Category Archives: Purple and blue

Snake’s Head (Checkered Lily)

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FritillariaI love these — they’re so amazing looking. Wild but not local–they’re native to the west. Lily family. Last year I had the wrong latin name on this. Fritillaria comes from the latin fritillus which means dice-box (were they checkered?) and the name meleagris means “spotted like a guineafowl.” Vita Sackville-West: “a sinister little flower, in the mournful colour of decay.” Hm. That’s really not how I feel about them at all…

Snake’s Head Fritillary, Snake’s Head, Chess Flower, Frog-cup, leper lily, Lazarus bell, Checkered Lily, Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris)

Purple Deadnettle

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Henbit

Very small, but with an exotic orchid-like form if you look closely. Called deadnettle because even though it looks like a nettle, it is not, and it doesn’t sting like a nettle. Apparently the flowers, leaves and stems are edible, raw, cooked or dried. Mint family. Native to Europe and Asia.

Purple Deadnettle, Red Deadnettle, Purple Archangel (Lamium purpureum)

Siberian Squill

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Scilla sibericaAt Centennial, I noticed a single beautiful little blue flower among the brown leaves. I wasn’t going to count it because it’s Scilla siberica, a spring bulb flower. But as I kept looking, I saw this big drift of color at the edge of the woods where this flower had been naturalized, and the single one I saw was clearly an escapee from this group. So let’s not count it as a wildflower, but the field of blue was so gorgeously springy as to require a post. Native to southwestern Russia, the Caucasus and Turkey. But not Siberia.

Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica)

Tall Ironweed

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These buds are especially interesting, so densely packed. My sources are conflicting about differentiating between the different kind of ironweed, so I’m afraid this is just my best guess, based on the bract form and leaf shape. (Let’s just enjoy the look of it, whatever it is…) Composite family. Native perennial.

Tall Ironweed (Vernonia altissima)

Blackhaw Viburnum

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Looking for color wherever it might be—these are a beautiful deep blue. The fruit becomes edible after a frost, and is then eaten by birds. Black Haw has a long history of medicinal uses, mostly for all kinds of women’s issues, primarily to prevent miscarriages and ease menstrual cramps. It’s a decoction of the bark that is used—it contains a chemical relative of aspirin as well as other active components. However it is not “recognized as safe” by the FDA. Adoxaceae family. Native.

Blackhaw Viburnum, Sweet Haw, Black Haw, Stag Bush (Viburnum prunifolium)

Beautyberry

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These had feathery little flowers, and now with the cold weather, it’s time for the berries! Dr. Wesley Whiteside gave me these plants because I admired them in his garden, bright purple on bare branches in late October — they were just little twigs but they’ve done well. An important fall survival food for birds, when other sources are gone. Apparently, you can chop up a plant, boil and strain it, mix it with oil and beeswax to make a fabulous mosquito repellent. Also you can make jelly from the berries!  (And yet, you can also use the leaves to make a poison to stun fish. Hm.) There is an indigenous form, American Beauty Berry, which has berries with no stems, clustered closer to the branch. This kind is native to Japan. Verbena family.

Japanese Beautyberry (Callicarpa japonica)

Smooth Aster

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Showier blossoms than some of the raggedy varieties that are more common. Up to 3 feet tall. It’s called smooth because the stems and foliage are not hairy or rough like most other asters. Another distinguishing characteristic is the way the leaves clasp the stem. (I don’t usually post the photos I take of the leaves because they’re not pretty, but this would be a more helpful identification tool if I did, because for many plants, leaf formation is the key to figuring out what it is…) Aster family. Native perennial.

Smooth Aster (Aster laevis)

Great Blue Heron

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I happened to take Lucy for an early walk and lo, there was a big heron on the other side of the pond. It looked very slate blue. This is about one minute from our house… I feel lucky to live here and see this!

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

Nodding Smartweed

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Similar to Lady’s Thumb but a more extravagant outsized version. 1 to 6 feet tall. A big patch of them at the Dover Farm. Buckwheat family. Can be pink, white or purple.

Nodding Smartweed, Pale Smartweed, Dock-leaved Smartweed (Polygonum lapathifolium)

Charles River at loosestrife time

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This is the season when the nasty invasive Purple Loosestrife is on such beautiful display along the marshy river banks. I took these on a quiet Saturday morning and it was about as lovely a sight as you could ever see. (With mallow and water lilies.)

Bonus picture: waiting patiently on the other side of the road…