Greensboro Birds

Happy offers a sense of scale for a giant blooming tickseed plant

Garden purists, avert your eyes. The rest of you, please enjoy this explosion of yellow courtesy of the tickseed we’ve allowed to go crazy in the garden. Some are nearly six feet tall! According to my fantastic new field guide, Wildflowers of North Carolina, there are 12 species of tickseed in our area, and it’s also known as bur marigold. I can tell you from witnessing it that goldfinches go for the flower heads once they’ve gone to seed a bit.

The first tickseed to bloom; that's knotweed (aka pinkweed) in front of it

Tickseed is a member of the aster family, and it blooms in the fall. Yesterday Josh and I took a drive around the local country roads, and we enjoyed seeing vast meadows of blooming tickseed, Joe Pye weed, and goldenrod. People think of tickseed as a weed, but a weed this tough and gorgeous deserves a place in anyone’s garden.

Skippers are one of several butterflies that enjoy tickseed blossoms

In the morning, before the sun is high overhead, I enjoy having coffee on the Adirondack bench next to the tickseed so I can watch the many butterflies and bees that feast on its blooms. I’ve watched skippers, fritillaries, monarchs, swallowtails, buckeyes, and other butterflies at just this one large plant.

I’m not sure what kind of butterfly this is, but MC says in the comments that this is an American Painted Lady (aka American Lady). According to this handy post on The Firefly Forest, they enjoy feeding on asters. That explains why there are always quite a few on the tickseed.

There’s a berm in the middle of our sloping yard that directs rainwater to the side and down to the dry creek. I don’t mow this area because the tickseed and other wildflowers like to grow here. It’s a nice way to break up the expanse and to bring color into the yard. The neighbors think we’re weird to cultivate what they call “ditch weeds,” but they aren’t paying our mortgage, so whatevs.

See the tickseed in the berm up the hill?

We give space to lots of local “weeds,” including pokeweed, lamb’s quarter, knotweed (aka pinkweed), burnweed, and—until we discovered what is was and yanked it all out—ragweed. Oops! My fall hayfever enjoyed that! Thanks to Wildflowers of North Carolina for helping me ID the ragweed and everything else.

Tickseed fills in the blank space behind the "intentional" garden

Josh wanted me to show some of our intentional gardening efforts, probably because he’s responsible for pretty much every nonweed in the garden. He supervises a garden center and typically brings home a plant or three every couple days. My job is to find a spot for them. Thankfully, he enjoys the free plants, like the tickseed, as much as I do.