Mid September is late in the season for wild flowers. Those that come in bloom during the second half of summer often linger as the warmth wanes and finally succumb to the frost.
Though the species are wide and variable, three stand out as most common: sunflowers (including black-eyed susans and coneflowers), goldenrods and asters.
The approximately 10 kinds of asters are tall with rays of white and purple. The others, sunflowers and goldenrods, are nearly completely yellow.
Whites, purples and reds may be seen in a few other kinds, but yellow colors now prevail in the fields and roadsides.
We tend to notice the taller ones or the ones most abundant, but many others thrive here, too. Due to the shade from leafy trees, flowering plants that are still blooming are out in the open sites where they can get plenty of needed sunlight.
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This often includes the sides of roads and streets, but plots of land along edges of parking lots and walking trails are also made use of by these opportunistic plants.
One of these low-growers that quickly spreads in such situations is birdsfoot trefoil. Though the flower is not clustered as seen in clovers or alfalfa, the trefoil is a member of the clover family (often called the pea family or legumes).
The leaves, grouped in threes, are similar to many others in this family even if the flowers appear to be different.
The rather strange name of birdsfoot refers to the arrangement of the long and straight seed pods. All are attached to a single part of the plant stem and with a little imagination, they look like toes of a bird's foot.
By this time of September, the clusters of flowers are finished blooming for the season. A few yellows still can be seen around the thick leafy growths, but it is the toe-like brown pods of seeds that are the easiest to see.
Birdsfoot trefoil is not native to the Northland, but has been brought here for a couple of reasons. Since it grows fast and spreads out over any available land, it has been planted as a roadside control of erosion. Indeed, plants often reach out onto the nearby pavement.
As often happens with non-native plants, they frequently flourish in such sites and quickly establish themselves. This same ability of spreading out to hold soil down, also means that they may take the place of some native plants. Like other legumes, they have bacteria nodules on the roots that reinvigorate the soil.
The season is moving on and along with the shorter days, we will be getting colder. Frost is coming soon. During these days, the birdsfoot trefoils will lose the last of their yellow flowers, form seeds and fade. But for now, we can still see plenty along the roadsides.
