Erechtites hieracifolium is a useful colonizer species. The flower buds never open but the plant produces a couple small disc flowers, that protrude out at the tips for cross pollination, to keep the gene pool healthy. It has a unique taste. Certain insects depend on it, like the leaf miners in the photo. Some other plant had to be the culprit that gave you a rash.

I've got these in numbers. I don't remember them when I moved in, but a couple yrs ago I noticed one or two, now there are many (and 6 ft or more tall). But not a concern for my unmowed areas.

The seed is airborne, like dandelions or thistles. It'll spread far and wide given the right conditions.

They are all gone for the year niw, last one sighted on 16th sept. In my garden, they love pentas the most, followed by zinnia, monarda, jasmine grandiflorum, agapanthus, single flowering fuchsia and lantana. They will sometimes try petunias, gladiolus, mandevilla, russian sage, salvia nemarosa, pelargonium and even clematis but those are not frequented much. I haven't been able to get a cuphea or a salvia greggi but those are my on my list for next year.

This was my 1st year growing the annual Drummond Phlox and it can set seed and grow a second generation all in 1 season. Tall Bellflower is a good late summer plant for hummingbirds. They seed themselves around and don't require much care other than removal when they are done flowering.

Symphyotrichum novae-anglae

Symphyotrichum prenanthoides

Symphyotrichum racemosum

The middle aster prenanthoides is the Crooked Stem Aster, not New York Aster, Symphyotrichum novi-belgii. To me I think the white aster is Symphyotrichum racemosum because Boltonia asteroides flowers are larger and have a much larger number of ray petals. All the flowers are blooming on one side of the stem and are in a racime. There are pendelous linear leaves within the inflorescence. The only other 2 white asters in your area are pilosum and lateriflorum.

New York Aster, Symphyotrichum novi-belgii

Jay, thanks for correcting me! So I’ve never heard of crooked stem aster, but I grow it. :)

Closeups of the white aster today —

And crooked stem aster:

Wow, that's beautiful! I just re-discovered begonias last year, they really are workhorses aren't they?

@Jay 6a Chicago So P x advena might be an interspecific hybrid as you say. But some sources I read claim that this is not proven, and there are journal articles now claiming it may be a separate species. What's weird here is that such a popular plant in the nursery trade has such a contested lineage in the academic journals.

The only thing that everyone seems to agree on is that the old classification of Pennnisetrum setaceum "Rubrum" is wrong. In spite of that, many nurseries still use that label, which just throws even more confusion around the topic.

Here's a Pennisetum setaceum (invasive) near my home in California. This one is over five feet tall.

Thank you. I'm heading out of town now, but I'll check and reply back, next week. Tku!

Thanks. The plant is and has been up on my roof, where it essentially receives Full Sun all day. And it's in a very large planter...probably about 16" or so in diameter.

I use FoxFarm Happy Frog potting soil....always add plenty of perlite to the mix, and during the Summer months - in particular - the plant was watered daily, in the early evening. The planter has drainage holes so that I can clearly see excess water draining out, when watering the plant...

It's always been dry here. The stem does have a hairy feel to it, but not excessive.

I guess that's it then.

Thanks . I'll be collecting seed this fall.

It's stunningly good looking and deserves to have its own place in the sun.

I just discovered last year that I had a nice patch of S. flexicaulis. Finding the

S.hispida makes for a nice combo. I am definitely going to propagate them.

Everybody was bashing me after I cut down all my Oak trees(50) and since then its turned into a jungle of new species popping up here and there. I planted Balsam fir and some are now 20' tall. Paper Birch popped up too.

I checked out my river recently and discovered a dozen tall Iron Weed with their shimmering bright purple flowers. The Monarch butterflies are migrating now and they were hanging out on the Iron weed.

I have a lot of Mayflower and last year I potted some up for you, but they didn't survive in the pot. I'm trying again. Maybe next Spring there will be a surprise.

I do not have Bunch Berry but I've seen it around. It's on my transplant list.

I've never seen Leafcup but do have Prenanthes. It pops up here and there.

The Elm-leaved Goldenrod looks very nice too.

