AN OVERGROWN MEADOW IN OCTOBER

     In mid-October of this year, I visited an abandoned, overgrown meadow in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania farmland to enjoy the wild plants and animals flourishing there.  I had been in that same bottomland pasture early in September when several patches of five-foot tall ironweed plants sported thousands of hot-pink blooms and four-foot high Canada goldenrods had innumerable tiny, yellow blossoms.  Both those species of plants were nestled in patches of tall reed-canary grass.  And many bees, beautiful butterflies, digger wasps and other kinds of interesting insects visited ironweed and goldeneye flowers to sip nectar, pollinating those blooms in the process.  

     But in mid-October, only clumps of asters with small, white blossoms and patches of another kind of aster with lovely, pale-lavender flowers were blooming in abundance in that overgrown meadow.  Again, several species of insects, including pearl crescent butterflies and yellow cloudless sulphur butterflies visited those aster flowers in abundance to ingest nectar and pollen.  Pearl crescents are often common around aster blooms because they ate aster leaves when they were caterpillars and asters are about the last big source of nectar left in Lancaster County farmland in autumn.  All those insect species add more interest to deserted pastures in fall.        

     However, the abundant ironweed and goldenrod blossoms, and the blooms of other flowering plants had gone to seed by the middle of October.  But their seed heads were just attractive and intriguing as their flowers were.  

     Goldenrod fluff was light-beige and especially pretty with sunlight behind it.  But ironweed dead flower heads were more abundant in that overgrown meadow than all the other dried flower heads combined.  Those heads had lovely, light-brown fluff that was more attractive when highlighted by sunlight behind them.  Each bit of goldenrod and ironweed fluff carries away a tiny seed on the wind.    

     The seed heads of Queen-Anne's-lace were dark-brown with seeds, and curled-up in the shapes of birds' nests.  The seed pods of common milkweeds were gray outside and shiny-beige inside.  Brown milkweed seeds, each with a fluffy, white parachute, fell out of those open pods and floated away on the wind.    

     Pokeweed and bittersweet nightshade vines in that pasture produced juicy berries by late summer.  American robins, starlings, cedar waxwings and other kinds of berry-eating birds will feast on those fruits in fall and winter.  

     Poke and nightshade each have their own beauties in autumn.  Poke have red stems and leaves, and deep-purple fruits.  Their foliage is like lanterns in sunlight.  Nightshade vines present flowers of purple petals and yellow stamens, and green, yellow, orange and red berries, all that at once, which makes those vines decorative in damp, sunny habitats.  Like their cousins, tomatoes, nightshade berries go through various colors as they ripen.

     Poison ivy vines, that crawled up fence posts, have yellow and orange foliage in October, which helps beautify farmland pastures and roadsides.  

     This overgrown pasture provides food and cover for several kinds of wildlife.  Sparrows, finches and mice eat weed and grass seeds.  Several species of birds consume berries.  Some of those birds and rodents get caught and eaten by hawks, owls, red foxes, weasels and other types of predators. 

     This abandoned meadow is one of several in Lancaster County farmland.  They are all full of life and beauty through each season.  And many of them are close to home.