Crankin' It Up: A Seasonal Repeat, Just Because I Like This Song

We posted this song two years ago, and since then it has had only 114 hits on YouTube, so maybe we can improve the stats with this post. Goldenrod has really packed the load for fall colors this year in Southern Illinois, what with the drought. It has been providing a show for the last month, but is fading now, just as some of the maples are coloring up. Hickories this fall have really fallen flat, going straight to brown. Sumac has been giving us some nice scarlets, and black gum is giving us deep reds now, too. Sassafras has been showing lots of orange and yellow, but most trees have remained green with the extended warm temperatures. You can always count on goldenrod for showy yellows, and most folks do not know that the snowy whites you see are from boneset, which grows alongside goldenrod in old fields. Boneset is supposed to have strong medicinal qualities, but I don't know what goldenrod is good for, other than providing nectar for insects in the fall. I made some tea with the flowers one time, and it just about closed my throat; very bitter and astringent.