Meadows in southeastern Pennsylvania in September are beautiful with cattails, rushes and a variety of flowers. Some of those lovely blossoms grow along little waterways and in moist places in the pastures, while others live on drier soil. Some of the flowering plants had been blooming since summer, while others only begin blossoming in September. But all those cheery blooms on sun-loving vegetation in sunny pastures beautify many of those meadows in this area.
Beginning to bloom in September, the yellow flower petals of innumerable bur-marigold plants and the clusters of tiny, white blooms of boneset dominate the wetter spots in many pastures. In fact, many of those streams and damp spots are bright with bur-marigold blossoms. But a variety of bees, small butterflies and other insects gather on boneset blooms to ingest nectar.
Bushy spotted jewelweed plants with their orange, cornucopia-shaped blooms, along with bur-marigolds, dominate some wet sections of many meadows. Both those large plant species provide shelter for a variety of small creatures, particularly insects and other invertebrates.
Jewelweeds reach their peak of blooming in September when many ruby-throated hummingbirds are migrating south for the winter. Those hummingbirds often stop at jewelweed flowers to sip nectar before continuing on. Jewelweeds are also called "touch-me-nots" because when their seeds are ripe, the pods explode at the slightest touch to expel those seeds a small distance, dispersing them.
Arrowhead plants grow and produce white blossoms along the edges of streams and brooks in the pastures. They grow big leaves that are shaped like arrowheads and begin blooming in August, and continuing into September. Many of the roots and tubers of this plant are eaten by ducks and geese.
A variety of smartweeds with their tiny closed, pink flowers also flourish in wet soil. Some species of this type are a few feet or more tall while other kinds hug the ground among the short grasses. The ground hugging kinds have deeper pink blossoms that form pink carpets in the grass.
A variety of tall aster plants, some with white blossoms and others with lovely, pale-lavender flowers, start blooming in abundance in September and continue well into October. The innumerable asters are one of the single most important nectar plants in this area in autumn. Bees, small butterflies and other insects swarm over aster flowers to sip nectar, which is one of the last sources of that insect food.
Pearl crescent butterflies are particularly abundant on aster blooms because they ate those plants when they were caterpillars. Female pearl crescents lay their eggs on aster vegetation for next year's larvae to eat.
Though not as abundant as the above blooming vegetation in September pastures, dark-headed sneezeweeds, Joe-pye weeds and ironweeds have flowers in the damper parts of meadows in September. The sneezeweeds only start blooming in September and have yellow, scalloped-edged petals that droop like skirts under the dark, heads of clustered true flowers. Joe-pyes and ironweeds have pink blossoms and begin blooming in August. Those latter two species are attractive to several kinds of insects swarming after their nectar.
A variety of plants that flourish on drier, sunny soil in meadows include chicory that have blue blooms, red clovers and pasture thistles with their pink flowers, and evening primroses and a variety of goldenrods with their yellow blossoms. All these species, except the thistles, had been blooming since summer. The goldenrod flowers, like those on asters, often are swarming with insects after nectar. And by winter, the goldenrods, primroses and thistles have seeds that are eaten by mice and a variety of seed-eating, small birds.
Many meadows in southeastern Pennsylvania are beautiful with the bright colors of several kinds of blossoms blooming in September. These lovely flower gardens are inspiring and free to see. One only has to drive through farmland at that time and watch for them.
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