Autumn Roadside Flowers

     Several kinds of flowering plants along country roadsides in southeastern Pennsylvania create beautiful bouquets of themselves during September and October.  Those lovely, inspiring patches of wild flowers aren't everywhere along rural roads, but here and there in little communities of plants.  And each community is unique in its composition of species from all others.  But all those clumps of wild blooms are enjoyable and inspiring to see while traveling along country roads.
     Many of these flowering species had bloomed in summer and continue to blossom in autumn, as long as the weather is relatively mild.  Some of the taller plants include chicory with their sky-blue flowers, evening lynchis that have white flowers and evening primrose with yellow blooms.  Honeysuckle vines have had sweet-smelling, beige or white blossoms all summer and into fall.
     Some roadsides are mowed in summer.  Then chicory and the other plants grow blossoms on short flower stems, completely their reproductive cycle in spite of adversity.    
     Red clover and bouncing bet that have pink blossoms and butter and eggs with yellow, snapdragon flowers grow close to the ground and live under the taller flowering plants along rural roads.  The clover escaped from hay fields, and bouncing bet, like clover, is a native of Europe and is also called soapwort because its leaves can be crushed and whipped into a soapy lather.  The name bouncing bet, according to legend, came from the sight of a well-endowed washerwoman busily washing clothing over a wash board.
     Some of these plants only begin to bloom in autumn.  Goldenrod with its many tiny, yellow blossoms begins to flower in August, but reaches a peak of blooming in fall.  And goldenrod's associate flowers, the asters, bloom during September and reach a climax of flowering early in October.  Some species of asters have deep-purple blooms, while other kinds have white or pale lavender ones. The species with deep-purple flowers, New York and New England asters, are planted on many local lawns for their lovely blossoms in September and October.  And goldenrod and aster flowers are a couple of the last big sources of nectar for insects in autumn.  Bees, smaller butterflies and other kinds of insects swarm over these plants in September and October. 
     Certain kinds of smartweeds with their pink flowers reach a zenith of blooming in October.  Then certain roadsides are deep-pink with the many blooms of this species that dominate them. 
     Wild morning glory vines only bloom in autumn.  Their flowers are purple, pink, white or blue, sometimes all those colors along the same country roadsides, creating striking medleys.  Morning glory flowers are large and showy, dominating many rural roads.
     Look for these lovely, autumn-blooming flowers when out for a walk or drive.  They are enjoyable and inspiring.