Walking along a wooded path I found a (new for me) plant and identified it as late-flowering boneset - Eupatorium serotinum. Imagine my surprise at finding this same plant the very next day in my own neglected back yard.
Will the one in my yard self-seed successfully? or should I attempt to save seeds to improve my chances?

It will self-seed but saving them would certainly improve your chances and give you better control on where there show up. I had one that I planted last year and even with all the seed the produce, I have seen only two volunteers, so they are not overly aggressive.

Thanks for that @Horntoad. I will bag the heads when they appear ready.

I was originally going to ask about digging up the wild ones; I'm glad that nature gave me my own plant.
Just found another one at the end of the street near the Epazote and Cypress Vine. Yipee! Seed-Heaven.

Boneset is a great plant for bees and butterflies and it is perennial. Here is a link to learn more;
http://wildflower.org/plants/r...

Thank you @frostweed Good link, very helpful.

You are welcome

Have you tried smelling your Eupatorium serotinum?
Very nice scent, similar to robinia but not over-whelming.

Be a good one to create essential oils from!

Thanks you, hadn't thought about the essential oil.
Since writing the original post, I have found several more places where this plant is growing. The flowers are like bright beacons along the edges of the roads and fields.

Well, it's a good thing I know the other locations where this plant is growing. I hired a man to clean my side yard and marked the ONE plant he was NOT to destroy....well, you probably know how this ends.

I am afraid this sort of things happens much too often.

greene said:Well, it's a good thing I know the other locations where this plant is growing. I hired a man to clean my side yard and marked the ONE plant he was NOT to destroy....well, you probably know how this ends.

Most "landscapers" are attuned to shorn turf, and those exotics available from the big box store, and consider everything else a "weed".
Very important for a native lover to hire someone that is familiar with natives.

On the other side of the coin, being a "landscaper" trying to find homeowners (to garden for) who care about natives is just as frustrating.

Everybody plants that invasive exotic junk, and wants the good stuff removed.

Stone, that is so true.

Nope, nothing like that - my guy was just plain drunk! On the upside, he works cheap.

greene said:Well, it's a good thing I know the other locations where this plant is growing. I hired a man to clean my side yard and marked the ONE plant he was NOT to destroy....well, you probably know how this ends.

What exactly did he do to destroy it? Just asking, because unless he dug it up or herbicided it, it'll likely be back. It's a fairly indestructible plant once it gets started.

The man did exactly what I asked. He removed all the vegetation from half my yard so I could plant a 'meadow'. He used a weedwacker, a scuffle hoe, a shovel and a regular hoe. There was one plant with a huge root and for that he borrowed my dog who is good at digging up roots. (There was only that one plant I asked him not to damage.)

Hopefully that one little plant will decide to make a comeback. I will mark the spot where it grew and let nature take its course. He did a very good job. If you use your imagination and think very, very hard you can just picture how pretty the meadow will be next year.