Fall Wildflowers

An Autumn Day

by

Carmen Lagos Signes

"Pumpkins in the cornfields

Gold among the brown,

Leaves of rust and scarlet

Trembling slowly down,

Birds that travel southward

Lovely time to play, 

Nothing is as pleasant

As an Autumn Day."

Yes, as the poem says, "Nothing is as pleasant as an Autumn Day."  

Fall is such a pretty time of year here in Tallahassee with so many wildflowers blooming everywhere.  They seem to appear so suddenly and in so many different varieties and colors, all blooming at the same time.

I often drive by this church in the below photo on the way home.  But, as I was driving by yesterday I spotted a huge cluster of these beautiful wildflowers blooming way out front in the wooded area by the church.  The blue flower is what first caught my eye.

This is a little wildflower called a Blue Mistflower.  

They grow in large clusters in sunny areas with damp soil.

The beautiful color and long blooming season of the Blue Mistflower makes it stand out during the Fall blooming season.  It is a plant for home gardens if you have room for it to spread as it has a tendency to do.

Not too far away from the pretty blue wild flowers,  I spotted  this cluster of bright yellow flowers.  These flowers are called Wild Golden Asters.  These plants with their small daisy-like yellow flowers, are everywhere around Tallahassee in the Fall.

Also located in the same wildflower patch was this pretty white collection of tiny blossoms all clustered together in one plant.  This white-flowered plant was dotted all over and mixed in with all the other flowers.   I was unable to find a name for this pretty little plant.  

The flower in the below photo is what is called a Blazing Star, Slender Gayfeather.  Quite a long name for such a small little flower.  These flowers grow in long stalks and bend over with their own weight.

As I continued on my journey home I noticed Goldenrod blooming in every possible wooded spot where it had room to grow.  There were so many beautiful patches all along the route home, but the traffic made it difficult to stop and get a good photo.

When I arrived at a safe location I was able to stop the car,

 get out and get a couple of photos of this beautiful yellow wildflower.

Goldenrod grows tall in large clusters in sunny locations.  I love to see this beautiful happy looking plant blooming in the sunny wooded areas all around town at this time of year.

According to what I can find out, Goldenrod can grow as far North as Zone 2 and as far South as Zone 8.

While I was trying to get a photo of the pretty Goldenrod flowers 

I looked down and spotted this small toadstool or mushroom growing in the grass.

This is such a cute little plant.

It is not unusual to see large numbers of insects around Goldenrod.  According to Mr. Google the bees, wasps and butterflies are busy harvesting nectar from the plant.

Growing not too far from the Goldenrod were huge clusters of these 

pretty yellow wild Sunflowers.

  These bright yellow wildflowers were growing everywhere in the sunny wooded areas.

In the past, over the years, I have picked hands full of these pretty yellow wild Sunflowers to use inside for a very pretty Fall bouquet.  They stay fresh for many days after placing them in a vase of water.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the pretty wildflowers growing here in Tallahassee.  Thank you for visiting and please do join us again anytime.  

Wishing you many blessings wherever you may be!