The other day I went to the market for soy milk and came away with a huge pot of asters. The flowers are small, white, and dark centered...and there are millions of them! With my glasses off the whole mass blurs into one gigantic aster. The unexpected treat was that asters attract honey bees!!, not to mention bumble bees and lots of small waspy looking insects that seem to be having just a lovely time in the flowers. Did you know bumblebees sleep clutching a flower stem? (I go to work before bumblebees awake in the morning.)
It seems asters were a much bigger deal 150 years ago. Doing a quick check by looking at Burpee and White Flower Farm and Google images I see that the simple small, more daisy like asters are what are offered. That is what I bought. I must be missing something as these awesome asters from the later 1800s and turn of the 20th century must be available. I just don't know enough yet. Weird though that so little showed in Google images...
This poorly hand colored plate is from Mrs. Jane Loudonn's (1849)
And, just so you don't forget what asters look like...
...to the left is "Purple Henry" and to the right is an unknown sort that is just so cute I had to post it!!!
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