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This genus of Vernonia was named after William Vernon who was an American botanist of the 17th century in North America. This genus of the Daisy Family consists of around 1,000 species that have been described of annuals, perennials, shrubs, and small trees, occurring in many warmer parts of the world. I am only familiar. with a number of perennial species found in North America. These perennial species are all similar to each other and differ some in height, that ranges from 2 to 10 feet, plant hairiness, size and narrowness of the leaves, and denseness of flower clusters. They are called Ironweeds because the central stems are hard. The leaves are alternate. The small flowers are some shade of purple and bloom in summer into fall. The foliage is bitter so that mammals are deterred from eating them.

This species is usually called either the Common or the Smooth Ironweed, and has been called the Prairie or Western Ironweed also, though there is another species better called the Western Ironweed. It is a shorter Ironweed of usually 2 to 4 feet high, though 6 feet is possible. It does spread by rhizomes, underground stems. Its central stem that can be whitish or green or red-purple is hairless, as are the top and bottom of the leaves. The leaves are mostly narrow lanceolate and get to be 5 inches long by 1/2 inch wide, and leaves are either sessile, (directly attached to the stem), or only have a short petiole. The flower clusters are on the small side and are densely clustered. Like other Ironweed species, the foliage is bitter so that it deters feeding by mammals. This species is native from southeast North Dakota down through Oklahoma, found in most of MN, WI, IL, & MO, found in all of Iowa, areas of Indiana & Ohio, to northeast Ohio. Some sources write of the cold hardiness being USDA Zone 3 to 7.

This small, prostrate plant from Europe is usually a lawn companion plant or weed in eastern North America. It is common in many lawns but not all over the place in the lawn, just in some spots. Not the same as the sort of similar Creeping Charlie that is much more widespread and aggressive. It can be a small weed in a planting border also.

This grass species is native to the Mediterranean Region and got its name of Johnsongrass from a certain Colonel William Johnson who introduced the grass to his river-bottom farm in Alabama in 1840. It has become invasive and spread to all lower 48 states of the USA. On the one hand, it is considered a noxious weed in farm fields for corn, soybeans, and other crops; however, it is also considered as a good forage grass for livestock that is quite edible for animals until after it blooms. It is similar in appearance to Switchgrass, Redtop, and Purpletop but differs in being taller, having not just fibrous roots but also white to brown rhizomes (underground stems), and the broad blades bear a conspicuous white vein down the middle. The egg-shaped seeds turn from green to greenish violet, to dark reddish brown and are not as nicely reddish or purplish as Redtop or Purpletop respectively.

I have never seen this species. I am not recommending introducing any more East Asian woody plants to North America, as they can escape cultivation and become invasive or they just don't do any American insects or birds or other animals any good for being a good food source. However, it is good to plant more back in eastern Asia, where it is native to China and Indochina. Looking in the "Manual of Woody Landscape Plants" of Dr. Michael Dirr, he says that this species has larger leaves and more deeply cut (sinused) above the lower lobes and that the buds are larger than the American species. He has seen some planted in some arboretum situation in Georgia. He says that there is a hybrid between the American and Chinese species planted at the Arnold Arboretum that is intermediate in character between the species.

This is an old, reliable, and still fairly common cultivar that bears purple flowers.

'Rosie O'Day' is an old reliable cultivar whose flowers are basically pink.

"Carpet of Snow' is a reliable old cultivar, even an heirloom cultivar, that used to be the most common selection in the 1960's until around 2000. I think it is still used a lot, but many new similar white blooming selections have come forth that are a little more compact, as 'New Carpet of Snow' and that are a little more heat and humidity tolerant. However, there are some other white cultivars that get taller to 9 to12 inches and have bigger flowers. Sweet Alyssum loves cool weather that is not humid and does best in spring and fall, but makes it through hotter and more humid summer, though it does not thrive as much. It might even need some pruning down if it looks icky. It is very frost tolerant, but winter will finally kill it off usually in December. It is a short-lived perennial in its native habitat along the Mediterranean Sea but makes a usually reliable short annual that is often used as the outside edging of flower beds, or it works as a cascading annual out of a big pot.