Vernonia, Iron Weed.

Wow Jay. Thanks. That must be it although I don't detect an hairs. The name sounds a little familiar to me so I probably bought seed at Prairie Moon years ago. They don't list it any more. That's why I couldn't find it.

Mn wildflowers lists it as being in my area

I'm going to transplant some of it this fall into better surroundings.

Sorry, Jay, I pulled the clump and tossed it on tbe compost pile.

I first thought about p. grandidentata, after all bengs area is part of it's native range.

But what I've seen is the same as what the U of M describes.

' The bark on bigtooth aspen a green-gray and smooth, turning white-grayish and becoming furrowed with flat scaly ridges as it matures.'

https://trees.umn.edu/bigtooth-aspen-populus-grandidentata

So there must be geograhical differences?

For future reference hostas never have rough leaves. And Pulmonarias never have smooth.

Mirabilis jalapa is aka Marvel of Peru.

It has held very well! I think I need to get some and hope it holds as well against my invasives.

Awesome photos in this thread! Enjoying! :-)

Buds started popping this week. Looks like Aster!

Douglas' Aster, Symphyotrichum subspicatum?

Thanks, fig, Sericea lespedeza seems to be correct. I seriously doubt it was planted as extensively as it was growing, so it prb'ly is spreading alot on its own.

Hmm, I was pretty sure the white flower was emerging from the center of the grass-clump, but now I see that it wasn't.

Maybe Indian Grass, Sorghastrum nutans? The orchid is Lady's Tresses a species of Spiranthes.

Update. Plant #2 is not looking like Great Blue Lobelia. It is now 6-7, tall. A crushed leaf has an aromatic, citrusy smell. Heterotheca subaxillaris ??

It looks like Heterotheca subaxillaris.

Sicyos angulatus, Cucurbitaceae

The first photo looks like either a Clematis or maybe a Smilax. It would help to show a whole entire leaf and pan out a bit If it were a Clematis then the tepals would already fallen off. The flowers don't really resemble Smilax flowers either.

The 2nd photo is Canada Moonseed Vine, Menispermum canadense.

There's also another Wild Cucumber in Michigan, Echinosystis lobata. I could've have sworn you posted a photo of it?

Helianthus pauciflorus and Schizachyrium scoparium.

Echinosystis lobata

So looking again the top photo in the 2nd set of photos those flowers look exactly like Canada Moonseed Vine flowers but the leaves in the photo don't match the flowers?

I think you have hit on the main issue with ID'ing some of the flowers in these photos.

There appears to be more than one species of foliage in several of them.

So, for the purpose of ID, which foliage goes with which flower?

Or, which foliage can be ignored in the process of ID'ing the flower.

It appears that what I thought was Sicyos angulatus is actually Menispermum canadense (photos of those flowers were taken in June). [I see that its ripe fruit looks almost identical to some wild grape species and is classified as poisonous or toxic]. It's just a coincidence that I caught Sicyos angulatus in bloom, I've never seen or photographed the flowers before.

And yes, I have seen Echinosystis lobata, it actually grows in this same general area and I think some of its foliage can be seen in my original posted photo earlier. It is much more prolific.

Thanks for helping sort out this kind of complicated flowery problem!

"spread somewhat invasively year after year" is what made me guess Helianthus tuberosus. It is a serious spreader/invasive and being perennial, returns year after year.

Both H. tuberosus and H. annuus share a very similar appearance so easily visually mistaken for each other.

I think it's Helianthus anuus. The leaves seem loi large for H. tuberosum. It's annual so it only apprears to be agressive because without deadheading they will be all over the place. The First Peoples to enter the continent selectively bred this annual species of sunflower to produce larger seeds over a period of hundreds or thousands of years. Technically speaking I would say any species in the genus Helianthus is a sunflower. Many other genera in the sunflower family Asteraceae which have yellow ray petals and disk flowers are also called some type of sunflower in their common names. The name Helianthus comes from helios meaning sun, and anthos meaning flower. Sun+flower. You can check the involucre to verify.

Heianthus tuberosa , Jerusalem Artichoke

Helianthus anuus, Annual Sunflower.