Migration Food

Monarch butterflies and Milkweed plants have played an important role in our retirement lives focused on nature.  We allow the plants to grow mixed in with garden plants despite their deep extensive roots because food for the caterpillars is deemed to be an absolute necessity.  Many of the plants carry no leaves at this time of year and we interfere by mowing large areas of plants.  After July first we no longer mow and those plants still have the leaves necessary for butterfly production.  Butterflies have been numerous here this year but the ravages of age combined with hot days have limited our outdoor time.  We have yet to see a Milkweed leaf providing food for a growing caterpillars or a chrysalis containing a developing butterfly.  The process has continued without us and numerous new butterflies are feeding on our flowers.

Most of the time a feeding Monarch closes its wings above its body but this morning was different.  The overnight fog and dew had everything outside wet this morning.  The butterflies kept their wings flat and open while feeding to allow their wings to dry.  Great pictures seldom seen presented themselves.  If the approach was deemed too close, the butterfly simply flew away.

 

These two photos may be of the same male butterfly.  There is a black colored vein that connects the heavy black line at the edge of a wing with a similar line centered on the body.  The larger area of black on this line identifies this one as a male.  That feature is more clearly visible on the right wing in the first photo.

Butterflies were seen feeding on this native aster today but we have included this photo to accurately show the condition of our gardens this year.  We simply could not keep up and now the weeds are everywhere.  Their seed production continues uninterrupted so the problem will be more severe next year.  The pictured aster was moved into the garden recently and a wire cage has limited the deer feeding on this plant.  There is no growth beyond the top edge of the cage but we suspect that it would have grown much taller without the deer.  This one is late to open so the food it supplies will continue longer that the other flowers open now.  We wish that its name was known but for now we see it as Ed's Favorite.

Roadside Weeds

Many years ago when I knew little more than which end of a shovel went in my hand, I stopped at a roadside plant stand staffed by a mother and daughter team.  Across the road was a sizeable field of plant divisions while potted specimens were offered for sale.  An amazing amount of effort had been invested in these plants but at the time I knew nothing about asters and purchased nothing.

These first pictured plants are growing at the northern end of one of our first planting beds.  Notice that each flower petal looks like an extended heart with the point attached to the central disc.  Yellow pollen marks newly opened blossoms while the reddish ones are developing seed.  This plant was mail order purchased so many years ago that we have no memory or record of its varietal name.

October Sky is a named variety that was bred to cover a huge area while remaining rather close to the ground.  For some reason the deer do not feed on this plant and those two characteristics make this a must have plant.  Its dense foliage shades out the weeds making it as close to a no tending garden plant as exists anywhere.

This wild plant bears a strong resemblance to the plant in the first photo.  The mature blossom centers are a different color suggesting two different plants.  There is no Goldenrod in the first picture but that does not rule out a second occurrence of the same variety.

Perhaps three years ago several wild plants were moved into a garden bed near the house.  Our deer herd greatly appreciated our efforts to provide them with tasty treats.  This small purple flowered specimen was given  protective cage limiting the deer nibbles to that part of the plant that is above the cage.  Left alone this plant would likely reach three feet in height and purple is a favorite flower color here.  We are not finished with this one as it deserves a more spacious protected home.  We shall put that on the list for next year.

These two colors appear to be growing from the same root mass but excavation would be necessary to be certain.  New England asters are a named wild plant that appear in two different colors.  The blue colored flowers are recognized as native while the pinkish flowers are seen as a naturally occurring color sport.  Frequent divisions have provided us with an impressively sized collection of both plants but they only appear together here near the house and and in one place close to

 the road.

These are a wild occurrence of an attractively colored plant.  This one deserves a spot in a garden bed  but to date that has not happened.

This plant lives on the edge of a manure pile that was provided by a considerate neighbor.  Most asters do not have leaves this wide but the heart shaped petals are displayed by many asters.  This grows as a ground cover but that may be the result of careless foot traffic.

 This picture strongly resembles a plant shown above.  The numbers on the photos indicate that they are different plants but they may be the same variety.  We would welcome help from a reader that is more familiar with asters.

Vivid Fall Colors

Having just had my cataracts removed, I am positively giddy over the fall colors this year.  Everywhere I look the landscape is gorgeous and filled with color.  We knew it was beautiful at home, but since the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence a road trip seemed in order.  This clump of Sumac is red enough to knock your socks off.  There is even a small patch of purple New England asters on the left.

From a distance Ed thought he had spotted Poison ivy.  In the fall it is a bright red vine even in the shade, but this one turned out to be Virginia Creeper.  Many trees' leaves are still green or like the ones in this picture that are beginning to turn bright yellow.

The color of the red and yellow in this hedgerow of trees caused a little bit of a seat belt check when they came into view.   All of the trees appear to be the same height, but their  shapes are slightly different.  As for the vivid difference in color I have to say I could hardly believe what I was seeing.  Please note none of the color has been altered in any way in these pictures.

