A tall second-year evening primrose with a branched, flower-heavy top. Plants like this can tip after a storm. Raaba-Grambach, Styria, Austria. Photo: Clemens Stockner, Wikimedia
Late May on an Ontario alvar: the shrubs are leafing out, but this little bluestem is still mostly last year’s tan stems. That’s normal for
Garden-grown blue mistflower with stems angling outward under the weight of their flower clusters. Photo: Kingdon, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) Your blue mistflower looked great
A young beautyberry in a mulched bed at Hearthstone Botanical Gardens, Suwannee County, Florida. In its first season, everything depends on what happens inside that
Open flowers and tight buds on the same plant. New England aster opens its buds over several weeks, not all at once. Photo: Randy A
A young spicebush in an open, sunny lawn with yellowing scattered through the canopy, Chadwick Arboretum, Ohio. Where the yellow shows up tells you where
A young blue mistflower in Arkansas. Note the paired, triangular, toothed leaves and the round, slightly fuzzy stem. Photo: PK2Morgan, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
A common evening primrose seedling with its first true leaves. Note the red flush at the center and on the leaf stalks. Private garden, Szczecin,
What you’re hoping for: drooping clusters of glossy black fruit at the shoot tips in late summer. Photo: Joanna Boisse, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Dry, curled leaves clinging to the lower stems while the top of the plant stays green and flowering. Quebec. Photo: Gilles Ayotte, Wikimedia Commons (CC
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