August in the Piedmont

 The goldenrods, genus Solidago, started blooming. I saw my first batch at Arabia Mountain on Aug. 3.

Many people are allergic to them. Some friends who suffer from hay fever are sure the goldenrods are blooming earlier each year. I couldn’t say. I’m just learning about the natural history of Georgia. But it made me wonder about seasonal changes.

It seems to me that sourwood, Oxydendrum arboretum, might be an early marker of fall. It’s a smaller tree in the understory. I’ve seen a few red leaves on an otherwise green tree, and I’ve seen entire branches of red leaves. The color change is not caused by drought. We had 14 inches of rain in July.

Among the wonders in the woods:

• Late boneset, Eupatorium serotinum, is putting out bunches of tiny white flowers. If you are wondering about the common name, this plant was used as a poultice when native peoples set a broken bone.

• St. John’s wort in genus Hypericum puts out yellow flowers.

• Partridge pea, in genus Chamaecrista, is everywhere. The flowers are the color of school buses.

• Jumpseed, Persicaria virginiana, is putting out white flowers on long stalks. It’s low running plant, about 2 feet tall, that tolerates the shade under the canopy. The common name come become the seeds jump when seedpods burst.

• The orange flowers are jewelweed, impatiens capensis, which bloom all summer. Jewelweed also throws its seeds — the biologists call the adaption “explosive dehiscence.” Jewelweed is sometimes called touch-me-not.