best guess Pacific aster / common California aster
best guess Symphyotrichum chilense (formerly Aster chilensis)
Asteraceae
best guess Symphyotrichum chilense (formerly Aster chilensis)
Asteraceae
This is my best guess ID for these two asters; if anyone knows better, please let me know. The leaves look quite different from the California aster I spotted at Elkhorn Slough back on October 16, 2010, but I chalk the differences due to time of year and different habitats. I'm also making the assumption that these are native and not garden escapees from the lovely gardens on both sides of the canyon. As I was looking up this ID, I discovered there are literally hundreds of aster garden cultivars. I generally think of asters as being a fall bloomer, but as I've said many times before, our local wildflowers on the coast don't seem to follow traditional blooming periods.
8 comments:
I love these tiny flowers. We get them along the pond's edge all fall and the butterflies and bees love them. I'm sure ours are not "pacific" but they're asters.
It's amazing how Nature ignores the advice in ID books. Or perhaps she does read them but doesn't give a hoot.
Love the flowers. This been a cloudy, deary week here and I need some color :).
I planted the purple ones as part of our xeric perennial garden and they come back reliably every summer.
Our asters are all the same, and yet size, depth of color etc varies on different parts of the hillside. It is like walking up a mountain with ceanothus that gets smaller and shrubbier as you climb...but it is still the same plant. It is just nature's reminder for us to drink lots of water, get out in the sun, don't stay in the wind too long, or get too cold, and eat your mineral rich veggies, or your bloom might not be as bountiful as it might be.
Isn't taking pictures a lovely way to get out and about.
great nature captures. I feel like going on a hike!
Wow, I can't believe how many of you commented on this little aster. Maybe I should post more pictures of flowers? I know it's been cold, snowy, and dreary in other parts of... but, that's why I chose to live here, instead of there.
The only local ID book that even mentions Aster chilensis states this flower blooms from July-Oct. Yeah, right...
These flowers are so beautiful, and I'm really looking forward to summer by looking at this picture.
Have a nice week:)
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