This year's aster

I don't get tired of seeing purple New England asters during the brief late-summer-early-fall period when they blossom. This one had a brown skipper on it, rather than a bee that was in the previous post.  Not just another aster, but an aster with a pollinator. IYKYK. 

 

Someday someone will be interested in this picture

 Some twenty years ago, the powers that be began to build a four-lane highway to help take traffic off the then-current nearby two-lane street.  The bypass led to the demise of a junkyard that was within the area in this photo.  Recently, the township made public the information that a builder wanted to put in I-forget-how-many homes on this land.  

For future reference, here's how it looks as of late September 2026.  Wildflowers and asphalt in the foreground, a cornfield off in the near distance.  Some tall old trees on the margins.  Just beyond them on the right is a back road that used to connect to another back road a mile away.  Now it's a cul-de-sac.  

That other back road passed by a Catholic cemetery on one side and an open farmer's field on the other.  The field now contains an assisted living facility.  

I took video of the area before the construction started and the area turned from rural to suburban.  Recently I had the videotape re-recorded to video files, which I am going through and making notes.  Maybe someone will be interested in them someday.  

Below are New England asters that were growing just out of camera range to the right, taken a couple of weeks ago.  There are more of those on both sides of the road than there were a year ago.  

Here is one from the other side of the road, taken about a year ago.  That aster was growing on the north edge of property belonging to a Fortune 500 company.  They eschewed the typical landscaping, using native plants instead of grass at their world headquarters.

Afternoon Glory

Hedge bindweed, seen last Saturday afternoon while I was putting waiting time to good use, walking around an out-of-town park.    

 

Field report

 From my walking app:  "1.22 mi walk / Thursday, August 6 at 9:51 a.m.

"Getting out in the morning instead of evening due to coming heat and humidity.  Three rabbits, two goldfinches, several barn swallows, and a few chicory flowers along the road in the nearby park. Possibly a killdeer cry from a stony area in the park.

"A house along the way has a for-sale sign in its front yard.  The yard also has little yellow flowers all over it.  I'm a fan of wildflowers, so I like the way it looks.  It's unique in the development.  I do wonder, considering the elevated price tag, how a potential buyer might view a house with a front yard full of what they consider to be weeds.  Considered taking a picture, but decided that standing in front of someone's house taking pictures might be seen as suspicious, even if it is for sale.

"A couple of houses down, a butterfly bush more than a foot tall has sprouted from a crack along the curb.  Pretty purple flowers, though."

A new volunteer

Here's a recent addition to our back yard.  Google Lens says this is Moth Mullein (Verbascum blattaria), an introduced biennial weed.  The Missoula County Department of Ecology and Extension has it on their Noxious Weed Watch List, which doesn't surprise me in the least. 

A purpose and a place

Our front yard has been weed-and-feed-ed, and I recently paid to have several square feet of mulch added to the south side of the house.  The prior layer of mulch had broken down and was apparently an ideal potting mix for a number of weeds, which made it look shabby as seen from the front sidewalk.  Curb appeal, I get that.  Can't be lowering the property values in this neighborhood.  

The back yard, which isn't so visible, has had a crop of dandelions, and the formerly landscaped "island" near the back edge of the property is now largely covered with wood violets, since they are a natural low ground cover that needs no maintenance or mowing.  

Not to say it's all wild and unkempt; I keep the plentiful catnip from growing tall, and ruthlessly uproot the spiny thistles when they pop up.  From a distance it just looks green and intentional.

There are exceptions, though. Landscaping in the front yard was airtight (or "weedtight"?) for the first couple of years, but in the past two that has given way to patches of speedwell (left, above) and yellow wood sorrel.  I couldn't get a picture today of the latter with pollinators, but there were hoverflies helping themselves to the former.  They're colorful, they're pretty, and they're attractive to pollinators, so they're staying put.

Lucky timing

We've lived here for decades, and I can count on one hand the times I've seen a snake.  Here's the one I saw today while appreciating the wildflowers and tree blossoms in the back yard.  

Wildflowers along a stream

April 10, 2026, Ringoes, NJ 

Only one

The back yard has a growing number of dandelions, to go with the speedwell and the violets.  Today, this yellow flower appeared for the first time, and was the only one of its kind in the yard.  A quick search reveals it to be mock strawberry, and likely more of its kind will follow throughout the spring and summer.

First the speedwell, then the violets

These are growing along the sidewalk and slightly over the property line, so not ours, but still the first wood violets I've seen this spring. 

Along the front sidewalk

Always glad to see the creeping speedwell emerge in our yard.  It's a sign of spring.

 

Something to show for it

Kit Charlemagne, March 9, 2:00 p.m.

First creeping speedwell of the year, March 8, 12:30 p.m. 

Not dead yet

Taken this morning.  Cold weather, even light frost has had no effect on the wild radish that showed up in our bird garden this year.  

Also today:  I went outside to refill the bird feeders in the bird garden and spooked a cottontail, which hurried under the shed.  

(Post No. 1,000)

Fall color

 A couple of hours at Tabby's Place this afternoon.  After signing out, I walked around the building to see if anything interesting was going on out there.  There were still flowering catnip plants, and pollinators flying above them.  I saw this growing in a landscaped area, and since it was the only one of its kind in there, I'm going to guess it's a volunteer.  Plant identifying app says it's tropical milkweed.

Poisonous, and in our back yard

Lobelia inflata is an "acrid poisonous annual is found in a variety of sites, often in poor soil. The American Indians were said to have smoked and chewed its leaves; hence the common name. Though once used as an emetic, the root should not be eaten, for if taken in quantity it can be fatal."

A lone slender stalk of Indian tobacco, growing on the east side of the shed in our back yard.  What bird was responsible for bringing that seed onto that ground?

Unexpected, but in a good way

I just checked, and found pictures of wood violets in my collection that date back to April 2008.  Spring is when they traditionally bloom, then they die back and only the leaves remain as low ground cover for the rest of the summer.  

What I didn't expect was to find photos that I took that are dated November 7, 2010 and October 27, 2012.  Here's one from today, October 16, 2025.  A useful reminder that there can be a small second batch in autumn.  

A walk in the park

Clematis terniflora (sweet autumn clematis)

40°35'39.7"N 75°30'03.2"W

Life in our back yard

 

Finding a way

One of three chicory flowers I saw while walking this afternoon in suburban Allentown.  It's been mown down in the past, but that didn't stop it from putting out flowers below the mowing line.

Today's walk in the park