It’s late September and asters are blooming throughout western Pennsylvania. I found several patches of purple asters yesterday on the Lake Trail at Raccoon Creek State Park.
These two may be the same species. They have similar leaves and their colors matched in real life though the camera shows them differently. It’s a trick of the light. Cameras are notorious for distorting purple / blue.
I haven’t identified these flowers. My Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide has 10 densely packed pages of asters and that’s not all possible species.
Do you think fall warblers are confusing? Asters (and goldenrods) are the last frontier!
(photos by Kate St. John)
I bought a plant like these at Beechwood Farms let year. The name was given as “heart-leaved aster.”