Photos from a botanical garden in Asheville, NC
We went to a botanical garden in Asheville thinking we would see interesting plants from around the world but it turned out to be a 4 acre native wild plant garden which didn't disappoint. It was adjacent to and below the UNC Asheville campus along a stream bed so it was a quiet and secluded haven for the surprisingly few birds and insects that inhabitated the place. We saw only one other person during our two hour visit.
I will add the names of the plants I know at a later time.
click photos to enlarge.
Appalachian Brown butterfly. Thanks Entangled for the ID.
Lobelia cardinalis
Common Name: cardinal flower
Polygonatum pubescens? biflora? Solomon's Seal
False Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum racemosum. Thanks Entangled.
An uplifted boulder with tortuously folded layers.
Scutellaria incarnata, Downy Skullcap, mint family. Took a picture of the sign so that's how I know what it is.
Boneset, Eupatorium perfoliatum? A white Joe Pye weed? Eupatorium sessilifolium?
Ironweed (Verbena noveboracensis). Thanks Entangled.
This well camouflaged cicada doesn't look like the same race as the ones currently in NJ. This one looks greener with light eyes. Ours are almost black with dark eyes.
The two photos above are of the Box Elder Bug nymphs and adults mating, Boisea trivittata. These show more orange color than the photos I've seen of the bug so it may be a different species?
Impatiens capensis, common jewelweed or touch-me-not. Supposedly an antidote for poison ivy exposure.
White Wood Aster, Eurybia divaricata
Strawberry-bush, Euonymus americanus, Bittersweet family. Thanks again Entangled. It is amazing that you knew what this was. I took a picture of the sign so I knew what it was. The skin of the fruit looks somewhat like the covering of the lychee tropical fruit.
Passiflora incarnata? (Entangled), Passionflower. I have no idea what kind of passionflower this is. They had several plants in different locations throughout the gardens.
This was an interesting plant not in the botanical gardens itself but planted along the borders of the parking lot. It looks like it could be some kind of yucca.
Thanks to Annie in Austin the plant has been identified as Eryngium yuccifolium, commonly named Wild Rattlesnake Master, Button Snakeroot, or Button Eryngo. Eryngium = sea holly and yuccifolium = yucca like leaves. It is a native wildflower and is listed as threatened or endangered by the U.S. federal government or state governments. It has been extirpated in some states. Here's a site that has interesting information on the plant and even sells seeds for $2.50 a packet.
The above two pictures are from the border of the parking lot too. I have no idea what it is but it looked interesting and was very showy.
Another passionflower.
We have this grass growing in many places in our yard. At one time I thought we should plant it as a small ornamental grass but the tips became discolored as it aged and looked pretty bad by the end of the summer. I always wanted to know what it was so I took a picture of it with the tag.
I will add the names of the plants I know at a later time.
click photos to enlarge.
Appalachian Brown butterfly. Thanks Entangled for the ID.
Lobelia cardinalis
Common Name: cardinal flower
Polygonatum pubescens? biflora? Solomon's Seal
False Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum racemosum. Thanks Entangled.
An uplifted boulder with tortuously folded layers.
Scutellaria incarnata, Downy Skullcap, mint family. Took a picture of the sign so that's how I know what it is.
Boneset, Eupatorium perfoliatum? A white Joe Pye weed? Eupatorium sessilifolium?
Ironweed (Verbena noveboracensis). Thanks Entangled.
This well camouflaged cicada doesn't look like the same race as the ones currently in NJ. This one looks greener with light eyes. Ours are almost black with dark eyes.
The two photos above are of the Box Elder Bug nymphs and adults mating, Boisea trivittata. These show more orange color than the photos I've seen of the bug so it may be a different species?
Impatiens capensis, common jewelweed or touch-me-not. Supposedly an antidote for poison ivy exposure.
White Wood Aster, Eurybia divaricata
Strawberry-bush, Euonymus americanus, Bittersweet family. Thanks again Entangled. It is amazing that you knew what this was. I took a picture of the sign so I knew what it was. The skin of the fruit looks somewhat like the covering of the lychee tropical fruit.
Passiflora incarnata? (Entangled), Passionflower. I have no idea what kind of passionflower this is. They had several plants in different locations throughout the gardens.
This was an interesting plant not in the botanical gardens itself but planted along the borders of the parking lot. It looks like it could be some kind of yucca.
Thanks to Annie in Austin the plant has been identified as Eryngium yuccifolium, commonly named Wild Rattlesnake Master, Button Snakeroot, or Button Eryngo. Eryngium = sea holly and yuccifolium = yucca like leaves. It is a native wildflower and is listed as threatened or endangered by the U.S. federal government or state governments. It has been extirpated in some states. Here's a site that has interesting information on the plant and even sells seeds for $2.50 a packet.
The above two pictures are from the border of the parking lot too. I have no idea what it is but it looked interesting and was very showy.
Another passionflower.
