Climbing False Buckwheat

Climbing False Buckwheat
Polygonum scandens

This is a fun plant, easy to identify in mid to late summer when the vines send up bunches of inflorescences.  While pretty, it can be somewhat invasive, climbing all over everything in its path.

Like a sleeping child, one leaf and an inflorescence look so innocent.

The vines will twine around everything in your garden.

Cinnamon Fern

Cinnamon Fern
Osmunda cinnamomea

I tend to avoid selecting "favorite" things, such as a favorite color, favorite duck, favorite butterfly, etc. because they're all good and I don't want to make any of them feel bad.  However, at the risk of upsetting the other ferns, I'll go ahead and call this my favorite.

It is one of the largest ferns and when you are wading through a forest of them it feels like you are in a bygone era.  There is quite a stand of them in my woods behind my house.  The cinnamon colored fertile leaf makes it easy to identify.

A peculiar thing about Cinnamon Fern and most ferns is that not much eats them.  Their leaves tend to stay whole and nice looking during the summer, much like garlic mustard.  Given that they are native plants that have been around for millions of years, you'd think that there would be a host of critters feeding on them, but there are not.

People often eat the fiddleheads of ferns, so why don't deer?  I've spent some time trying to learn why not, but can't find any particular research paper that answers this question.  If anyone know why, please respond in the comments.  Otherwise, this would be an interesting research topic.

Fiddleheads
These don't look all that yummy to me, so maybe it's other species that people eat.

The fertile leaf, which gives Cinnamon Fern it's name

Carpenter's Square

 

Carpenter's Square
Scrophularia marilandica

What's in a name.  You can spend a lot of time searching out the meaning of plant names, and get a history lesson at the same time.  Other names for Carpenter's Square are Maryland Figwort and Late Figwort

    Scrophularia - Scrofula is a type of tuberculosis and this plant was used as an herbal medicine for this disease.

    marilandica - There are 5 plant species in Indiana with the species name of marilandica.  Presumably these plants were first found in Maryland.

    Carpenter's Square - Due to its square stem.  No one seems to know why this plant garnered its name since there are a lot of species with square stems.

    Late Figwort - Amazingly enough, there is another Figwort in Indiana labeled Early Figwort (Scrophularia lanceolata)

Square stem!

This is a fairly tall plant.  The flowers are showy, but cooling looking when viewed up close.

Canadian Anemone

Canadian Anemone
Anemone canadensis

This plant is a bit of a dilemma for native plant enthusiasts.  While being native, it can also be aggressive and take over a garden, literally called an invasive native plant by some.

It's actually quite striking when you see a bunch of it in flower.  Gardening web pages suggest using it as a ground cover, perhaps under a shady tree or shrub.  Definitely not a good plant in a flower garden, unless that's the only flower you want.