While I was wandering with my camera on the east side of Morton Arboretum, I ran across this species that I never saw before. It has large leaves about 6 to 7 inches long that are dark green and lustrous and turn yellow in the fall. The inner branches are supposed to be slightly corkscrew in their manner. Dr. Michael Dirr wrote that it is originally from China, but is growing in much of east Asia.

This Alabama Supplejack or Rattan Vine is native to swamp to upland woodlands in the coastal plain of the South from east Texas up to southern Illinois to southeast Virginia down into all of Florida. It is a woody twining vine (liana) that can grow just on the ground or climb high up into trees. Its tough stems have been used in wickerworks. The alternate, simple, shiny, leathery leaves have prominent veins, get good yellow to orange to red fall color, and look similar to Buckthorn leaves, as it is in the Buckthorn Family. The small greenish-white flowers are in small clusters in late spring into early summer. The dark blue fruits (drupes) are about 1 inch long, are eaten by birds, squirrels, and raccoons, and are slightly toxic to humans to eat. Some native plant nurseries in the South sell it.

While I was wandering with my camera in the Birch Family Collection on the west side of Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL, I came upon two maturing trees planted there. They were labeled as the Turkistan Birch (Betula turkestanica); however, I found on this Garden.org site that it is now recognized as the Tian-Shan or Tianshan or Tianan Birch. This species is native to the mountain areas of Central Asia. It looks to me much like our River Birch. Its bark also ranges from pinkish-creamy smooth to flaking gray and brown and gray-brown. It eventually will probably become more plated and dark gray-brown when old. The leaves are similar to River Birch also. There is a cultivar of 'Emerald Flare' that has more creamy smooth bark longer than the mother species; sort of like the cultivar of River Birch called ''Heritage.' It is good that the arboretum is helping to preserve this species, as it is endangered in its native habitat. I don't see this as becoming a big item in the USA. Its advantage over the River Birch is that it grows smaller and can tolerate alkaline soils.

So far, I have only seen two trees of this Paperbark Hazel from China in the Birch Family Collection of Morton Arboretum on the west side in Lisle, Illinois in October 2023 and one tree in the Chinese Collection back in late November of 2019 on the east side of the arboretum. It is a beautiful tree Hazel or Hazelnut or Filbert. It has lovely bark that is birch-like and appears in peeling papery rolls of beige and coppery brown. The leaves are smaller than most Hazel and are 3 to 6 inches long, usually 2 to 4 inches long. In landscapes it usually grows up to 50 feet high, but in its native wild habitat it can grow to 130 feet. Its 1/2 inch long nuts are edible, but are not as good for human food as the European or American Hazelnuts. It is fairly fast growing of 1.5 to 2 feet/year. It is resistant to the Eastern Filbert Blight that is hard on the European Hazel.

A few years ago I did see a fairly big garden center in southeast Pennsylvania selling a few of this Chinese Fringetree, and I have taken two photos of a specimen planted in the Olive Family Collection on the west side of Morton Arboretum in northeast Illinois. The Emerald Ash Borer from China can attack the American Fringetree fatally, being in the same Olive Family. The arboretum has some of the American species in the Appalachian Collection on the east side, but they are not anymore where the American species of Ashes were growing on the west side, where few American ashes are left. The Chinese species has a good variation of leaf characteristics from shorter and rounded in the southern from to longer and pointed leaves in the northern form, but leaves tend to be smaller, thicker, darker, more lustrous, and less elongate than the American species. The erect flower clusters, cymose panicles, are shorter, about 2 to 3 inches long x 2 to 4 inches wide versus the 6 to 10 inch long and wide clusters of the American species. The dark blue olive-like fruit is a little smaller to 1/2 inch long versus the American fruit to 3/4 inch long. I thought the one Chinese specimen in the arboretum had very pretty bark. I like the American Native Plant Movement, so I am not encouraging lots of planting of any woody Eurasian species in eastern North America. Some urban spots would be alright.

