These days I'm enjoying all of the asters that are blooming in the woodlands, meadows, fields and roadside ditches. They seem to be everywhere. The aster family (also known as the
composite family) is a large one, and contains many flowers that we may not immediately identify as asters, such as Dandelions, Chicory, Ironweed, Joe Pye Weed, and yarrow to name a few, as well as various coneflowers, sunflowers and daisies (the family is also called the daisy or sunflower family). But come fall, I think many of us could look at a plant and correctly conclude "That's an aster."
As to what species in particular, I can only readily identify the showiest of them all, the New England Aster, shown here:
In the same field I found this specimen...
... and this one that is similar, but obviously not the same.
In our woods we have lots of these, which I believe to be White Wood Aster.
It seems to change color from white and yellow to pink and purple with age.
If anyone out there knows of a good guide to asters, I'd love to hear about it!