We have this grass growing in many places in our yard. At one time I thought we should plant it as a small ornamental grass but the tips became discolored as it aged and looked pretty bad by the end of the summer. I always wanted to know what it was so I took a picture of it with the tag.
posted by Ki at
4:20 AM
13 Comments:
What a woodsy botanical garden. Very different from the San Antonio Botanical Garden I recently visited.
Hi Pam,
The garden was surprisingly lush. This was an unusual year for Asheville with temps in the 90's and struggling through a mini drought.
I visited the Austin botanical gardens about 10 years ago and it was pretty interesting and woodsy too. I should have made the trek down to SA but opted not to because I was getting tired of traveling which was a mistake in retrospect. I have no idea what the town looks like nor the topology or climate. I would think it is sort of desert but since it's the same longitude as Austin it may still be hilly?
Ki, if you haven't identified these already, here are the ones I know.
Top: Appalachian Brown butterfly
2nd: Lobelia cardinalis
3rd: Solomon's Seal berries?
5th: False Solomon's Seal berries?
8th: Some type of Eupatorium
9th: Ironweed
I lost count but the orange flower is a jewelweed, and the third one below that is a Euonymus americana fruit about to become otherworldly and tropical-looking.
And I assume the passionflower is Passiflora incarnata?
Thanks Entangled. It's amazing that you knew what the straberry-bush was. The false solomon's seal looked familiar but I didn't know the name and I thought the ironweed was a joe pye. For wildflowers ID, I have to rely heavily on my little Wildflowers in Color book by Arthur Stupka. We bought the book many years ago when we visited the Blue Ridge Parkway and it has been an invaluable introduction to wildflowers.
Ki, I have that same well-worn book - dragged along on many a vacation but it's not helping me when looking at your Ashville flowers. Entangled did great on the ID's!
We have a couple of native-type Scuttelarias here - they're such tidy plants that they easily fit into gardens.
The flowers on the yucca-like parking lot flower have a shape similar to Antelope Horns, a kind of Milkweed/Asclepias. It's an odd looking plant. I've only seen photos of Eryngium yuccifolium, Rattlesnake master but it's a possiblity: Erygium yuccifolium on Missouri database.
You do like to give us puzzles, Ki!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
PS On that sign-in thing. If the box doesn't recognize you when you start to comment, the first set of letters seems to confirm who you are... then it takes another set of recognition letters to allow the comment. It happens a lot on my first comment during a session.
Wow Annie, You are amazing! I believe you identified the yucca like plant. I would have never guess it was an Eryngium. Here's a site that has lots of useful information about the plant Eryngium yuccifolium Rattlesnake Master. They even sell seeds on the Easywildflower site - $2.50 per packet. Here's another site the EPA no less that lists the E. yuccifolium.
Apparently it's a native and is being used to restore prairies.
Unfortunately many of the plants didn't have name tags so they will remain mystery plants unless I stumble upon them in my online wanderings or looking through my botanical books.
I usually make sure I get confirmation that my comment has been recorded and needs owner acceptance before it appears on the site. For some reason I keep forgetting to do the word verification twice on your site. But it also happens on other sites though not as frequently. Thanks for the ID.
I am amazed at how Entangled and Annie could identify the plants. This was a beautiful garden ... I would have enjoyed walking through it.
Hi Kate,
Those two are the garden blogs ace plant identifiers. I'm sure you would have loved visiting the garden. I was amazed that so many things were in bloom in late summer. It was a quiet and secluded place. Almost like a secret garden. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Well, I have a secret advantage on IDing the strawberry-bush. I planted one in back of the house in northern Virginia, and a bunch of them are growing wild in the woods in central Virginia. They're very nondescript until the fruit capsules ripen. I think I'm going to have a good display from the planted one for the first time this year. Right now they look like this.
Nothing like having planted one right in your backyard to know what it is Entangled.
Now you've piqued my curiosity. I wondered why they named it a strawberry-bush. So I'm guessing that the fruit turns a bright red as it matures?
Great photos BTW.
I don't think it looks like a strawberry, but the outer part turns red and then opens to reveal 4 pendant bright red berries. Last year I posted a not-too-good photo, but as I remember it, something ate the berries not long after I took the picture.
Hi entangled,
The seed pod looks more incredible than I imagined. I also love the other photo taken from below with the ring around the open pod sections. I see that the photos were taken in early Oct. so I hope you will post more photos of your current plant.
The plants in the botanical garden had very few fruit. There weren't many plants around anyway but it seemed there was about only one fruit per plant! I hope the one in your garden is more productive.
Thanks for the photos. Loved your wild plant album.
The "boneset" is actually a JoePyeWeed, probably Eutrochium purpureum (listed in most manuals as Eupatorium purpureum). the white flowered plant from the border of the parking lot is Parthenium integrifolium. The picture just below common jewelweed is Smallanthus uvedalia (often listed as Polymnia uvedalia). All of these are members of the Asteraceae, or sunflower family.
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