Gratuitous Domestic Posting (TM) - Outdoor Division

Now here's a little something I thought some of you gardening buffs might be interested to see:

This is a Cup Plant, Silphium perfoliatum, a member of the Aster family. According to this site:

This native perennial plant is about 4-10' tall and remains unbranched, except for the panicle of flowering stems near the apex. The central stem is thick, hairless, and four-sided. The large opposite leaves are up to 8" long and 5" across, which join together around the central stem to form a cup that can hold water, hence the name of the plant. These leaves are broadly lanceolate to cordate, coarsely toothed, and have a rough, sandpapery texture. The yellow composite flowers bloom during early to mid-summer for about 1-1½ months. Each sunflower-like composite flower is about 3-4" across, consisting of numerous yellow disk florets that are surrounded by 18-40 yellow or pale yellow ray florets. The infertile disk florets protrude somewhat from the center and are rather conspicuous, while the ray florets are fertile. The latter produce thin achenes, each with a well-developed marginal wing, which are dispersed to some extent by the wind. The root system consists of a central taproot, and abundant shallow rhizomes that help to spread the plant vegetatively, often forming substantial colonies.

The Cup Plant is native to the Midwest, but according to the USDA has now spread all over the East as well. Connecticut bans it for its invasiveness.

Although mine is just now opening out, you can see that the flower buds grow in clusters:

I think it'll look pretty durn impressive when it's going full steam. (I might have waited until then to do this post, but I happen to be free this afternoon and I couldn't resist.)

Some of you are perhaps shaking your heads and saying, "Tom, what would you want with what amounts to a prairie weed in your garden?" Well, I'll tell you. There are two reasons, one practical and the other sentimental: First, this is a durable perennial which I happen to think interesting, and if it spreads itself a bit it will make an impressive anchor for one of the back corners. (I have a second one in the other end which does not get as much light - it's only about a third of the size of this one and has no buds. I may have to move it.) Second, this plant (then just a foot-long youngling) was given to me last summah by my sister-in-law's husband. He has several growing around his house outside Boston, the original progenitor he claims to have first spotted in a ditch along the roadside and dug up. I've always had a soft spot for this kind of sharing and would readily plant something given to me that I might not otherwise have selected myself.