Central PA Wildflower ID
 

What is the name of the blue / white / lavender colored wildflowers
growing along the roadsides currently in central PA. A couple of us
at work had heard them called "Phlox", but they don't look like the
Phlox in my wildflower book and I can't find anything else that
matches them.

The plants are about 18-24" tall. The flowers have 4 petals in
cruciate shape, and are maybe 3/4" in diamter. The flowers are in
clusters at the top of the stems. The leaves are narrow and
elongated.

I don't have any place to post a photo or I would, BUT anybody who
lives in central PA will know the flowers I'm talking about because
they're all over the place right now.


RWL

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Veronica?


"RWL" GeoLane_NOSPAM_ @evenlink.com wrote in message
...


What is the name of the blue / white / lavender colored wildflowers
growing along the roadsides currently in central PA. A couple of us
at work had heard them called "Phlox", but they don't look like the
Phlox in my wildflower book and I can't find anything else that
matches them.

The plants are about 18-24" tall. The flowers have 4 petals in
cruciate shape, and are maybe 3/4" in diamter. The flowers are in
clusters at the top of the stems. The leaves are narrow and
elongated.

I don't have any place to post a photo or I would, BUT anybody who
lives in central PA will know the flowers I'm talking about because
they're all over the place right now.


RWL

******* Recreate gaps in email address to reply *******

RWL wrote:
What is the name of the blue / white / lavender colored wildflowers
growing along the roadsides currently in central PA. A couple of us
at work had heard them called "Phlox", but they don't look like the
Phlox in my wildflower book and I can't find anything else that
matches them.

The plants are about 18-24" tall. The flowers have 4 petals in
cruciate shape, and are maybe 3/4" in diamter. The flowers are in
clusters at the top of the stems. The leaves are narrow and
elongated.

I don't have any place to post a photo or I would, BUT anybody who
lives in central PA will know the flowers I'm talking about because
they're all over the place right now.


RWL

******* Recreate gaps in email address to reply *******

Post a pic to alt.binaries.pictures.gardens.

--

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5

Sounds like Dame's Rocket:
http://www.wiseacre-gardens.com/plan...mesrocket.html

Sue

--

Zone 6, South-central PA

"RWL" GeoLane_NOSPAM_ @evenlink.com wrote in message
...


What is the name of the blue / white / lavender colored wildflowers
growing along the roadsides currently in central PA. A couple of us
at work had heard them called "Phlox", but they don't look like the
Phlox in my wildflower book and I can't find anything else that
matches them.

The plants are about 18-24" tall. The flowers have 4 petals in
cruciate shape, and are maybe 3/4" in diamter. The flowers are in
clusters at the top of the stems. The leaves are narrow and
elongated.

I don't have any place to post a photo or I would, BUT anybody who
lives in central PA will know the flowers I'm talking about because
they're all over the place right now.


RWL

******* Recreate gaps in email address to reply *******

RWL said:

What is the name of the blue / white / lavender colored wildflowers
growing along the roadsides currently in central PA. A couple of us
at work had heard them called "Phlox", but they don't look like the
Phlox in my wildflower book and I can't find anything else that
matches them.

The plants are about 18-24" tall. The flowers have 4 petals in
cruciate shape, and are maybe 3/4" in diamter. The flowers are in
clusters at the top of the stems. The leaves are narrow and
elongated.

I agree with Sue/SugarChile: sounds like Dame's Rocket (Hesperis
matronalis), a non-native (but widely spread) plant in the cabbage family.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

What is the name of the blue / white / lavender colored wildflowers
growing along the roadsides currently in central PA. A couple of us
at work had heard them called "Phlox", but they don't look like the
Phlox in my wildflower book

..........snip..........

I agree with Sue/SugarChile: sounds like Dame's Rocket (Hesperis
matronalis), a non-native (but widely spread) plant in the cabbage family.

Dame's Rocket (Hesperis matronalis) it is! Thanks. I went back and
looked for the name in my wildflower books, but only one - the little
paper back guide even had the name. The drawing in that book was ok,
but it had it classified as a white flower, and most of the ones
around here are blue, so I missed it. The description does mention
that it's sometimes incorrectly identified as Phlox, which explains
why some of us had heard it referred to as Phlox.

Thanks for all who responded
******* Recreate gaps in email address to reply *******

"RWL" GeoLane_NOSPAM_ @evenlink.com wrote in message
...

What is the name of the blue / white / lavender colored wildflowers
growing along the roadsides currently in central PA.

One of the things I miss about eastern PA - the roadside flowers. State
Transportation doesn't actually plant them, do they? Here in HI they've
actually taken to poisoning roadside grass for fear of the dry-heat leading
to wild fires : (

On Mon, 6 Jun 2005 11:12:23 -1000, "Mike"
wrote:


"RWL" GeoLane_NOSPAM_ @evenlink.com wrote in message
.. .

What is the name of the blue / white / lavender colored wildflowers
growing along the roadsides currently in central PA.

One of the things I miss about eastern PA - the roadside flowers. State
Transportation doesn't actually plant them, do they?

Not most of the widlflowers. There are areas of divided highways
where PenDOT has planted wildflowers in the median. Where they've
done this, there's a nice colorful mixture early, which later is
dominated by Cosmos. In subsequent years only the purple coneflowers
seem to return. I went down the strip of Rt 15 south of Selinsgrove
today where they've done this in years past, but I didn't notice if
anything was growing in the median besides grass this year.

RWL


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The difference between Dame's Rocket and Phlox is the # of petals -- DR has
4 and P has 5; and bloom time -- P is a later bloomer and DR blooms in
spring. Also, DR is not a good plant, as it self-seeds prolifically and is
highly invasive, which is probably why you're seeing it all along the
roadways. More info on it's invasive nature from the USDA:
http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/topic...i&symbol=HEMA3

Suzy O, Zone 5, Wisconsi
"RWL" GeoLane_NOSPAM_ @evenlink.com wrote in message
...

What is the name of the blue / white / lavender colored wildflowers
growing along the roadsides currently in central PA. A couple of us
at work had heard them called "Phlox", but they don't look like the
Phlox in my wildflower book

.........snip..........

I agree with Sue/SugarChile: sounds like Dame's Rocket (Hesperis
matronalis), a non-native (but widely spread) plant in the cabbage
family.

Dame's Rocket (Hesperis matronalis) it is! Thanks. I went back and
looked for the name in my wildflower books, but only one - the little
paper back guide even had the name. The drawing in that book was ok,
but it had it classified as a white flower, and most of the ones
around here are blue, so I missed it. The description does mention
that it's sometimes incorrectly identified as Phlox, which explains
why some of us had heard it referred to as Phlox.

Thanks for all who responded
******* Recreate gaps in email address to reply *******

"RWL" GeoLane_NOSPAM_ @evenlink.com wrote in message
...
There are areas of divided highways
where PenDOT has planted wildflowers in the median. Where they've
done this, there's a nice colorful mixture early, which later is
dominated by Cosmos. In subsequent years only the purple coneflowers
seem to return. I went down the strip of Rt 15 south of Selinsgrove
today where they've done this in years past, but I didn't notice if
anything was growing in the median besides grass this year.

I've lived in several states and PA does seem to be distinct in this way. I
spent a week in West Texas and that is the only place that approaches PA.

On the to do list over my recent vacation was to initiate a frivolous
lawsuit against a government agency. It was to read Me vs. Hawaii state
Dept of Transportation. Je Accuse the director of phytocide. Never quite
got around to it.