When these leafy rosettes showed up last May, I knew they looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure why. They came up where I had planted butterfly weed seeds, so could that be it? Or maybe even milkweed? Then I remembered they look familiar because I get them every year and always forget what they are. Meanwhile, they kept get taller and taller, taller than me. I have to look up at the bright yellow flowers on the top rosettes. And now that they’re finally flowering, I know what it is.
It’s Evening primrose, Oenothera biennis. They flower in the evening, lasting until the next morning. Since I haven’t seen any bees on them, I was all ready to cut them down, but then I read that goldfinches eat their seeds. And that they attract beneficial insects because so many pests feed on them. And they are pollinated by sphinx moths and hummingbird moths. I did see a very strange looking moth this morning.
Now I have to go moth hunting.
Writing Every Day 