 We had a delightful drive.  Ed even picked up three bags of leaves to take home to use as mulch in our garden.

 

There is nothing like the beauty of Autumn in this part of New York.  Back in our own driveway I had to take a picture of these beautiful asters with milkweed fluff caught in their petals.  You can't beat the Susquehanna and Unadilla River Valleys  for a place to look at Autumn color.  But be warned I had friends who visited these valleys in the fall who loved it so much they moved here to stay.  I've known for years that it works for me.

Second Season Native Plants

It is easy to understand the wild eyed excitement over the emergence of early spring native flowers.  Seeing just which ones survived another winter is guaranteed to stoke a fire in the heart of any gardener.  By mid September, with weeds in general control, the asters spark renewed interest for many.  Literally hundreds of asters are native to North America and their proper identification is way beyond our skill set.  The first picture features an aster growing close to the edge of our driveway.  The books are off the shelf while we look for a possible name for this attractive plant.

 
New England Asters are common here as ditch weeds.  Road crews mow them down and still they  flower on stems less than one foot tall.  A group planted in front of our home tower over me.  Deer are fond of their taste and many of our cultivated plants have been deer trimmed.  My only complaint about their work is that the top of such plants are totally flat.  Some roundness on a trimmed bush can be very attractive.

This is another wild plant growing next to the lane.  Its leaves are dark green and the flowers are tiny.  We have yet to find a proper name for this plant.  Last fall we moved several asters into our garden.  We felt that controlled growth would help us identify these plants.  Unfortunately the resident deer found them and ate them.  A cage was placed to cover the remains and enough recovery followed so flowers should soon be seen.

This aster looks like a Robin's Plantain flowering way out of season.   Few of these are here and we simply must intervene and try to help it along..

Light blue petals on a newly opened flower set this plant apart from the rest.  The photo shows a leaf growing around the stem rather than just extending outward from it.  This is typical of other asters.

Here we have a wild New England Aster fighting for existence in a sea of Goldenrod.  We find this combination of colors attractive and intend to copy it in our new garden.  Since Goldenrod overwhelms all other plants, we will give the asters several years of controlled growth before we introduce the Goldenrod.  The final outcome is certain but we have a limited number of years remaining in our stewardship of this land.  We will get to enjoy the color combination with purple overwhelming yellow.

This patch of a small flowered white aster is more than holding its own.  A piece of this clump was moved into our garden last fall.  It is recovering nicely from the deer pruning and we are looking forward to see just how much new ground the transplant has claimed.  We are able to transplant native plants successfully but must then cover them with wire cages to keep hungry animals at bay.  That is a contradiction that we must simply live with.

Undervalued Asters

In our area, asters fill the roadside ditches with beautiful flowers at this time of year.  So placed they are subjected to mowing by road crews.  This assault is taken in stride and those plants are presently in flower just on shorter stems.  The purple flowered plants are named New England Asters.  Purple is an admired color here so we have a wild ditch weed planted in the garden in front of the house.  Wild plants frequently have only a single stem but when placed in rich garden soil large clusters of stems follow.  These have held this ground for years and division would again be in order.  The question of where to plant the resulting divisions is one of the obstacles preventing responsible care of these plants.

One of the issues here is the height of the untended plants.  The long lower stems are now filled with dead leaves.  Without something shorter growing in front, the dead leaves are unsightly.  We did manage to prune the plant in the foreground.  Following the trim the plant looked ridiculous but it looks great now.  It would be sound planning to try and trim all of these plants early next summer.

This is a natural color mutation of a New England Aster.  For years I lusted after plants like this in the ditches next to the road to Norwich.  I was tempted to stop and dig one but that would have been a violation of the law.   Finally a single stemmed plant with this color flowers appeared on our land.  This cluster has been divided and we now have four plants just like this one.  Additional divisions need to be made but first new ground must be prepared for the resulting plants.  We are going to need a lot of new ground.

This plant grows alongside of the lane leading to the back acres.  Moving it has been considered but it remains where nature placed it.  If this plant's location was marked now, we could move it when new growth first appeared next spring.  It would be interesting to watch this wild plant respond to cultivation.  Perhaps next year will find this aster growing in an easier neighborhood.

This aster is growing among the pasture grass near the back woods.  The problem of separating the aster from the grasses has kept this plant growing in the wild.  There is no way that I will risk introducing more pernicious grasses into the gardens.  At the very least this plant would be required to spend a year or two in clear ground to make sure that all of the grass roots have been removed..

Our East Gate of the stone square has been temporarily closed by a Summer Sweet and a modified aster.  October Sky is the name of this aster variety.  Its natural tendency to grow tall has been replaced by an eagerness to grow wide.  A tiny mail order plant has given us three huge plants.  This one clearly needs to be divided again.

