Hi again everyone, People have been requesting the location of the cup plants in the Cornell Botanic Gardens Arboretum, Ithaca, NY. The plants are on the southeast side of the two ponds in the middle of the arboretum. The best way to find them is to park between the ponds and the sculpture garden in the arboreum. Proceed east taking the road bridge over one of the ponds, take the first path on the right. This leads you around the pond then splits to go uphill. The extensive stands of cup plants are right there and you can't miss them!
Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum) is a tall plant with yellow daisy-like flowers and paired leaves that form a cup at the base of the flower stems. This leafy cup can collect water during rain and birds have been known to drink from it. Seed-eating birds love the seeds. And bees and other insect pollinators love the flowers. Here is a photo of some cup plant flowers I took in the arboretum last week. https://www.marieread.com/gallery-image/FLOWERING-PLANTS-North-America/G0000l_dAbGEpeLI/I0000zPZ1fy7uqSA And a goldfinch feeding on the seeds of one that has barely started to go to seed. https://www.marieread.com/gallery-image/American-Goldfinch/G0000IflkI341M9E/I0000RflbbDDlAPQ/C0000CNkW0u0XeJg Marie Marie Read 452 Ringwood Road Freeville NY 13068 USA http://www.marieread.com ________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Marie P. Read <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, September 4, 2025 11:09 AM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L <[email protected]> Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Goldfinches and cup plants For anyone desiring an auditory and visual feast, the large expanse of cup plants in the Cornell Arboretum is currently full of American Goldfinches and their relentlessly begging fledglings enjoying the seeds. Most of the plants are gone to seed, but some still have yellow flowers that contrast boldly with the vivid purple of iron weed. Beautiful! A reminder that there are still things to celebrate in the world. Marie Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef> -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME.htm> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> ABA<https://www.aba.org/birding-news/> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") Cayugabirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/cayugabirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) aba_DOT_org/birding-news/ Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
