It hasn’t rained in a dog’s age. It is dry as a bone. This old road through the South meadow was traveled by farm equipment for years and many people walk on it daily. It’s compacted hard as a rock. It is gravelly and bakes in the full sun. It seems unlikely that any plant would grow here. That said, common knotweed grows on the road, is green, and blooming.
It grows in these fairly dense flat mats. The stems radiate from a central, knot-like structure and maybe that is the origin of its common name. It has small green leaves, and the flowers are white. It produces a plethora of seeds. I often see dark-eyed juncos congregating on the road in the fall and winter eating the seeds.
It is not a beautiful, showy plant, but it got my attention because of the location of where it grows and its hardiness.
