BEAUTiFUL WILD ASTER FLOWERS

      Three kinds of wild aster blooms are the prettiest wild flowers during September and October in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania farmland.  Asters are closely related to one another and difficult to identify.  But we humans still enjoy their beauties every year, from mid-September to the end of October.         Patches of asters that have striking, deep-purple flower petals around yellow centers are the first wild ones I see, in abundance, starting in the middle of September.  And I see them mostly in some recently abandoned fields, along with stands of high grasses, and tall goldenrod plants with innumerable yellow blossoms at the end of each stem.  Purple and gold together in abundance in those fields, where crickets chirp and grasshoppers leap, is a lovely combination of colors that reminds me of royalty.

     By the beginning of October in Lancaster County, asters with many tiny, white blooms cover some weedy fields so completely that those fields look, from a distance, like snow fell only on them.  They are, by far, the most abundant aster blossoms in this area.  

     These small, white aster blooms provide the last abundant source of nutritious nectar to bees, butterflies and other kinds of insects in local fields.  And, during October, those lively insects swarm among the attractive flowers to sip that sugary liquid while they can, making those fields more lively and interesting.

     The small pearl crescent butterflies are the most common insect fluttering in numbers among those white aster blossoms in this area in October.  And for good reason,  Female pearl crescents lay little clusters of eggs on the undersides of aster leaves.  The larvae hatch, ingest aster foliage, grow to be brown (camouflaged) and spiny, for their protection from birds and other would-be predators.  

     These caterpillars soon pupate and emerge as beautiful butterflies with one inch wing spans and yellow-orange wings with chocolate markings.  The last brood of caterpillars, late in October, spend the winter in soil under aster roots and emerge in the warmth of the next spring, pupate and become the first generation of lovely adult pearl crescent butterflies for that year.             

     Another kind of wild asters, that flourishes in certain moist, bottomland pastures in this area, has small, lovely, pale-purple blooms during October.  Those beautiful blossoms, to me, are the most symbolic flowers of late October and autumn.  

     Many cool, lovely October evenings I strolled through some of those meadows to experience the peace of each evening and the beauty of farmland in fall.  Dewy dusk deepened each evening and a few kinds of crickets whined and chirped sweetly, gently among shrubs, tall grasses and the aster blossoms as I admired the beauties and charm of those same diminutive flowers.  For those minutes of enjoying the beauties of the pale-purple aster blooms under cloudy skies or a sunset, and listening to crickets engaged in courtship communication, I felt a oneness with God and the Earth He created.  There is no greater beauty than that which is on this planet.   It is good to be alive! 

     I always exited those lovely pastures with my heart filled with their peace and beauty; and with a bit of sadness because I knew winter weather would soon be upon us with its numbing cold.  But I was always happy and inspired by those beautiful pastures filled with plant and insect life right up to the first severe frost.                

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