Wednesday, 8:00 AM. 47 degrees, wind S, calm. The channel is crawling, and the sky is mostly clear. We got one-quarter of an inch of rain last night, and the barometer predicts mostly sunny skies.The wild asters have been coming into bloom for some time and I think all are now in full bloom. The genus Aster, in the family Compositae (now called Asteraceae by some) are, like the goldenrods, so many and confusing that one must be a specialist to recognize them all, which I am not. This kind of statement is also an easy way to cover up one’s lack of knowledge. So I have pictured a few of the more common here. The large-leaved aster, Aster macrophyllus, is a common woods understory plant, with very large leaves and sparse, fairly large flowers. The blue aster, Aster azurius, is of medium size with blue flowers; the heath aster, A. ericoides, has small white blossoms and is a small to medium sized plant with angular leaves (like heath plants). The umbel flowered aster, Aster umbellatus, is a strong, tall plant with large flat to rounded heads of whitish flowers; the New England aster, Aster Novae-Angliae, is a tall vigorous plant with fairly large individual purple flowers. A similar plant with pink flowers is the New Belgium aster. Most aster flowers have yellow centers. The New England aster is often seen in the garden, and is also called St. Michaelmas daisy, as it comes into bloom about that saint’s day and is often planted in churchyards for that reason. I am not aware of any medicinal or economic uses of the asters, their beauty alone makes them valuable, and for most of us it is O.K. to recognize them all as asters and enjoy them as that.
The next few days have to be devoted to fall garden chores, as I am way behind.
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