#aruncus dioicus

Erigeron glaucus // Seaside Fleabane

Stachys colleyae // Cooley's hedge nettle (doesn't sting!)

Eriophyllum lanatum // Oregon sunshine

Aruncus dioicus // Goat's beard

Allium cernuum // Nodding onion

Spirea douglasii // Douglas spirea

Mahonia nervosa // Creeping oregon grape

Symphyotrichum subspicatum // Douglas aster (Bee diversity superstar!)

All photos mine. The small buttercup and evening primrose are edited for colour since the camera didn't catch it and washed it out.

In order of appearance:

In order of appearance:

061. Wild Basil (Clinopodium vulgare) Didn't do so well the last place I had her in, but she seems happy in this spot, so fingers crossed.

062. Crested Iris (Iris cristata) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

063. Smallflower Buttercup (Rancunculus abortivus) Not much to look at compared with other buttercups but one of the only native buttercups with (limited) edible uses.

064. Smooth Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum biflorum) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet. Soon, hopefully!

065. False Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum racemosa) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet, but she's growing well so hopefully next year.

066. Blisterwort (Ranunculus recurvatus) I didn't plant that. She just turned up last year. Not pictured as I haven't got any pictures yet.

067. Fairy Spuds (Claytonia virginica) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet. She's a wee little spud in the ground.

068. Flowering Dogwood (Cornus floridus) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet but she is slowly spreading out.

069. Plantain-Leaf Sedge (Carex plantaginea) Not pictured as I haven't got pictures yet. I should. It's a neat plant. Evergreen, too!

070. Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) One of the prettiest plants I've ever seen, from the shape and texture of the leaves to the purplish pink buds to the bright blue bell-shaped flowers. They're spring ephemerals, though, so they're long gone by now. But will emerge next spring!

071. Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis) Only lives for two years and reseeds itself. It's a common weed along sidewalks, but its flowers glow yellow in the evening and often remain in bloom at night.

072. Squirrel Corn (Dicentra canadensis) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet. The leaves are really cute, though.

073. Large Toothwort (Cardamine maxima) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

074. Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) Not pictured as I haven't got any pictures yet.

075. Great Burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis) A cultivar, not sure which one. I'll get the wild type if/when I can.

076. American Plum (Prunus americana) I was not expecting her to flower this year! Hopefully she will next year too, and without aphids this time so I can have some plums. :)

077. Smooth Aster (Symphyotrichum laeve) So like I said, I do think New England asters are the prettiest of this genus, but smooth asters are very nice in their own way. Tender bluish leaves, and delicate light purple flowers.

078. Sweet Grass (Hierochloe odorata) Not pictured as I haven't got any pictures yet. She only flowered one year. Hasn't since. I won't miss a photo next time.

079. Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum) What's better than pretty flowers? Tasty pretty flowers!

080-081. Swamp Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) Two different cultivars and the red one has died, but I did get my hands on the wild type! That will hopefully bloom this year.

082. Stiff Sunflower (Helianthus pauciflorus subrhomboideus) Holds her own against the much more aggressive Nuttall's sunflower. Sometimes called beautiful sunflower. I don't know how one decides which species of a very showy genus gets that name, but I guess she won out.

083. Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) Another one that was hard to choose a photo of. You just hardly believe they're real!

084. Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) I planted her where there's a drip from the eavestrough so she can get very wet when it rains. :) She is not a marigold but instead part of the buttercup family.

085. Nuttall's Sunflower (Helianthus nuttallii) Whenever I am expressing frustration about sunflowers, it is almost always this species. lol Very beautiful but very aggressive.

086. Larkspur Violet (Viola pedatifida) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

087. White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

088. Small Sundrops (Oenothera perennis) Not quite as intensely yellow as some of her relatives but still very bright.

089. Bigleaf Aster (Eurybia macrophylla) You generally grow her for foliage rather than her flowers, but flowering she is! Very drought-tolerant, but spreads more readily in less harsh conditions.

A gorgeous late spring afternoon means only one thing to me: a long, leisurely bike ride on the Mon River Trail. Eastern goat’s beard (Aruncus dioicus), with its gaudy, plume-like flowers, is now at peak bloom on the moist, rich slopes bordering the trail. This rhizomatous perennial in the rose family is one of Appalachia’s most spectacular spring-blooming wildflowers and has a rambling, bushy habit that makes it the perfect ornamental for a damp, partially-shaded spot in a native wildflower garden. This plant is easily mistaken for Appalachian false goat’s beard (Astilbe biternata), which grows in the same habitat and has a similar flower plume but with a different leaf arrangement.

Aruncus dioicus, Rosaceae

Last year I took some photos of this plant in my local park and I literally tried to identify it for days without success -if I have taken good photos it generally takes me half an hour at most- so I ended up extremely upset and forgetting about it. A few days ago I was walking by it as it was blooming again and my brain finally made a connection: looking at the compound leaves, general habit and flowers, I thought it sort of resembled a large meadosweet (Filipendula ulmaria). Some quick research in that direction proved my brain was right, this perennial is generally known as goat’s beard and is indeed closely related to meadosweet. In the photos above you can see both the scented, white/cream male flowers and the greenish female ones as this species is dioecius, bearing different sexes on separate plants.