Ironweed

By Christine Tailer
HCP columnist

The leaves on the buckeye trees are beginning to yellow. They are the first to bud each spring and the first to remind us that fall is on its way. When a late summer breeze blows through the creek valley, a few of their leaves lose hold and fall to the ground.

I have given up on weeding my garden. All throughout the summer, it seems that it has rained every few days, and on those days that it hasn't rained, there has been a heavy dew. The weeds have thrived and this year's small garden looks a-shambles. Both of our hay fields sorely need to be cut. There is so much to do, but when I turn to look at the creek bank and forest edge, I have to smile. I realize that even though I could live without so much rain, and so many weeds, the valley’s wild flowers are loving this wetness. They are beautiful.

Black-eyed and yellow-eyed Susans nod their sunny heads as I pass by. Orange jewel weed, not usually found this late in the year, still flowers in abundance by the creek. Rain drops and morning dew sit like gems on their pointed leaves, and the towering purple Ironweed are strikingly colorful this year. Perhaps that is why now, after 23 years of creek valley life, the Ironweed have totally captured my heart.

Ironweed plants are tall, easily reaching several feet over my head, and I am six feet tall! On those seemingly rare days when the creek valley sky is bright blue, and not cloud covered or grey, I can look up to see the intense purple flower heads shining brilliantly against the sky. Their flowers bloom at the ends of multiple stems, and when I burry my nose in their purpleness, I realize that they smell faintly like newly cut hay. That might, however, just be my wishful thinking of getting our hay cut and baled.  

An ironweed flower head is actually made up of multiple loosely clustered, delicately feathered flowers, each no larger than a finger nail. Their color reminds me of the deep purple of royalty, to my mind giving the plant a truly regal appearance. I am always looking for whatever wild flowers the valley’s pollinators like to visit, and I am pleased to report that I often find butterflies fluttering among the flower clusters, and as one might guess, this towering plant’s main stem and roots are thick and strong, hence the name ironweed. It takes strength to support as many as 100 flower heads reaching for the sky.

I was curious to see if this regal weed had any beneficial uses, besides gracing the valley with its beauty. I learned that Native Americans brewed a bitter tasting medicinal tea out of the plant’s dried leaves and roots that they drank as a “blood tonic.” Now I can assure you I have no inclination to drink an ironweed blood tonic tea, though I do believe that I might cut off a few of the flower heads and bring them inside to brighten up our dinner table.

I also learned that Native Americans simmered the bright purple flowers until the water turned dark, and then added material to the pot and let it continuing simmering until the material reached the desired shade. This I might also try. How jolly it would be to wear an Ironweed purple shirt during the grey days of winter.

Yes indeed, my garden may well be a jungle of weeds, and the hay is certainly past good cutting, but this really is a beautiful time of year, thanks in part to the abundant rain and this towering purple beauty.

Christine Tailer is an attorney and former city dweller who moved several years ago, with her husband, Greg, to an off-grid farm in south-central Ohio. Visit them on the web at straightcreekvalleyfarm.com.