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Sunday, September 13, 2009

New England Asters

I guess I'm in a flower sort of mood today. In the past I've shown you a few samples of these particular flowers. I didn't really know what they are, but thanks to WiseAcre and Sharkbytes I now know that these are called New England Asters.

I now take pictures of various wildflowers on my everyday adventures, mostly because I know you appreciate them, but I also appreciate them now. It's just that these flowers seem to take such good photos! How can I not stop and take a few sample shots. They look so good on the background of my computer!

New England Asters are native to most areas of North America east of the Rocky Mountains. But they are so popular that they have been taken to the gardens of the western US and to several other areas of the world, including Europe.

These plants flower from August to September with pink to purple blooms. The plants grow from two to six feet tall. These are very robust plants that are sometimes used to restore prairies because of their ability to withstand competition from other weeds. When the leaves are crushed, they give off the smell of turpentine.

I have read that these plants don't like too much shade. I guess that's why they are used to replant prairies. But in my experience, whenever I've seen them they often grow at the edges of forests, in partial shade.

I found this particular plant in my pictures towards the front of a nature park, just to the side of a small bridge. The area is slightly swampy, and the beginning of the forest grows right up to the edge of the trail. This plant is right there between me and the forest trees.

So there you go! I have given you some surface information on New England Asters. If you want more, I guess you can search Google like I did. I really didn't find much more information than I gave you. I would have liked to see more. That's okay though. There will be an exciting new adventure tomorrow to distract me from this.

I think I will leave you for today with that. I'm trying to prepare my computer to give it a complete lobotomy. I'm in the process of backing up all of the information I can remember. Then I'll reinstall everything, and hopefully my computer will come out of this much faster than it has been lately.

See you next time.

Oh, and I still sense those zombie chickens coming closer.
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20 comments:

  1. AnnSeptember 13, 2009 at 4:19 AM

    those are very pretty. I often use pictures I've taken of flowers for my computer background.

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  2. AnonymousSeptember 13, 2009 at 6:54 AM

    WoW...simply beautifully captured shots....pretty!

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  3. rainfield61September 13, 2009 at 7:28 AM

    The virus may spread. I started to experiment on flower in recent days.
    If I got it right, some of them looked like dancing in the air. Wow!! So fun..

    p/s: you are sending your computer for a lobotomy, sigh.. what a sad process again.

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  4. SharkbytesSeptember 13, 2009 at 7:35 AM

    Yup, Wiseacre got this one right. If I had seen the pic of the whole plant I would have gotten it right too! The blue cast (they usually slide more to purple) threw me off. They sure to fancy up the fall landscape, don't they?

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  5. AnonymousSeptember 13, 2009 at 7:40 AM

    That's very beautiful flowers! I saw another kind of asters, much smaller in size, on the ground at Bell Isle trail..

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  6. TesSeptember 13, 2009 at 8:37 AM

    I see these flowers around, amd am captivated by the sweet violet hue of their petals, but didn't know what they are called. Thanks for that info. Nice shots!

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  7. Split Rock RanchSeptember 13, 2009 at 8:40 AM

    Beautiful flowers in my favorite color. Thank you for hosting my EC ad!

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  8. VanillaSevenSeptember 13, 2009 at 8:54 AM

    Asters are best when in the bunch.. Beautiful. Happy tickering with your comp Ratty :)

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  9. UnknownSeptember 13, 2009 at 9:14 AM

    purple! yay! they smell like turpentine when crushed, don't think i'd like that. guess you have to be very careful with them.

    have a great day my friend...hugz!

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  10. eileeninmdSeptember 13, 2009 at 9:56 AM

    Beautiful flowers and photos. I enjoyed your blog entry.

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  11. Plant AvenueSeptember 13, 2009 at 10:06 AM

    Nice pictures! Asters are one of my favourite flowers :)

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  12. AnonymousSeptember 13, 2009 at 10:27 AM

    I love asters..these are slightly different to what we grow in the uk...i wonder if yours are available here too..hhmmm???

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  13. JudeSeptember 13, 2009 at 10:41 AM

    I know very little about flowers, but I sure love looking at them I'm especially fond of purple so I would love to grow some of these.

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  14. wiseacreSeptember 13, 2009 at 10:46 AM

    You should have told me to 'Kiss My Aster'.

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  15. UnknownSeptember 13, 2009 at 11:08 AM

    You've got one hell-of-a camera. These pics are breathtaking

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  16. JuliaSeptember 13, 2009 at 1:37 PM

    Flowers are always good by me!! Keep them coming. :)

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  17. betchaiSeptember 13, 2009 at 4:23 PM

    very pretty! now, the flowers are a friend to you too :)

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  18. The Retired OneSeptember 13, 2009 at 8:41 PM

    We have a shorter version all over the sides of the roads and in the woods in the U.P.
    We always consider them the "last flower of the summer" because they are some of the last wildflowers that bloom before winter. In fact, my husband said when he has hiked in the beginning of winter, he has seen them with snow on them.

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  19. SquirrelQueenSeptember 13, 2009 at 11:59 PM

    Flowers are always lots of fun to photograph, the variety of colors and shapes is almost endless. I just can't seem to walk past any flower with out a few photos.

    Those asters are beautiful. I love that color. If I remember correctly they are in the sunflower family.

    Have fun with the lobotomy (my hubby calls it "wiping it slick"). As many times as I have done it through the years it is still a pleasant surprise when it comes back to life.

    SQ

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  20. Rick (Ratty)September 15, 2009 at 7:31 PM

    I hope you don't mind too much the way I'm doing things here to catch up. I'll answer all of your questions here, and I'll say thank you too all of you for your comments.


    allotments4you.com - According to what I have read, these flowers have indeed been brought over to the UK to plant in flower gardens.

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