COLUMN: Trailing or Leading: Yellow flowers are your friends

Which one of these is making us sneeze? That is the question many MYPath walkers are asking as they walk along the trail, with plants towering over their heads.

The rainy summer provided excellent conditions for plants. All summer we watched plants growing along the trail. We had several discussions about what seeds the major flood might have left behind. In addition, we had been given several packets of wildflower seeds from the Owen County Garden Club, which we had planted in various spots.

Using apps and other tools, we could identify flowers and plants, though not always. It was fun trying to figure out what was growing. But there were four plants we could identify. We knew what they were and what they would do: Johnson grass, cup plant, goldenrod and ragweed.

Johnson grass is a nasty invasive, non-native plant. It looks a little like a corn plant, or maybe a decorative grass. I identify it by a single white stripe that goes down the center of each leaf. If you have some in your yard, come to terms with it. If you pull it, it will come back. If you spray it, it might die. Or it might wait until you are looking the other way and come back. The best bet is to mow it regularly to keep it from going to seed. If you walk MYPath today, you will be flanked by lots of Johnson grass, about eight feet tall.

Another plant is the cup plant. The leaves are shaped into a little hollow section, next to the stem, that holds water. In the late summer, they share a pretty yellow flower. Growing amongst the cup plant is the Jerusalem artichoke, a type of sunflower. Both of these plants provide beautiful yellow flowers at the same time. The Jerusalem artichoke is still blooming right now. It is nice to walk along a wall of yellow.

The other yellow-flowered plant that is blooming right now is goldenrod. It is a common plant that you have seen all your life. The flowers are not single flowers, like a sunflower or daisy. They are a group of smaller yellow flowers along a narrow "finger." Some people don't like the goldenrod because they say the flowers trigger allergies. But goldenrod is NOT the culprit. Instead, the hay fever villain is the plant growing right next to the goldenrod. Ragweed.

On MYPath, we have regular ragweed, and giant ragweed. The giant ragweed is growing 10-feet high. You can't miss them as you walk along the trail. They are leaning over your head, taunting you with their pollen.

Plants handle pollination in different ways. The innocent goldenrod has pretty flowers that attract bees, butterflies and other critters that will carry their pollen to other plants. Ragweed does not have flowers, so it spreads pollen by wind. Or gravity. Wind blows the pollen to other plants, or your nose. When you start sneezing, you are a pollinator. A few of our weekly walkers skip walking MYPath during ragweed season.

If you walk MYPath now, you can scowl at the giant plants without flowers, the Johnson grass and ragweed. And you can enjoy the yellow flowers. This time of year, you might see another creature that is enjoying the yellow flowers, the monarch butterfly.

Even if you sneeze, this is a nice time to visit the trail.

Kyle Hannon is the Project Manager for the MYPath Trail System. He has served in many community development and trail connection roles throughout the state. On many weekends, he serves as an Interpretive Specialist at McCormick's Creek State Park.