Botanical Cousins

The botanists have been messing with so many plant names of late it is hard to keep track. I may have to remember who it was, before I can find out who it is now. Common names are getting much more helpful in tracking down proper nomenclature. Botanists don't have any authority to mess with common names. They are much more stable. Boneset is currently Eupatorium perfoliatum.

I like Boneset. It is a strong white in the late summer meadow. It stays in the four to six foot tall range and best of all it is one of the plants least likely to fall over when it blooms.

Joe Pye Weed is now Eutrochium purpureum. It was formerly a Eupatorium, grouped in the same genus as Boneset. Are they less related now than they were before? They are related at least. They even bloom at the same time.

I like my Joe Pye. It is one of the boldest colors in the late season meadow. I always lose a few stems to breakage, but there is plenty left over and more every year. Both Joe Pye and Boneset are generous self sowers. There will come a time no doubt when I am forced to edit some of the volunteers out.

Down there in the bottom stretching over the property line is my spacious oasis of order, the Great Lawn. I can get my own bit of elbow room down there.

It's a pretty fine looking lawn with an amazing amount of actual grass and all I did was weed whack whatever came up. Grass is a favored species under routine mowing conditions. I even had one visitor ask me if I seeded some of my paths. No I just whack em. That's what I get.

And then there is the chaos filled with blooming color that is getting more vibrant by the day. I have a nice view of it from the Great Lawn.