This has been and is yet a great season for wild flowers; oceans of them
line the roads through the woods, border the edges of the water-runlets,
grow all along the old fences, and are scatter'd in profusion over the
fields. An eight-petal'd blossom of gold-yellow, clear and bright, with
a brown tuft in the middle, nearly as large as a silver half-dollar, is
very common; yesterday on a long drive I noticed it thickly lining the
borders of the brooks everywhere. Then there is a beautiful weed cover'd
with blue flowers, (the blue of the old Chinese teacups treasur'd by our
grand-aunts,) I am continually stopping to admire--a little larger than
a dime, and very plentiful. White, however, is the prevailing color. The
wild carrot I have spoken of; also the fragrant life-everlasting. But
there are all hues and beauties, especially on the frequent tracts of
half-opened scrub-oak and dwarf cedar hereabout--wild asters of all
colors. Notwithstanding the frost-touch the hardy little chaps maintain
themselves in all their bloom. The tree-leaves, too, some of them are
beginning to turn yellow or drab or dull green. The deep wine-color of
the sumachs and gum-treesis already visible, and the straw-color of the
dog-wood and beech. Let me give the names of some of these perennial
blossoms and friendly weeds I have made acquaintance with hereabout one
season or another in my walks:
Wild azalea, dandelions wild honeysuckle, yarrow, wild roses, coreopsis,
golden rod, wild pea, larkspur, woodbine, early crocus, elderberry,
sweet flag, (great patches of it,) poke-weed, creeper, trumpet-flower,
sun-flower, scented marjoram, chamomile, snakeroot, violets, Solomon's
seal, clematis, sweet balm, bloodroot mint, (great plenty,) swamp
magnolia, wild geranium, milk-weed, wild heliotrope, wild daisy,
(plenty,) burdock, wild chrysanthemum.