A Walk Through the Meadow

Since we're touring the garden we can't leave out the meadow can we?  The grasses have long since dried and spring flowers have changed to fall.  In the last week the asters started to bloom.

The large flowered white aster with the yellow button

The tiny white Aster lateriflorus or Calico Aster with its horizontal branches and pink buttons changing to yellow.

And the large purple asters.  They flower with such abundance and everywhere I look there's another plant.   How lucky we are that this lawn turned meadow should be so full of this quietly beautiful flower.

Also flowering in abundance is goldenrod.  Last year there was not a single plant in the meadow and I wondered how that could be since the hedgerow is full of goldenrod.  Perhaps the plants just needed an extra year to grow as they are showing up in great numbers now.

Another plant I don't recall seeing last year in the field is this funny plant.  This year it is turning up everywhere on the property it seems.  I suspect it is Hemp Nettle, a weed introduced from Europe.

Although I noticed this next plant last year it seems to have covered more ground this year.

Common toadflax is another invasion from Europe, brought in as an ornamental plant.

I have really struggled to identify this next bloom.  I found a group of them hidden in a shaded patch tucked between my neighbours hedge and the roadside.   

They appear to be a double flower and are quite pretty.  Does anyone have ideas about what it might be?

As it happens I discovered this bloom's identity is while looking for something else!  It is an ornamental plant from Europe, traditionally used in cottage gardens.  Saponaria officinalis is often called Bouncing Bet.  This particular flower is a double form called Rosea plena.

In that same secluded corner is my native Witch Hazel, Hamamelis virginiana.  This plant has grown by leaps and bounds since being planted last spring and is beginning to put out tiny yellow flowers now this fall.

And what would a trip into the meadow be if I didn't show you the progress of my little red oak?

I simply cannot believe how much this tree has grown this year.  It is close to the size it was when we first bought it last spring.  After being gnawed to bits by voles this past winter all that you see here is brand new growth.  That's several feet of new growth in one season.  Truly truly astounding.