Two sort of asters have sprung into bloom in the last couple of weeks. The first are the ones to the right which I've been encouraging in our little garden. They are, I think, called New York asters, but I'm sure I read earlier that they were taken back to France by Samuel de Champlain. The others, below, bloom a little later and are called New York asters.
My flower books mention that the lovely flowers are found in many forms, which indicates an interesting, varied genetic heritage. Certainly they do seem to adapt to many habitats. The way they bloom also is interesting: the ones above first, the ones below just about the time the flowers of the first begin to fade. This means that bees and other pollinators can go from one to the other in the end-of-summer buffet without a day's lapse of good things.
Evolution is a wonderful thing! So is the way that names change. In looking a little further, I find that North American asters are now c
lassified as Symphyotrichum, based on genetic analysis. But as a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, so an aster will still be the star of a the fall garden.
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