#NPOD: Late Purple Aster #NativePlants

Native Plant of the Day 11/01/2012

Late Purple Aster - for more photos and information go to the Symphyotrichum patens detail page.

Photo from 10/16/2010.  Location: Blount County, TN

Late Purple Aster, Spreading Aster – Symphyotrichum patens

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Sunrise at Lake Ocoee

My wife and I were going over to Waynesville, NC on Thursday to pick up a granddaughter who had been spending a few days with her best friend from Papua New Guinea.  Being the fall color season, we wanted to take some time for some photographs in the mountains, so we left early, before 7 AM.  It turned out that sunrise was just as we were getting to Lake Ocoee (also known as Parksville Lake), and the cool morning brought fog and mist with it.  We also had time to take brief drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Here are a few of my favorite photos from the daytrip to Waynesville.

Sunrise over Lake Ocoee

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#NPOD: Frost Aster #Nativeplants

Native Plant of the Day 09/29/2012:

Photo from Oct 3, 2009.  Location: Walker County, GA

Frost Aster- for more information go to the Symphyotricum pilosum detail page.

Hairy White Oldfield Aster, Frost Aster, White Heath Aster – Symphyotrichum pilosum

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Eastern Tailed Blue Azure on Aster

Cindy, Sam, and I went down to Zahnd’s Natural Area for a little while yesterday.  Lovely fall day; a few wildflowers are still persisting, with the predominant ones being the Asters – this is likely a Symphyotrichum species.  This Eastern Tailed Blue Azure butterfly (I think that’s the correct ID) sat still for me for a few seconds.  (Click on the photo for a larger image.)

Eastern Tailed Blue Azure on Aster

Late Purple Aster – Symphyotrichum patens – Added to USWildflowers Database

Late Purple Aster, a native species, has been added to the USWildflowers database (10/22/2010.)  Scientific name is Symphyotrichum patens.  It is also known by the common name Spreading Aster.  Photo below was taken in Blount County, TN on the banks of the Tellico Reservoir of the Little Tennessee River on Oct 16, 2010. 

Late Purple Aster, Spreading Aster - Symphyotrichum patens

04/15/2009 Photo of the Day – Two-flower Cynthia

This lovely flower is Two-flower Cynthia, a member of the Aster family.  If you see a rayed flower and don’t know what it is, guess “Aster.”  There are 1104 varieties of this family listed in the USDA Plants Database.  This one was photographed in May of 2008 in Grundy County, Tennessee.

Visit the USWildflowers.com Photo Album Page for more nature photographs.