There are a couple of late-summer flowering plants blooming profusely on roadsides and pastures throughout our county. One is a very common weed known as bitter weed or sneezeweed (Helenium amarum), a member of the Aster family. It is a warm season annual with abundant small, yellow flowers and very narrow leaves. Sneezeweed acquired its name for the use of the crushed dried leaves and heads to make a form of snuff that caused sneezing. Many of the flowering weeds are rather short along the roadways but these weeds can reach heights up to 20 inches. Sneezeweed usually blooms in the late summer with a strong smell. The bloomer grows in moist low areas, with a lengthy taproot in open habitats, throughout the eastern U.S. The plant is poisonous, especially to sheep, cattle and especially horses. This common weed has been developed into cultivars that are much showier than the weedy native sneezeweed.

Another flowering plant is an ornate vine coated with beautiful flowers cascading on trees and shrubs. The vine is sweet autumn clematis (Clematis paniculate or Clematis maximonowicziana). This is a vigorous vine related to spring blooming cultivated clematis. The sweet autumn vine is quite aggressive with twisting petioles and twining stems that quickly spread during the late summer months. You’ll never have to worry about replanting this fast-growing vine as many complain it can be invasive. There are cultivars of the native species available which are more compact and less aggressive and are perfect additions to many landscapes.

Darrell Blackwelder is the retired horticulture agent and director with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in Rowan County. Contact him at deblackw@ncsu.edu.