August 28th, NE Ohio

September 8th

September 8th

looks like a centaurea, In the UK, it would most likely be c.nigra but not so certain of US species.

Thank you! <3 I forgot to mention that I meant the purple plant, but you understood :) It's a lone purple plant in a sea of goldenrods <3 C. nigra sounds like a good lead. This one's taller than the Google pics of C. nigra look to be. Should have measured its height but didn't think of it. I'm guesstimating that it's around 4ft tall. The leaves are pretty narrow, shiny, kinda leathery-looking, and the flowers were in clusters in tiers. Wish my descriptions were better :D

That's beautiful, thank you!! Wish I'd gone closer when it was in bloom, but hesitated walking into the tall grasses, and before you know it it was already done blooming. Hopefully next year I'll get a chance to take closeups in bloom. Don't know how long it's been there or how likely it is to return since the field is clearly dominated by goldenrods with little else growing through.

I have a narrowleaf vernonia in the garden that's new since last Fall and hasn't bloomed yet (about to any day). Its leaves are so much more narrow than the wild one above that I would have never thought that they're both vernonia. Unless I'd seen the wild one's blooms upclose, I guess!

Vernonia evolved to compete with the other grasses and forrbs in the tall grass prairie, so there's a good chance it should return and maybe some new vollunteers along with it. You have the narrow leaf Vernonia lettermanii which is a gorgeous species. I've tried growing that one from seed with no success. I know it occurs in nature only in certain specialized environments, so I hope you have good results with yours. I may just have to order a plant like you did.

The Ironweed will be back. It can compete with goldenrod and tolerate field/roadside mowing well enough. I have ironweed.

The Color Purple (houzz.com)

You know your plants! :))) Yes, I got mine from US Perennials (think it's sold out right now). Planted it in a wetter part of the yard, and it was chewed to ground by rabbits shortly after arrival (last Fall), so I didn't think it was gonna come back this Spring, but it did. Moved it to a drier part of the yard this Spring, and so far the animals haven't touched it. The original two roots might have had the crowns chewed off since nothing grew from them. But two new stems grew from something! Still just two stems, but I'll take that over zero any day. Anxiously awaiting it to bloom any day now! Most of the flowerbed is part-shade so my plants probably bloom a bit later than others' in the area. Would love to get some seedlings from the narrowleaf since I think they'd be easy for me to recognize. Some of my other plants are driving me nuts since I've been having tons of weeds popping up this year that (to me) look like the seedlings I'm expecting around the same time. Interesting how seedlings can look so much alike to the untrained eye!

Back to the wild ironweed, any idea how to tell when its seeds are ripe? I'm wondering if it would be okay for me to try to "help" it along and sprinkle some around the area.

The seeds are ready when the flower heads turn to fuzzy puff balls for wind dispersal.

Many thanks!! Love your thread and pics! Wow, that's a big "clump" of it, and it looks crazy tall too!

Okay, so dry and bristly-looking probably isn't ripe yet then. I'll check again to see if it the seed pods get any more fluffy. Not sure how often to keep checking...don't wanna miss them popping open.

I had the wrong species name for my plant, it is Vernonia noveboracensis. You must have the cultivar Vernonia lettermanii 'Iron Butterfly '. It's a clone of a selection that was shorter and more compact than the species. Any seedlings from your Iron Butterfly will be taller and slightly different than the plant you purchased. It's a good idea to cut the plant back early in the season so it won't flop. If they aren't cut back they can flop and become a doughnut shape. I cut my plant back severely 1 time this year, but I could have done it a second time, it still grew to about 4 feet, but is bushy enough to not flop. Vernonia species will hybridize easily, so it's possible the wild one can hybridize with yours, but I wouldn't worry about it, you might end up with some beautiful hybrids.

This is where wild Vernonia lettermanii grows, in novaculite rock along a river running though mountains in Arkansas and Oklahoma. They grow out of cracks in the rocks and sometimes get flooded, so they need good drainage, but can handle periodic flooding. Iron butterfly should do well in regular garden soil, so they claim.

The Chicago Botanical Garden did a comparative study of different Vernonia cultivars including Iron Butterfly.

Photos by the amazing Adam Black

Yes, mine is Iron Butterfly! I have it growing between my agastache right now. Don't mind it staying small, if it does, since I like the look of it between the agastache. Interestingly, the two agastache it is between have recently had the leaves chewed off by something, and some of their stalks have blackened. The third agastache that is not "touching" the vernonia is fine.

Thank you for the info on Iron Butterfly, that is neat! I love it exactly because its foliage looks so similar to amsonia, which if I recall is toxic. The blue flowers of amsonia are beautiful too, would love to have that too, but trying to make the garden more pet and kid friendly in case that anyone from the neighborhood (or any visitors/relatives) decide to nibble on any of the plants.

I really should know better than to leap in with half-arsed attempts at ID. Living in a totally different country, with dodgy eyesight, filthy monitor and only the vaguest idea of what I am talking about...

it never stopped me rosa.. lol ... its fun when you get it right ... lol

we need as many active members as we can get.. so just dont stop replying.. or the whole system goes down... and we are left with just a few know it alls who bicker among.. wait. for you... amoung .... lol... themselves ...

now go snap a pic of something in your garden.. or down the block..and start a post and tell us about it ... ill look forward to it. ..

and kindness.. you found another toxic plant.. eh????

ken

It was a good faith effort rosaprimula. Don't give up. I have encountered the same bad eyesight and filthy monitor issue myself. Secondary cataract laser zaps on my eyeballs and some windex on the monitor was very helpful.

One of my Vernonia lettermanii is blooming this year. At least once, maybe for two years they failed to bloom before first frost even after setting flower buds. I attribute that to my cool summer, high elevation climate thinking they need more heat to get the job done before the season is over. I have the same issue with Callicarpa japonica most years, finally coming into bloom way too late to set the berries.

Rosaprimula, the "wrong" IDs are helpful too! Sometimes people just want to find a similar plant, not the exact match. And if they did need the exact match, your input keeps the discussion going. I'd rather you respond with the "wrong" ID than not at all. Can definitely relate to failing eyesight and all. At least you know a lot more plants to even try to take a guess at ID, especially wild ones...I'm definitely not there yet.

Ken, yup, my poor memory sometimes works...definitely not what it used to be.

Christopher, love your Vernonia lettermanii! Wonder how long the Iron Butterfly would take to grow into a full hedge like what's pictured/described on the US Perennials website... Not that I need it to anytime soon, it's kind of in the wrong spot for it and may be "impossible" to move once bigger, but I like the textural surprise it gives. Just got some nigella damascena seeds that might have a similar effect...we'll see. I might need to try fitting some grasses into the garden, but for now it's rather stuffed.

The similarly foliaged Amsonia hubrichtii was growing alongside the Vernonia lettermanii in the photos. It's not dangerously toxic, the white sap is basically innocuous. They prefer poor soil, so rich soil and fertilizer could be a cause for them not blooming.

This is growing amongst the wild flowers too. Could have sworn I smelled cherry tomatoes when I first saw it, LOL. Now, what the heck is that, and why aren't the animals eating it? If the deer don't eat something out here, the rabbits usually do...

Definitely Solanum carolinense

Berries, stems and leaves not edible, toxic.

My Iron Butterfly has finally started blooming :) Hope the rabbits don't re-discover it anytime soon!