It seems that plants that are difficult to grow are prized while these easy to grow ones are largely passed by.  An aster garden is seen by many as one small step above cultivated dandelions.  Other's opinions have never shaped my actions and a larger aster garden is in the works.  These common weeds also serve a vital function now.  As the Monarch Butterflies are getting ready to fly south, few flowers remain to provide them with food at this critical time in their life cycle.  It pleases us to see butterflies feeding on our asters.

As September drew to a close, the wind shifted to coming from the north and the temperature dropped.  It appeared that the butterflies had begun their migration taking advantage of the air moving in the direction that they need to take.  Several factors impacted the Monarch population here this summer.  Sightings were common and that has not always been the case.  The number of butterflies on or near this aster is high.  They had to share the food with both yellow butterflies and bees.  Collisions were common resulting in short flights.  All quickly returned to the aster flowers to feed.   Our season has clearly changed and the number of Monarchs feeding on our plants made this day truly memorable.

Beauty In The Wild Garden

Our garden is wild this year.  Grasses, weeds, Japanese beetles and deer that think we are the intruders have things in disarray.  All the rain has helped to encourage the wildness.  Many plants are taller than I am.  A mouse keeps building a nest in the engine of the garden tractor.  Weeds are growing everywhere.  Green beans, squash, peppers, basil, potatoes, onions, tomatoes... are all waiting to be harvested.  Worst of all Ed has hurt his back.  Just the same the scent of fragrant Gladiolas fills the air.  The purple and pink gladiolas and the snapdragons are putting on a terrific show.  Perhaps you can ignore the goldenrod in the background!

For a purple fan like me these tall stately, elegant flowers are a very special treat.  The pinks and purples are no accident.  Ed knows they are my favorite and the Acidanthera bicolor  lends a lovely fragrance to the group.  The snapdragons have been blooming for a long time. I love tall snapdragons because if you cut them back they rebloom till frost.

Most of my double pink poppies have gone to seed by now, but a few late bloomers here and there add their beauty to the chaos of the other self seeders around them.

 These asters look great. They have shot right past the Gloriosa Daisies leaving them in the shade.  Not all of Ed's asters look this great, but we are talking about beauty here!

I honestly think this is the most beautiful daylily I have ever seen. The peach and gold seem to light up in the sunlight.  It was sold to us as "Spring Fling" and apparently it is not.  Spring Fling is supposed to be pink and Ed knows I like pink, but whatever name  this flower may have, I think it is strikingly beautiful. It has a soft fragrance and a glow that can be seen from inside the house.  It's golden glow and perfect petals last just one day but perfection is rarely achieved and seldom lasts.

Garden Games Rained Out

We have been getting a lot of rain here the last couple of days. Yesterday it rained just about all day and last night it rained too.  Today looked a bit more promising.  Ed spent the morning weeding.  Many weeds pull much more easily when the soil is wet.  With warmer weather and all the rain everything in the garden is growing fast.  I've been waiting to see  plume hyacinths for the first time and they are almost there.  It would be nice to get them weeded so that they look their best.

Here we have onions and pink poppies.  I love my pink double poppies, but these will have to go!  This bed belongs to the onions.

Ed and I worked on a spot to plant asters and some more pansies.   Thunder rumbled in the distance as we worked.  Wanting to finish, we ignored the impending rain until a really loud clap of thunder directly overhead made us decide it was time to head inside.  It was too late.  By the time Ed and I traveled the short distance to the house we were soaked to the skin having been pelted by huge raindrops.

For the rest of the afternoon the sun would come out just long enough to slip outside to take a few pictures or dump the compost, but the dark clouds, wind, and rain always returned.  Garden games have been rescheduled for tomorrow.

Which Way Is Up?

Here are some beautiful annual asters standing straight and tall! They look spectacular!

These asters are beautiful too, but they have fallen and they can't get up. It always amazes me how quickly a fallen plant will turn and head for the sky. One can't dawdle when tying up plants that have been knocked over. In this case I missed the boat completely. The plant sent flower stems upward all along the fallen stalk. In perennials this can be handy for layering a plant, but when it happens to an annual, you get something that looks like this. Still, I have to admire the way plants keep heading upward no matter what.

Goldenrod and Asters

We have at least five kinds of goldenrod growing wild, and this is the first to bloom. The meadows around us will be yellow till frost.

We planted annual asters this year. I'm very happy with them. The flowers are every bit a lovely as chrysanthemums, and you don't have to think about trying to winter them over. The wild New England asters in the meadow are just beginning to show color. Both the goldenrod and the asters are a reminder to stop procrastinating and get busy with the garden harvest. It's time to finish off the garden for this year and clear things away for the next season. There's still some time left, but the first warning has been given.