as an ornamental plant.

Many say this plant, introduced to the United States around 1825, is "beautiful but deadly".  It is characterized as being one of the most invasive plants in the area I live in.  Its powerful roots can tear up concrete and its runners can grow upwards of 60 feet long.  It grows quickly, and can be almost impossible to eradicate.  Controlling it costs billions of dollars a year.

It's in bloom now.

There is one good thing about this plant.  Bees love their flowers.  At one time, you could hear the hum of bees as you walked up to these plants.  But now, we have fewer bees each year.

I've eaten fall honey and some sell honey made by the bees from knotweed.

Some claim medicinal uses for the weed - I share this link for informational purposes only and do not advocate the use of any wild plant for medicinal uses.

Pretty, but destructive.  

Soon, the asters will be in bloom, bringing down the curtain on the wildflower season, but they aren't blooming just yet.