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Penstemon Fields

2008 May 29

Originally published May 29, 2008
One of thousands of tall beardtongues in Mason Farm fields. Photo by Ken Moore.One of thousands of tall beardtongues in Mason Farm fields. Photo by Ken Moore

By Ken Moore

Last week, I described my delight in finding a snakeroot with two flowers. This past weekend, my gardening friend, Sally, was downright apologetic in inviting me over to see several snakeroots growing in her wild garden. They were not only taller than ones I have seen, but at the base of one clump we counted as many as a dozen little flowers in various stages, from bud to fruit. Sally and I share a wonderful competition as wild gardeners.

Having no snakeroots of my own, I went back over to the Botanical Garden’s Mason Farm Biological Reserve to show a friend the flowers of snakeroot. On this visit, we found even more plants, some with flowers fully open and some with buds yet to mature. But I never found a plant with more than two flowers. Sally wins this one!

However, the real highlight of the walk around Mason Farm on Memorial Day was discovering the “keeper of the farm,” Johnny Randall, with his younger son, Max. Johnny, the Botanical Garden’s associate director for conservation, was visiting the farm to check on some rare plants and to enjoy a walk along the open fields and around the Big Oak woods with Max.

Exactly a year ago, I described the Mason Farm penstemon fields here in The Citizen. I thought the fields were spectacular then. Guess what? This year, the fields are even more spectacular.

Since Johnny and Max are always willing to brave the poison ivy and ticks to take a closer look at anything, we ventured into a penstemon field. This particular beardtongue is Penstemon laevigatus, Eastern Beardtongue. Get close enough to peer inside one of those snapdragon-like flowers and see if you can determine why it’s commonly called beardtongue.
The whole field is active with all kinds of bees and butterflies and other pollinating insects. It’s safer and easier to view the flowers and those pollinators with binoculars from the trail. I use binoculars for wildflower watching a lot. When the birds are elusive, there is always something of botanical interest to enjoy. The plants don’t move about so quickly.

I quizzed Johnny about the increase in the penstemon display this year. He reasoned that a combination of select mowing and prescribed burning (i.e., carefully planned and supervised fire management) simulating some of nature’s management techniques are increasing the wildflower displays as well as the natural diversity in the fields. Such management strategies are also effective in controlling unwanted exotic species.

It’s nice that we don’t have to travel great distances to the coast or mountains to find such beautiful natural displays as we have in our own community. You can easily get a Mason Farm permit from the garden’s Totten Center so you can have access when the security gate is closed. The reserve is open sunup to sundown. Don’t miss it this year! For obvious reasons, dogs are not allowed, but certainly do take along some young people. They will help you see a great deal more than you will see on your own.
Johnny Randall and son Max taking a closer look at beardtonges in Mason Farm Field. Photo by Ken Moore.
Johnny Randall and son Max taking a closer look at beardtonges in Mason Farm Field. Photo by Ken Moore

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