Saturday, August 14, 2021

A year of flowers #72: Autumn willowherb

 

Epilobium brachycarpum
 
This is probably the last of the year of flowers, but it has been a strange year, so who knows...?  I never planted it, but it's everywhere out there, and this is another plant that I couldn't ever get rid of even if I wanted to, so I was delighted to find out that it is indeed native.  I have recognized that it does a good job keeping the other noxious-weed seeds floating in the air from alighting and sprouting.  In August, it begins producing a pink cloud out there, hovering at about 3-4 feet above the ground, and this year seems to be utterly undaunted by the drought and heat.  
 
I just read an article describing methods for eradicating it, and it was interesting to read about how difficult it is to eliminate it.  I guess it is a noxious weed in a lot of places, but not here.  I suspect that annual plants like this do a lot to provide structure and biomass for the soil, and this one certainly provides a lot beauty out there at a time when other things are drying up. 

No comments:

Post a Comment