Shrub ID: Rhododendron maximum (rosebay rhododendron)

I'm pretty sure this is Rhododendron maximum, the North American native rosebay rhododendron.
A broad-leaved evergreen, the rosebay rhodie is a big open shrub that can get 15' for sure, if not 30' over the course of it's lifetime for us down here in a Zone 6b or 7a. These guys are hardy to USDA Zone 3, which means well into Canada, where the species is apparently from. They usually bloom earlier, in June, but perhaps this guy was a new planting and therefore blooming a bit later. In any event, big fabulous clusters of white flowers are tinged with pink and yellow.
This guy is obviously just a youngster, weighing in at only 6-7' high and wide, but you can see the open habit and love for high shade or a little bit of sun through the canopy.

Shrub ID: Sambucus canadensis (American elderberry)

This is a beautiful native shrub (from Canada, introduced in 1761) I saw on a walk through the woods the other day. It's name is Sambucus canadensis, or American elderberry. You can see the bees love the flower, and in the fall the dark purple fruit attract the birds. The fruit is high in Vitamin C and popular for pies, jelly, juices, and wines. The shrub grows 8'-12' high and wide according to most, but because of it's more unkempt growth habit you want it to have some space.
These awesome flower clusters are called cymes, which basically means they are a group of tiny, solitary flowers that form a flat-topped blossom, in this case slightly domed. The picture below is a bit blurry but you can see better the pinnately compound leaves that make up the body of the shrub. Each grouping of 7 leaflets you count is actually considered a single leaf. Botanists identify leaves by finding their buds. Each leaf has a bud at it's base, so if the leaf is destroyed the plant can make a new leaf from that same node on the stem. I don't have a close-up, but if I photographed the main, central stem in the photo below you would see that the leaf buds are there in the center, at the base of the leaf stalks (petioles) going left and right, and at the base of the leaflets there is nothing but the petiolule, or leaflet stalk, sans bud. Hence we can say that it is a compound leaf, comprised of 7 leaflets.
Again, not the greatest shots but a valuable woodland shrub for Zone 4-9.

Plant ID: Panicum clandestinum (deer tongue grass)

This is a woodland plant that really speaks to me. When most people look into the woods I find that they just see green, and don't recognize or know the different species that make up these wonderfully diverse ecosystems. Yeah, you know, you got some trees, a couple shrubby things, and then all these other plants, but they don't really flower, aren't they all just weeds?!? Oh, how wrong people can be. My hope is to post and ID some native and non-native woodland plants to further expand my own plant palette and also to introduce to you some of the great things you can find here in the northeastern US. Except for ferns, conifers, and various mosses, rushes, and lichens, all other plants tend to be angiosperms which means they do flower and set seed or fruit at some point in their life cycle. The catch is that our eye is often untrained so we think we aren't looking at anything special. But I assure you, if you look closely enough you will find that all plants deserve merit.
This wide-leafed grass is called deer tongue grass, or Panicum clandestinum. Usually I am not a big fan of common names but this one I love, as you'd imagine because the foliage is thought to resemble a deer's tongue.
A North American native, this clumping grass only stands a couple feet tall but is a great textural addition to a woodsy setting. Even though it prefers a damp soil with good drainage I'm told it does alright in drier conditions too.
Above you can see the loose inflorescence of flowers that is light and airy and blooms in summer. Supposedly it holds it's nice stiff foliage into winter so I am anxious to see how it holds up through the seasons.

back to the dirt

I realized the other day I haven't taken a botanical photograph in ages. For a while work had me behind a desk but recently I was able to make a great change and get back to the dirt. Having survived the first week I relished in the option to sleep in this morning, even though I was still up by 8:30. A little sore but so much happier as I sit here sipping cup number two. The other day I was working on a slope and people kept asking what the tall perennial flower was down at the edge in the dappled mid-September sun. "It's just so beautiful", they would gawk.

Japanese anemone (Anemone x hybrida) is a plant worth knowing about if you don't already. In sun or dappled shade these upright herbaceous perennials can get to about 3' or 4' tall and flowering by late summer or early fall. Most anemones bloom much earlier in spring, like Anemone canadensis and other native species of this large genus within the Ranunculaceae family. One of the common names you hear for many anemones is windflower, which likely derives from "anemos", the Greek word for wind (Flora, 2004). In all their forms anemones are a excellent woodland plant, loving organic-rich soil and good drainage and a good chunk of sun. Discover them emerging from the leaf litter in early spring before everything else comes to life, or enjoy the later Japanese anemone, with all of its cultivars, while we welcome the cooler temperatures and the changing of the seasons. Someday I will have them in my woodland garden and you can all come over and visit.
Hepatica acutiloba I thought was now considered Anemone acutiloba, but perhaps not. Whatever. Cool plants. Check 'em out. I need a shower.