THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2022 Page 11 Saugus Gardens in the Summer Here’s what’s blooming in town this week to make your walks more enjoyable A By Laura Eisener A n attractive “roadside weed” with a sky blue fl ower is common chicory (Cichorium intybus), which is originally from Eurasia and North Africa. Foragers may recognize it as an edible plant whose leaves can be used as a slightly bitter vegetable for salads, and whose roots can also be eaten much like a carrot or parsnip. The roots have also been roasted and used as a non-caff einated coff ee substitute or added to actual coffee beans, so it has also been known as coff eeweed. Sometimes this was done because people preferred the flavor to real coff ee, but during the Civil War it was used by Confederate troops and Southern citizens because of the blockade which prevented coff ee and other goods from being brought into the seceding states. Special varieties are cultivated and the leaves are blanched as elegant vegetables, such as radicchio and Belgian endive, and people familiar with this may call our naturalized plant wild endive. Due to the plant’s ability to grow in gravelly soils and dry situations, it thrives along roadsides and railroad embankments where gravel has been used to build up roadbeds. It can be found in many such areas DOING ITS JOB: This sweat bee is covered with pollen from visiting the daisy fl eabane and other fl owers in Charles Zapolski’s garden. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Charles Zapolski) in Saugus, including the edges of the rail trail in Saugus Center, where people can see it near the sidewalk on Central Street. The ability to thrive in dry sites and what fi eld guides often describe as “waste places” helps explain why this species is thriving during this year’s drought and sunny weather. Chicory may not look much like a daisy, but it belongs to the same family, Asteraceae. In parts of the United States, it is known as blue daisy, blue dandelion or even simply blue weed. The ocean or sky blue blossom color has given rise to names like blue sailors or ragged sailors. Since it often is a desirable forage plant for livestock, another name is horseweed. Occasionally, fl owers may be found that are pink or white. The fl owering branched stems make attractive but shortlived bouquets since each blossom only lives a day or so. Another perennial blooming around town this week is named for its reputation of blooming for only a day — tawny daylily (Hemerocallis fulva). Since there will be quite a few buds per plant, you may fi nd that it is in bloom for a few weeks even if each individual blossom only lasts one or at most two days. The fl owers close up at night or if you bring them indoors out of sunlight, so they are not very good as bouquet fl owers. If the vase is outdoors during the day, the fl owers will stay open, so they only work for outdoor arrangements! While once classifi ed in the lily family (Lilaceae), daylilies are now in the asphodel family (As-( phodelaceae), which includes plants such as aloe (Aloe vera ( and about 500 other species) and red hot poker (Kniphofi a spp.). Daylilies are very popular with plant breeders, and there are thousands of varieties available. The tawny daylily is also often simply called orange daylily, since it is a bright orange color with a yellow center. Daylily hybrids may be yellow, pink, red, purple or combinations of colFAMILIAR SIGHT: The common orange or tawny daylily is often passed along from gardener to gardener, and it can be seen blooming this week in every neighborhood in Saugus. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) GREAT FILLER FOR BOUQUETS: Daisy fl eabane, a native North American annual, blooms most of the summer and can grow up to fi ve feet tall in sunny locations. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) ors. It is also sometimes called tiger lily, although there is a true lily (Lilium spp.) colored orange with black spots that also is known by that name. The tawny daylily is very easy to grow in sunny locations in almost any soil and tends to increase over time. It can be seen blooming all over, and many people are likely to recall being given their plants by a friend, neighbor or family member. Nurseries rarely sell the plain orange daylily, but are likely to carry reblooming varieties which fl ower over a longer part of the year, and perhaps a few once-blooming varieties which have unusual colors or other features. Another pretty fl owering wayside “weed” is daisy fleabane (Erigeron annuus), which has sprays of daisy-like fl ower heads each about an inch across. The disc flowers are yellow, and from a distance the rays appear white but on closer examination often turn out to be very pale lilac. Of the three fl owering plants described this week, daisy fl eabane is the only one that originated in North and Central America and did not migrate here with European settlers. It can grow anywhere between one and fi ve feet tall. It may continue fl owering most of the summer in sunny locations, and it makes a great fi ller for bouquets. SUMMER DISPLAY: A bouquet for the outside table is a mixture of carnations from the fl orist, daisy fl eabane and bee balm from the garden. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) TENACIOUS PLANT: Chicory has a sky blue fl ower and thrives during droughts like the one we are having this year. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) Editor’s Note: Laura Eisener is a landscape design consultant who helps homeowners with landscape design, plant selection and placement of trees and shrubs, as well as perennials. She is a member of the Saugus Garden Club and offered to write a series of articles about “what’s blooming in town” shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was inspired after seeing so many people taking up walking.
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