Where has all the milkweed gone? Poisoned by farmers, everyone. Not only farmers, but homeowners, highway departments, park superintendents, school yard landscapers – all are in the milkweed eradication business. It’s a weed, you see, and it must go. But take away the milkweed and you take away one of the most beautiful creatures that has ever graced this planet. Monarch butterflies. Without … [Read more...]

  Many of those beautiful golden plants we see now along our roads are in the goldenrod (Soilidago) family. That means coughing and sneezing, right? No, that’s incorrect. There is a misconception that goldenrod is a prime cause for hay fever, but it’s not goldenrod. It’s ragweed which is the real culprit. Goldenrod and ragweed bloom at about the same time. But ragweed pollen is blown … [Read more...]

Since I spotted a vivid orange Butterfly Weed growing by the roadside a few weeks back, I have become captivated by the many beautiful flowers and weeds seemingly growing wild along our highways and byways. Not only are they beautiful, but most have medicinal uses and interesting backgrounds. Last week I noticed another beauty. As best I can tell, it’s a Joe Pye Weed, a lovely soft-purple plant … [Read more...]

Lots of those pretty flowers and weeds we see alongside our roads and highways are “come-heres”, native to other countries – Europe, Asia, Africa and the like, but the friendly little Black-eyed Susans are as American as apple pie. They are true natives of North America and we have had a bumper crop of the yellow beauties this summer. There are a number of different type of the Rudbeckvia … [Read more...]

As I continue to travel Virginia’s highways and back roads – ever on the look for colorful weeds and plants – I have noticed an abundance of red clover, especially earlier in the summer. Red clover brings back lots of memories. As a boy in Lewisburg, WV, I was an avid quail hunter. Anytime we found a field of clover – used by West Virginia farmers for hay – there were quail nearby. Rabbits, too. … [Read more...]

We were somewhere near the Pulaski exit on I-81 when I saw a large cluster of brilliant yellow flowers along the side of the highway. They were magnificent, yet, like many beautiful things in nature, they were just weeds. They are common mullein, a species native to Europe, Africa and Asia, but introduced to America. You wouldn’t imagine such a beautiful bloom on such a strange plant, but the … [Read more...]

Since I noticed and identified what I believe to be a Butterfly Weed a few weeks back, I have been watching along the roadsides in my recent travels. There are some beautiful plants in nature, many of them considered weeds. One such plant is Queen Anne’s Lace. There seems to be a bountiful crop this year. Yesterday I saw a ten-acre field almost entirely covered with the delicate white … [Read more...]

We are rapidly losing our meadows and shrublands. We certainly don’t want to lose meadows, with all those nice wild flowers and natural flora, but who really cares if we lose shrublands? Millions of plants and animals, that’s who. The Virginia Game Department is doing what it can to educate about shrublands and their endangered status. Here are some interesting observations as supplied by … [Read more...]