Asters.

9-17-10 VERMONT: We came back up yesterday just ahead of the rain. We had 0.5 inches in the gauge when we arrived and added 0.65 inches last night. That would seem to be plenty for the two weeks we were away, but things looked thirsty. The pond is down five inches, and the little pond in the pasture is dry, even after yesterday's rain.

I switched to storm doors from screens and did a few other chores, but it’s too soon to start fall clean-up.

The pasture is full of golden rod and asters. Some of the asters are a lilac shade and some more magenta colored. A distinctive feature of the asters, that lets one identify them before they bloom, is the junction between leaf and stalk. The asters have no petiole, their leaves begin at the stalk and even wrap partly around the stalk.

After the centers of the asters are pollinated, they change from yellowish to dark reddish. The petals remain on the flower, apparently to attract pollinators to the mass of the plant, but the color change of the center indicates to the pollinator which particular flowers are still pollen rich.

New blooms: boltonia, asters.


Lilac colored asters are more numerous.

Magenta colored asters. You can see the differences in the flowers' centers.