IRONWEED
Most of us in the northeast don’t get the chance to walk along country roads in mid to late August. If you are one of the lucky ones, you are likely to see a wild plant that looks a bit like a small thistle. Anywhere from two to four feet tall –and often even taller– the plant has a tough stem and alternate, elongated leaves that are up to four inches long. The stalks are topped by plump, scaly, oval-shaped buds, which open to fluffy purple flowers that look like double asters or very small mums. Despite the superficial resemblance and a family relationship, the plants are not thistles. They are Vernonia noveboracensis, a perennial most commonly known as New York ironweed.
Ironweed and its larger cousin, thistle, are part of the enormous Compositeae or daisy family, that is also home to garden blooms like sunflowers, cosmos and asters. Vernonia is a very large genus, with over one thousand species found in various places in the world. Vernonia noveboracensis grows wild from Massachusetts south to Florida and occasionally as far west as Ohio. The tough stem gives rise to the common name, but it is not nearly as hard on the hands as the spiny thistle stalk. The flowers are thistle colored–medium purple with just a touch of blue. If the common name sounds familiar, it is probably because novelist William Kennedy, a native of Albany, New York, gave the name “Ironweed” to a 1983 novel that won the Pulitzer prize and was eventually made into a movie with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. The protagonist was as tough as the plant, though perhaps not as beautiful.
The clumps of ironweed near our summer cottage in central New York State are abundant this year, as the spring was rainy and the roadsides and low areas stayed relatively moist, even through the dry days of July. There were plenty of flowers for picking, which I only do if they are growing in large numbers on our own property or by the road shoulders, where they are routinely lopped off by the state mowing equipment anyway. None of my gardening neighbors in central New York or in northern New Jersey would dream of growing ironweed in the garden. Like Queen Anne’s lace and wild chickory, beside which it is often found, ironweed is deemed by many to be too unkempt and unruly, prone to self-seeding and indiscriminate spreading. Still, it attracts pollinating insects and butterflies and would make an excellent addition to a “wild” garden or even a large cottage garden.
Though Vernonia noveboracensis is a native American, its genus name harkens back to an Englishman, William Vernon, who lived from 1667 to 1715. Interested in mosses and butterflies, Vernon was a member of a botany club that met regularly at a London coffee house for seventeen years beginning in 1689. Giving up coffee–at least for awhile–he visited the New World beginning in 1697, collecting plants in Maryland and elsewhere. Vernon must have made an impression in the world of botany, as the genus that bears his name is very large.
There are about thirty ironweed species native to the United States and parts of Canada. Tall ironweed, or Vernonia altissima, and giant ironweed, or Vernonia gigantea, grow to even greater heights than the New York species. A smaller species, Vernonia glauca, has broader leaves than many of its relatives and grows to a more compact three feet tall. All bear flowers that bloom in varying shades of purple.
For all its toughness, ease of culture and literary associations, ironweed does not seem to have attracted the attention of big plant merchandisers like Proven Winners, or hybridizers here or abroad. Maybe its time is yet to come and ironweed wil eventuallyl emerge as the next heuchera or coneflower.
You can sometimes find ironweed seeds or plants at local or online nurseries that specialize in native species. If you get your hands on some, grow them in relatively moist areas in full sun to very light shade. Provide extra water in dry weather. Happy ironweeds form clumps, which can b e divided if necessary. Watch for unwanted seedlings and pull them out to avoid having too much of a good thing.
Sources for New York ironweed are few and far between, but you can obtain plants from Niche Gardens, 1111 Dawson Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516; (919) 967-4026; www.nichegardens.com. Free catalog.
The neighborhood butterflies will sing your praises.