A cheerful garden flower that has made itself at home here. It is frequently found at the edges of lawns or along roadsides; these plants were blooming along the edges of a German cemetery in Beechview.
For a description of the species, see the Saponaria officinalis reference page.
Lemon Balm can be very weedy, but it is so useful that it is hard to resent as a weed. The lemony leaves make a good tisane, and the flowers are great favorites with bees. These plants were growing along a fence in Beechview.
For a description of the species, see the Melissa officinalis reference page.
A beautiful bush that seeds itself liberally and can take over hedges, or build itself into a hedge along a fence. It comes in a number of colors, often with a deep red eye. The column of united stamens, typical of the mallow family, is prodigal with its pollen, and bees delight in these flowers.
Photographed June 25 and June 29 with a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6 and a Canon PowerShot A530.
For a description of the species, see the Hibiscus syriacus reference page.
A poisonous member of the tomato family, also known as Deadly Nightshade, though it is not the deadlier nightshade preferred by Borgias as a solution to intractable political problems. The pretty purple flowers often peek out from hedges, and the berries are just about the brightest and purest red in the vegetable kingdom.
For a description of the species, see the Solanum dulcamara reference page.
Our only bright orange dandelion-like flower, impossible to confuse with anything else. In many modern classifications this is placed in the genus Pilosella as Pilosella aurantiaca, but the taxonomy is still more confused than old Pa Pitt cares to sort out. It is not a common flower in the city of Pittsburgh, but a little bit to the north it becomes ubiquitous. St. Peter’s Cemetery in Arlington is one of the places in Pittsburgh where Orange Hawkweed does grow, and that is where these plants were photographed.
