I have been seeing up to ten aster species around these days and the most striking is certainly the New England Aster.

This lovely aster grows in open, usually moist to wet ground including meadows, fields, edges of streams and rivers, along banks and along roadsides.

The ray colour varies from blue to purple.

It is a large, stout, hairy and leafy plant.

New England Aster somewhat resembles Purple-stemmed Aster which grows in wetter sites.

In 1830 it was reported that New England Aster was used to remove the poisonous state of the skin caused by Poison Ivy.

First Nations peoples smoked the root in order to attract deer.

Other botany today:

Park views:

Some birds:

Species list: mallard, red-tailed hawk, turkey vulture, ring-billed gull, northern flicker, downy woodpecker, white-breasted nuthatch, blue jay, black-capped chickadee, gray catbird, American robin, ruby-crowned kinglet, cedar waxwing, house sparrow, northern cardinal, song sparrow.  (16 species)

Today’s group:

NATURE POETRY

The asters twinkle in clusters bright,
While the corn grows ripe and the apples mellow.       – Celia Thaxter (1835–94) 

Miles Hearn