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Three Late Summer Wildflowers

© Steven Haywood Yaskell

It's often said that good things come in threes. They say three children is better than two, two sometimes being worse than one. Our political architecture between the executive, judicial and legislative branches is divided in three and some say that this division has kept power safely (if not neatly) balanced in our republic for over two hundred years. In the spirit of the goodness of threes, let's talk about three wildflowers you can see any morning or evening near any road or path side, and in every open field.

Goldenrod, a yellow flower in the daisy family, is always seen from midsummer on in New England. Of a September morning, dusky gray and coastal cloudy or deep blue and crisp you'll see these flowers dripping with silvery dew, or sitting dry. You'll notice Goldenrod in different shapes. Look for a two or four foot green, rough stalk topped by tiny yellow flowerets that taken together take feather duster shapes. Others splay out like the tops of corn plants. Or look for the same flowerets shaped into clubs or spires, or see those flowerets as flat as pies. The kind growing close to you depends on the wind or the insect or bird that spread its seed. Nearly seventy Goldenrod species grow in the northeast and you might walk past - or sneeze -(if you are allergic) due to any one. However, the Goldenrod is not considered as bad as Ragweed in this sense. Goldenrod was once thought to be able to stop bleeding; to solidify the blood (hence the scientific name Solidago).

An imported wildflower you'll always see is Chicory, a blue, frilled flower. Known by another name in the England from which it most likely came, the flower was imported by early settlers to America. Being a part of England for a century and a half, New England took on much of the style and manners of its home country. One use for this import here could have been as a coffee substitute or additive, the additive adding a brisk sharpness to the coffee - a recent local taste for which is quite new to New England (thanks to Starbucks). The taste Chicory adds to a cup of regular ground black coffee? Think French Roast...with a vengeance.

Chicory grows out in disjointed branches without stalks, and covers roadsides often low to the ground near the fire hydrant you pass on your walk each morning. Sometimes the flowers are white, but the predominate color is a cheery sky blue. They are out in the Sun but the flowers usually clam up by midday on tepid September and early October afternoons. If you snip the green branch of this daisy-family flower you'll encounter white sap.

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