It already seems like a distant memory, those humid bug-ruled days of (very) late summer that ended so abruptly. I was in the jewelweed patch that last miserable day, but from what I could see it was a good day for the orthopteran inhabitants. One last chance to live and eat before the cold set in.
My mission was to collect jewelweed seed for spreading in places that have none, but should. And since it grows easily from seed, any low moist area in this forest is a good place for a jewelweed patch. I am realizing more and more the importance of this plant -not just as an individual, but for the community structure it creates. A midsummer mass of tall gangly jewelweed often tops 6 feet in height, and within its dense architecture thrives a little city of life unto itself.
But a summer’s worth of browsing and pollinating, flower and seed making, trampling and storm flattening eventually takes its toll. As the plants begin to collapse in fall, I am ready to wade in with my seed bucket…
…often capturing more than seed. I’ve encountered great numbers of Green stinkbugs Chinavia hilaris, feeding in the jewelweed patch this fall.
This well-camouflaged Fork-tailed Bush katydid, Scudderia furcata, was almost smacked into my seed bucket too. Instead I got to watch it eating a jewelweed seed pod.
The Yellow Woolly Bear caterpillar, Spilosoma virginica, also enjoys tender jewelweed foliage.
This is what I’m foraging for – the 2 or 3 ripe seeds in each pod. My gathering technique consists of gently “smacking” the upper branches of the plant over an open bucket, causing the fully ripe pods to expell their contents. The unripe ones don’t explode, so I can return for more seed in a couple days. Jewelweed is such a prolific seed producer that I’m likely not gathering more than 10% of any patch’s production.
It takes a certain focus to see where the good clusters of ripe seed pods are.
In our unusually warm late fall weather the plants continued to bloom while ripening seed.
As I was leaving the jewelweed patch, there was evidence of an incident. A large female Red-shouldered hawk had been hunting in this area for several days, and twice I saw her eating something as she perched on a low branch. Now I know who one of her meals consisted of!
Dear Readers: Just a reminder – reading these posts on a small device cheats you of a lot of the visuals. I work hard to make the images full-screen quality for your enjoyment, so read on your computer if possible!
one forest fragment 
Ann Rosa
Gorgeous pictures! I noticed lots more jewelweed this year and most of that we owe to you and your hard work. Thanks for all you do.
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oneforestfragment
Thank-you Ann! Jewelweed provides food and shelter for many small creatures and insects, but needs protection itself from deer browsing to thrive in our forest.
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Janie Kanzler
Wow! Beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing!
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oneforestfragment
Thank-you Janie! Sometimes I just get lucky, and find myself in the right place at the right time for a good pic.
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tonytomeo
I get the impression from others that Jewelweed is not desirable. I mean it is not something that they would spread around. What are the advantages of doing so? does it keep other things under control? Someone here used to collect seed for money plant and then toss them out where there were none. Now that they are less common, I am thinking that someone should resume that tradition. They are not a weed problem.
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oneforestfragment
I am trying to change the perception that jewelweed is just a gangly “weed’. After all it is an Impatiens, and in my opinion much lovelier than the ones people grow. In my post ‘”Hummingbird Weed” I wrote about its likely co-evolution with hummers, since they are the most effective pollinators of the plant. The dense structure of a jewelweed patch provides great habitat for birds and insects. There are 2 common species – pale and spotted. More on its value to pollinators; https://awaytogarden.com/jewelweed-weed-thats-gem/
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Michael Smith
Jewelweed flower is good for itching, so it has value for people too.
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oneforestfragment
You are so right Mike! I think of it like a native substitute for Aloe.
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shoreacres
I wasn’t familiar with this plant, but it’s barely in Texas: four counties on the Oklahoma border, and a couple of counties near Louisiana. Still, it has many of the good qualities of some of our natives that also are dismissed as “weeds.” I’ve noticed the phrase “noxious weed” being used more often: a good way to distinguish between plants like jewelweed and the wholly undesirable balloonvine.
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oneforestfragment
Jewelweed, like most annuals, is rarely on those lists of herbaceous “native plants” to grow in your garden. Most of those are perennials, so will come up reliably each spring. Though it’s a lovely plant with very attractive flowers, it’s a little harder to get your hands on, unless you just go out and gather the seed and sow it now.
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Phyllis Fitzgerald
Any chance you would share seeds? I would love to have a little patch in my native plant garden.
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