Familiarity Breeds More Asters

I've been here a few seasons now. The more I see and the closer I look the more diversity I keep finding here on the low spot of a North Carolina mountaintop. I'm living in a taxonomists nightmare or nirvana, one or the other.



I do believe I have found another aster. It is white. The center turns red rather quickly. The petals are so small they are almost non-existent. The plant is short for a fall aster and gets rather woody. The flowers are distributed all along the stems forming a dense mass of tiny petaled aster froth.

Who knows what kind of commingling all these different asters could be up too. Is it a species? Is it a hybrid? Is it a cultivar? I found this new aster in several locations pretty spread apart. It isn't a singular oddity.



This new one makes three fall blooming white asters. You can see the standard white aster has much bigger flowers and a yellow center.



Here we have the New England Aster with the smaller flowered Blue Wood Aster that is looking rather white in comparison. I wonder if the color intensity changes over time or if there is just a natural genetic or environmental variation in the intensity of blue? There is no standard blue with outliers. The blue hue covers the spectrum and then it has the annoying habit of changing colors with the light quality.

I want a taxonomist to come here and do a study and give me the report, nightmare or nirvana. I don't have the time for such endeavors.



The Sheffie Mum is a fall blooming aster for all intents and purposes. It is causing some of the traffic to slow or stop. At least that is what I am blaming the rubbernecking on.



Like I didn't have enough aster alliteration around here already, the yellow sport of the Sheffie Mum came to live here from Fairegarden, Tennessee too. I think it is safe to call it yellow, though it is a bit off like the pink of its parent.



They come up here looking for this. I think this qualifies as real fall color.



A lot of them slow down or stop to look at this. More than few of them get out of their cars to take pictures. It still freaks me out just a little to be a roadside attraction. But that won't stop me from giving them more to look at over time. They really only see a little bit of the much larger attraction.



Invited guests will get this view.



And with this picture I am calling fall on the north face of Hebo Mountain. It is still pretty green out there though. I must be having a very localized variation in color. It seems variety is my lot in life.