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Sunday, August 7, 2011

Two Kinds of Boneset!

   Some of the many wonderful things about Mill Mountain are the numerous wildflowers that grow in it's unique conditions and criss-crossing trails from which to see them. Jeff uses these trails frequently on his running routes and often comes home with stories of interesting flowers and plants that I should check out. Today at lunch he suggested an easy to get to patch of what might be boneset, I just happened to have the camera with me, so off we went up the mountian to see it. The only challenge would be trying not to drown in a pool of our own sweat thanks to the oppressive humidity. While we were there I thought it would be worthwhile to check out the "Wildflower Garden" outside of the visitor's center. We hit the jackpot! Here are the highlights of what we found...


   This patch is located in the Wildflower Garden. There are no plant tags or markers but it looks like Common Boneset (eupatorium perfoliatum).

A close-up of the above


   One of the many patches growing naturally in the woods, I believe this is Upland Boneset (eupatorium sessilifolium).

A close-up of the above


   I don't know why there are Buddleias in the Wildflower Garden (they're non-native invasives!), but I have to say, they were covered in some amazing butterflies. The prize of the day goes to the one above, a Gulf Frittilary. It was gorgeous!


   There were also several Hummingbird Hawk Moths, this one even fanned its faux tail like a hummingbird.


   This Great Spangled Fritillary wore me out as I tried to get its picture, always just slightly too far away.

   We had such a great time, yelling back and forth to each other "ooh, ooh, look at this one!", we'll have to come back on a regular basis to see if we can find any more treasures. We gave up before we even saw it all because the heat and humidity were so bad. 

*Click on the photos above to enlarge

4 comments:

  1. I don't miss the east coast heat although we've had the most humid summer on record here.

    Great finds at the wildflower garden, I have not seen that one type of boneset before.
    Heather

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  2. You know, it seems the one consistent theme of this blog is: "all the best and most numerous bees, butterflies and critters will be found enjoying the nearest non-native invasive offering available"! Kinda makes all this native, non-invasive hooey seem like a bunch of extra work, expense an effort for reduced results.ughhhhhhhhhgh!

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  3. OK smartypants, when Buddleias start colonizing our local parks and choking out the native plants, which happen to be "host" plants, there will be no more butterflies to see on your precious butterfly bush.

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  4. So by that logic I suppose we should not feed children all the candy they could eat just because "it's has no nutritional value"!?! Uh, ok, I see your point.

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