Life Cycle of New England Asters

Life Cycle of New England Asters

Asters Life Cycle © 2012 Bo Mackison

… in gardens, beauty is a by-product.
The main business is sex and death …
–  Sam Llewelyn,
The Sea Garden

Oh, that quote seems so appropriate for many of the botanical photographs I shoot.

I am either shooting the reproductive parts of flowers or I am shooting the flowers that are no longer beautiful flowers but on their way to brown and crispy, or the parts that are left standing to produce the next flowers, the seed heads. But the by-product of all those seeds and reproductive parts make for some pretty fine floral displays in the flowering seasons.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is catching up on photography work at the computer today, after a weekend of weddings and birthday celebrations.

Tall Grass Prairie Wildflowers

New England Asters

New England Asters © 2008

The last show of wildflowers in the prairies are in bloom. The prairies are full and thick, now beginning to yellow a bit. The New England Asters are easily cultivated, and found in many gardens, but they are especially handsome in the thickets of grasses on the prairie.

Rosin Weed

Rosin Weed © 2008

What a name for one of the most perfect prairie wildflowers I’ve seen in a long time! Rosin Weed is an excellent flower for the prairie, and used extensively in prairie restorations as it is attractive to bees, butterflies and birds.  Its sap contains resin which was once used as a chewing gum. (Ick – I’d rather have peppermint myself.)

Blue Vervain

Blue Vervain © 2008

This would be an easy flower to miss, except it grows so tall the flowers tend to stick out over many of the shorter grasses. The Blue Vervain flowers themselves are tiny – less than 1/4″ wide – but the plant stands up to 6 feet tall.

Vervain was a popular plant, well-known for its many medicinal uses – made into a brew and used as a tonic, an aphrodisiac, and a sedative. Centuries ago it was hung on European peasants’ doorways to ward off the devil and other evildoers, and it was worn as an amulet to bring good luck.