In late October of 2023 I came upon a newly planted tree of this Chinese Red Ash. It was in good golden fall color. It bore compound leaves of about 6 to 10 inches long and with 7 to 11 leaflets. The leaflets had very short stalks and the leaf had an enlarged base. The leaves are supposed to have a grayish-green color during the growing season. It is native to central China and Japan. Otherwise, I have never seen this species before and don't know much about it. it was in the Olive Family Collection on the west side of Morton Arboretum in northeast Illinois in USDA Zone 5a. The Emeral Ash Borer from China killed off most of the American and European Ash species in this collection so that it is sort of bare. Two mature Blue Ash, one smaller Purple Autumn White Ash, and one small European Ash are left.

In late October of 2023 I visited one of my most sacred places, that is, Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, very close to where I grew up. I went to the Olive Family Collection that is emptier now since the Emerald Ash Borer came about 2019 and killed most of the American and European Ash species that were there, except for two mature but not old Blue Ash trees, one Purple Autumn White Ash still there, and one small European Ash. The arboretum planted some Asiatic Ash species there on the west side that includes the Chinese Ash. There were two maturing Chinese Ash of which I took photos. Otherwise, I have never seen this species before and don't know much about it. Its leaves mostly had leaflets in 5's and 7's.

This 'Northwind' cultivar was discovered by Roy Diblik growing along some Illinois railroad tracks around 1990. He and some partners opened a nursery in Burlington in southeast Wisconsin in 1992. This grass was named after the nursery. It does have a very upright form caused by thick, stiff stems and erect blades that point upward rather than bend down. The wide blades are olive green above and bluish-green below. It bears some airy grass flower clusters on the top of the plant that are green a long time and then turn yellowish. In fall the plant turns a tan-yellow. It is resistant to heavy snow bending plants down. Fast growing with an extensive fibrous root system. Warm season plant like the mother species and adaptable to conditions. Now one of the most commonly sold cultivars of Switchgrass.

There used to be a nursery in Port Matilda, Pennsylvania, that was Limerock Ornamental Grasses until around 2010. They sold this cultivar of 'Dallas Blues' that they describe as a really neat plant with an upright, leafy form that has very bold and coarse textured, wide blades of a grayish-blue color. The grass flower head is a deep reddish-purple with masses of florets in a neat order on the head and not a hovering cloud effect of most other Switchgrass.

There are supposed to be about 54 species of Tamarisk that are native from Europe to east Asia & India. There is not much difference between most of the species. some species are being very invasive in the western USA in drier climates and deserts. I saw some growing wild near Phoenix, Arizona in the Sonoran Desert back in the 1990's. This specific species is native from southeast Europe into central Asia. It is a fast-growing tree-shrub with fine textured foliage like a juniper. I've seen it doing fine in my native northeast Illinois and in southeast PA in well-drained soils. Fortunately, I don't know of it being invasive in more humid climates where there is lots of vegetation around and not barren areas like in deserts. I don't recommend this Eurasian plant for most American landscapes. If someone wants some unusual plant in their yard, this would be one.

This May of 2023 I bought a Cheyenne Sky Switchgrass at the local Home Depot in a white pot of Proven Winners, that is a large national company that supplies many garden centers with ornamental plants. This new cultivar has blades that are thin giving a fine texture and the blades are blue-green that develop a wine red color towards the ends of the leaves. This fall I will see if the whole plant turns red or not. However, it is still a young plant and might not do that at first. Furthermore, I noticed years ago that a similar older cultivar of 'Shenandoah' sometimes turned all red in fall and sometimes did not, depending on the weather. The older cultivar grows taller with slightly broader blades.

This Rough or Hairy or Stiff-Haired Sunflower is native from New York & Connecticut down into Florida to Texas up to Nebraska and Minnesota and a little into southern Canada there. The stems are light green to purple and covered with hairs. The narrowly lanceolate to ovate leaves are rough on top from stiff hairs and pubescent below. The flowers are about 2 to 3 inches in diameter with 10 to 15 yellow ray flowers, that look like petals. The center disc flowers are yellowish. The root system is fibrous and produces long rhizomes (underground stems). In a garden it can be aggressive by spreading by rhizomes.